Key verses:

Isaiah 11:3:

“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.”

2 Peter 3:14-15a:

“Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish, 15 and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.

Mark 1:2:

“As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, ‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way;’”

Message

Let us pray

“Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.”[i] Amen.

Good evening. “BE PREPARED!” Can anyone tell me where you have heard that motto before? [wait for responses]. Yes, indeed, it’s the Boy Scout motto.

When LTG/Lord Robert S.S. Baden-Powell was asked the inevitable question of about this motto, “Prepared for what?”, the founder of the worldwide scouting movement’s alleged reply was “Why, for any old thing.”[ii] When writing his most famous text, Scouting for Boys, in 1908[iii], Baden-Powell explained the meaning further, writing, “Be Prepared... the meaning of the motto is that a scout must prepare himself by previous thinking-out and practicing how to act on any accident or emergency so that he is never taken by surprise.”[iv] Going on to say “you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty.”[v]

Truth be told, back what seems many moons ago, and perhaps it was, I was privileged to have earned the rank of Eagle Scout; Boy Scouts of America’s highest rank as young person. To say, after a military career and much of my lifetime in some sort of service to the communities I have lived in, or been a member of, that I was impacted greatly by the scouting movement would be a tremendous understatement. I can still point to lessons I learned while a scout that I use to this day: anyone want to ask me how to tie a two half hitches knot? Or a taught line hitch? Or maybe it’s how to stop someone from bleeding? How about pitching a tent? …

But beyond those tangible and practical skills, the motto “Be Prepared” echoes regularly and constantly in my life. Perhaps it’s a reason I am now doing resilience engineering research and work, and am passionate about making my community, our country, and worldwide civilization as we know it stronger, as we contend with the effects of anthropomorphic induced climate change. Maybe it was because its come up over and over again in my professional life by serving in such units as the US Second Cavalry Regiment who’s motto, in French, is Toujours Prêt, translated as “always ready”, and is what French speaking scouts say around the globe for “Be Prepared”. Maybe its because, I’m now a husband and a dad, so anytime we leave the house as a family or I leave for a trip, I make many preparations to ensure we have, what we need in case something, “any old thing”, happens while we are out or as I am away. Or maybe, just maybe, its because every year, on the second Sunday of Advent we hear the words of Isaiah and John the Baptist calling us to “Be Prepared”.

We are now solidly in the season of Advent. Advent is the season of readiness, the season of preparation, the season of hope, and the season for expectant waiting. For me, it also is always a season of remembering and re-centering. It’s a time for reflection on the year that has been, and a time to gain focus for the year to come. Today’s lessons, as I encounter them, bespeak just that.

John, the cousin of Jesus Christ, is out in the desert “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”[vi] Repentance is at once both backwards looking (cleansing us of our sins) and forward looking (setting us on a new path towards righteousness). It is both a remembrance and a re-centering. But it is a specific remembrance and a specific re-centering. It calls us to look back and seek out, as our confession states, “what we have done and by what we have left undone.”[vii] When we compare ourselves against the perfectness of Christ, of God, of the wisdom found in his law, we are sure to find ourselves wanting; all of us.[viii] But it is critical that we do look back and make this examination. And John, like Isaiah, and all of the prophets, put this into specific relief. We have done our best to create crooked roads, when God has called us to “make straight in the desert a highway”.[ix] Our remembrance in repentance is not merely a look into the past but an adjudication, under the law, of our path to this point. But that is not all repentance is, it isn’t judgement, it’s something much more.

It’s also, critically, re-centering. Repentance, in its more literal sense, is about turning. As Peter states in Acts, “Repent, therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.”[x] Repentance is not just looking back, its not just about the law. Its also about the gospel. It’s about spinning to a new, or returning again to a renewed, azimuth on our moral and spiritual compass that points towards God. We need to, after and while remembering, also seek out the Kingdom of God; our home in, with and through Jesus Christ. And then head out forthrightly on the path we are called to follow. To “strive to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation.”[xi]

Repentance, therefore, is central to our Lutheran law and gospel principle. As Martin Luther once preached, “Behold, herein you find the difference between the Law and the Gospel, namely, that the Law commands while the Gospel gives all things freely. The Law causes anger and hate, the Gospel gives grace.”[xii] Or as theologian Carl Braaten put it, “The gospel is not a word from God apart from the law. Law and gospel have different functions. The law of God addresses each person through the Scriptures, their conscience, and the natural orders of life in history and society. The law terrifies, accuses, condemns, denounces, punishes, and kills. If this was not true, the gospel cannot comfort, strengthen, forgive, liberate, and renew.” “The gospel is not only a promise of future hope, but also a proclamation of present grace. The gospel tells us that God makes and keeps his promises – for us and for Christ’s sake alone.”[xiii]

As we listen to the words of the scriptures today, we hear many promises that God will and is keeping. “He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms and carry them in his bosom and gently lead the mother sheep.”[xiv] “… for he will speak peace to his people, to his faithful, to those who turn to him in their hearts. Surely his salvation is at hand for those who fear him, that his glory may dwell in our land. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other. Faithfulness will spring up from the ground, and righteousness will look down from the sky. The Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its increase. Righteousness will go before him and will make a path for his steps.”[xv] God is here and will remain with us, and he is patient, as stated in the epistle today, “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to come to repentance.”[xvi]

So, what does this mean for us? What do we need to do? Well, “be prepared”, of course. Well, maybe that is not right. One of the critiques one might have with the scout motto is that it is not active enough to meet the challenge that John calls to us to in today’s gospel lesson, or that Isaiah called to his people, or to the words Peter offers in his letter. No, to “be prepared” implies an end-state and a condition wherein you can “be prepared” fully for all that has, is and will come along your way. I might posit here that we need to “be preparing”; constantly, ever vigilantly. The voice that is calling out in the wilderness to “… prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God”[xvii] also directs that “Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain.”[xviii] So that, “… the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,

and all flesh shall see it together.”[xix] In today’s parlance, God is intervening, then, now, and in the future, in massive, earthshattering, and intentional ways, so that we can remain fixed on the pathways we have, are, and will always be called to travel on. So we cannot just “be prepared” we need to, in order to enter into repentance, returning to our baptism, to “be preparing” for Christ, and his Kingdom, in, with and through all of creation including our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls. To paraphrase Baden-Powell’s words, “prepare … by previous thinking-out and practicing how to act … so that [we are] never taken by surprise”[xx] by what God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, have, are, and will do. May this be a core part of your participation in the advent of God who is coming, has come, and is with us now and always.