Advent Road

Many of us know about the “elf on a shelf” or perhaps the Jewish “mensch on a bench.”  A mensch is a person of integrity, morality, dignity, with a sense of what is right and responsible. On the other hand, an elf is simply Santa’s helper. Here is a story told about elves.

When our three young sons were each given an elf ornament for the Christmas tree, they began a yearly contest to see who could place their ornament highest on the tree.

Our oldest son Mark won for several years. When he finally got his elf on the top of the tree, we knew the contest was over. Wrong, the next year our middle son, Luke taped his ornament to the ceiling above the tree. End of contest we thought. Wrong again.

The next year we could not find the ornament of our youngest son, Cameron. It must be on the roof we decided. Wrong again. We finally found Cameron’s elf on the very lowest branch of the tree – with a note attached: For whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Matthew 23:12) Needless to say, that ended the contest.

According to Matthew, it is with the lowly and humble of the world that our God loves to visit, hide away, and dwell. Therefore, on this third Sunday of Advent we are encouraged to be lowly and humble and to dwell with those who are the same. In our first reading Isaiah gives us instructions – a road map – to find the way: “The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring glad tidings to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners.” When we do these things, we are humble, we are exalted, and the spirit of the Lord God is upon us.  

In our second reading we hear: “Test everything; retain what is good. Refrain from every kind of evil. May the God of peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely – spirit, soul, and body – be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”  So, when we are humble, we refrain from every kind of evil. When we are arrogant and prideful, we are an open door to all kinds of evil that corrupts our spirits, souls, and bodies.  

When we are humble, we are to rejoice, and that’s the meaning of the pink candle – the Shepherd’s Candle – we lit on the Advent wreath. This Sunday is "Gaudete Sunday" when we reflect on the joy the humble shepherd's felt at the birth of Jesus, born in a manger in very humble surroundings filled with the animals, the shepherds, Mary, and Joseph. 

Now we don’t hear Jesus crying in the cradle, but we do hear the voice of John the Baptist in our Gospel crying out in the desert for us to make straight the way of the Lord.  We all hear John the Baptist’s cry, but I personally don’t want a straight way that is more like a long, never-ending highway across a desert where when driving I can become hypnotized by the lines in the road and even fall asleep. I prefer a windy road with many curves to keep me on my toes and challenged by the need to change speeds and watch for danger at every turn.   In other words, we should prefer to find our way to the Lord in a manner that forces us to stay awake and not be complacent.

But most of us want to make straight the way of the Lord.  We want that road to be properly signed with “turn right,” “dead end,” “stop,” or “proceed with caution.”  However, the correct way or road is hard to find when we come to an unmarked intersection.  Fortunately, our Church and our faith serve as traffic signals pointing to the way – the Lord’s way.  

Unfortunately, some of us are still at the intersection and unsure of which way to go – right, left, or straight ahead.  Our decision is made easier by taking the one marked by Jesus’s green light or arrow. It’s the road less travelled poetically described by the New England poet Robert Frost in “The Road Not Taken.”

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Today, we are halfway down the Advent Road – the road that makes all the difference. It’s sort of like the yellow brick road of “The Wizard of Oz” fame – a road that’s windy with many curves and challenges, such as encounters with flying monkeys and evil portrayed by the wicked Witch of the West. We must not be sidetracked by those monkeys and the evils we encounter along our way.

Where does our Advent Road lead?  Certainly not to any wizard. It leads to Jesus, but unlike Dorothy, the scarecrow, the tin man, and the lion, we travel the Advent Road with clear-thinking brains, with open and warm hearts, and with courage. Unlike Dorothy, we don’t return to Kansas.  We arrive at Jesus in his manger. That’s where we find our home with him and all the humble who have assembled to give him homage. We have taken the road less traveled by - Jesus's way - and yes, that makes all the difference.

Deacon David Pierce