Finding God

Mark 1: 4 John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

One thing I’ve discovered over the years, is that as hard as one might try, you cannot arrive at Christmas without encountering John the Baptist.  There he is every year, clothed in camel skin, living on locusts and honey, baptizing in the River Jordan.

For many of us who have travelled to the Holy Land, as Carol and I did in 2016, visiting the spot on the Jordan where Jesus was baptized is a bit surreal. Israeli troops stood behind us on the hill with machine guns at the ready and Jordanian troops, just across the river were also standing guard.  And there was the river, really just a muddy stream meandering through the desert. The temple authorities and Roman soldiers are long gone but the heaviness of oppression and the implied threat of violence remain.

According to scripture, shortly after Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River, Jesus will go to the wilderness.  The wilderness is a recurring theme throughout both the Jewish and Christian narrative and over the years, I have learned to appreciate that not only can you not “get to” Christmas without meeting John, you must also travel through the wilderness if you want to be prepared to meet the Christ Child on Christmas Eve.

I’ve been taking an online course on coping with and facilitating change. We keep returning to the wilderness motif.  I think we tend to brush off wilderness times, as times of waiting, contemplating and perhaps healing.  In this course, we learnt to appreciate how much learning is done in the wilderness – for whether you are tempted, suffering, scared, running away, thirsty, hungry or lonely – God is there.

I don’t know about you but, for me, this Advent feels like a wilderness experience. If you read last week’s blog on “Reframing Advent Hope,” you will have a sense of those things that are contributing to the wilderness experience.  Not only do we contemplate those normal feelings that arise often during Advent – like missing a loved one, mourning a death, changing life experiences, or a recalling of Christmas’ past – the COVID experience has added many new and unexpected challenges and emotions. 

The totality of all those wilderness experiences can lead to what I consider a separation from the Holy.  That is why it is so easy to get caught up in the consumerism, feasting, and forced gaiety in the pre-Christmas season.  It is a way of coping with that separation and resulting sense of emptiness.

But it is here that God meets us.  This is the learning of the wilderness experience. When the Israelis were hungry, God fed them.  When Elijah was fleeing for his life, God comforted him.  When Jesus was suffering, the angels tended to him.

This is why we have so much to learn in the wilderness.  Nobody goes willingly into the wilderness – no one wished for a COVID pandemic – none of us choose suffering.  But when we arrive in the wilderness, if we look to God, we can not only learn so much, we can deepen our relationship with the one who creates, redeems and sustains us.

For me, that Advent encounter often comes through an unexpected phone call, a chance encounter, or a hug when I need it most.  Through another person's compassion for me, God is made known and then I am prepared to enter Christmas Eve with an open heart and let the Christ Child in.

May you have a blessed Advent, Wayne