Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

Don't you wish there was a quick and easy fix to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Don't you wish there was a quick and easy fix to the suicide bombings, car bombings, all the terroristic acts that are taking place all over the world?

Don't you wish there was a quick and easy fix to the home-grown variety of terrorism such as what took place at Fort Hood last month?

Don't you wish there was a quick and easy fix to global warming with less chatter about hacked emails and more concrete action taken?

Don't you wish there was a quick and easy fix to the global economic meltdown?

Don't you wish there was a quick and easy fix to the lack of jobs here in our own country and everywhere else?

Don't you wish there was a quick and easy fix to the health-care insurance problem?

Don't you wish there was a quick and easy fix to all the talking heads in the media and entertainment industry, in politics, who seem only to tear down, never to build up?

Don't you wish we could change the way things are?

And here we have John the Baptist talking about change, but it sure doesn't seem to be a quick and easy fix! He is talking about preparation, in fact, it seems that he talking about preparation for a journey. It almost sounds like he is expecting us to do the preparation, to make the changes. After all, that's what Advent is all about, isn't it?

Or is it...Let's look at how Luke sets the stage in this Advent pericope. First, he gives us a bit of historical background. Luke is keeping his promise to Theophilus to write an orderly account of Jesus' life and ministry, rooted in history. It happened, it occurred, it is actual, it is factual. Quoting Francis Rossow, Luke's account is "very truth of very truth, historical, not made."

As I read Luke's account, it reminds me of the story we will hear in a couple of weeks, the beginning of the story, i.e., the Christmas story. The Caesar, the governor, the census, the birth of Jesus, the Word became flesh who dwelt among us, and all the implications that his life, death and resurrection have for us and for our salvation. Some of the names remind me of the Passion story; Herod, Pilate, Annas, Caiaphas. They remind me of innocent suffering and death, resurrection and the promise of salvation. Jesus at the start of his ministry and Jesus on the cross, ending with an empty tomb!

Then Luke talks about John, the son of Zechariah, also called the Baptizer. The word of God comes to him in the wilderness, and I am reminded of the wilderness we sometimes find ourselves in. Wilderness that can be a time of special reflection, and reception of revelation, both from God. Wilderness than can be a wild place in reality, or a wild place in our lives. The law came to Israel in the wilderness, John received his call in the wilderness, Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, Jesus retreats to, and prays in, the wilderness.

John preaches, and baptizes. Even though the context is somewhat different, both are what we Lutherans consider a means of grace - Word and Sacrament. Preaching repentance - which may produce a life that is lived with a sense of responsibility before God - not to earn salvation but because we have been given salvation. In other words, we repent because we are forgiven, not to earn forgiveness.

You know, I don't think we can. Maybe part of the problem here is that we insist that this is a job we can do, that it is our repentance that levels the hills and mountains and fills in the valleys in our lives.

But this is isn't the case! Remember I mentioned how these verses remind me of both the Christmas and the Passion story? That they are rooted, firmly rooted, in history? It is a change thing, but it is us who change, and we change because of the promise of salvation, because Christ has leveled the hills and mountains, filled in the valleys. It is Christ who is the Way. It is in Christ that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Because it is Jesus who experienced all the brokenness of the world without becoming enslaved to it, who died in order to defeat death.

During this Advent time of preparation, repentance and expectation we need to sit quietly, to listen, to put away thoughts of shopping and presents, and music, and eating, and all the stuff that goes with the upcoming celebration. We need to know that we do not do the preparation that John mentions. The preparation has been done, and now we are witness to what God has done, and is doing, in our lives. We need to know that God is the actor, not only in our Gospel story, but in our lives. It is a change thing, and we have been changed, transformed far beyond anything we can do, beyond anything we can even imagine. Christ has come, he is here now, and he is coming again.

AMEN.