Even as those in power come and go, especially when we struggle in the wilderness, a voice calls through the darkness: Have Hope. Gd walks with you as find your way home

This is the story of two amazing children whose lives are intertwined from before they were born. Zechariah thanks god for the one… and  then you can imagine him leaning over and whispering to John, the second child asleep in his wife’s stomach.

The List of Rulers

Then we jump forward a few decades and a new Caesar rules in Rome and Luke lists off those in power. In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius. In the last days of Biden before the beginning of the second rule of Trump, Gianforte was Governor, and Stoneking was Bishop.

Some names are shorthand for what life was like. Knowing who is incharge signals who is benefting and who is suffering.

Life in the Wilderness

Then Luke pans from the world of rulers to the a single man in the wilderness, calling people to change. Even as some sat in distant power, John spoke in the wilderness. For some wilderness is the space outside out cities and towns. Wilderness, as Ben pointed out this week, it is often as much about our struggles within, the hearts that John called people to change.

Following the Candle

Following the light of the candle home is as much about our own struggles as the terrain we journey through. 

From the cry

And John, crying out in the wilderness, a lone voice calling us and reminding us that Gd walks with us. When John calls out to us: Prepare the way of the Lord, bring down the high mountains and fill the valleys. Smooth the way! Often others can’t see what it means for us to find our ways through our wilderness. Gd is already at work in the wilderness, ready to journey with you through the wilderness towards the candle in the window, towards the child of Hope. 

Look forward to the child of Hope

Benediction

    May the Holy One bless you
            and keep you;
    May you hold on to the light of Hope   
            even when you walk in wilderness;
    May the Holy one guide you home
and may peace come