“Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” From Luke 3:1-6
”For those living with MND……when the Sinfield juggernaut comes through…..it lifts their spirits, it shines a bright, bright light.” John Maguire, BBC commentator.
St Luke, with his customary doctor’s eye for detail, sets today’s Gospel in the context of those in authority at the time. He cites Tiberius as Emperor, Pontius Pilate as Governor of Judaea, Herod as ruler of Galilee, his brother Philip as ruler of Iturea and Trachonitis with Lysanias the ruler of Abilene. All this, he writes, takes place in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas and it’s this context of earthly power that dates to 28 or 29 CE the emergence of John in the wilderness to proclaim the coming of a very different realm. He urges his listeners to prepare the way, not of an earthly ruler, but for the Lord who will come and who is greater than he. The mountains will be made low and the valleys raised, declares John – this is a topsy-turvy kingdom where worldly values and power are overturned.
I often pass one of the construction sites for a hub of the HS2, the ill-fated high speed train that has had its route curtailed due to escalating costs. This is a massive undertaking involving the compulsory purchase of properties en route, the preparation of the ground and foundations, the time and skills of many and huge amounts of money and machinery. Slowly, shape and order is emerging from the chaos and mud but it’s taken a long time of planning and preparation as well as hard graft. This huge undertaking contrasts sharply with the work of Calum MacLeod, a Scot living on the Island of Raasay, whose daughter’s education was being affected because there was no road as the original ran out due to cost and left people in the North of the island isolated. Julie was 14 when Calum decided that, nothing having been done about this, he would build the remaining two miles stretch himself. This was the start of an astonishing feat which took him ten years as he single-handedly demolished what blocked the route and constructed a way of joining two isolated communities together, whilst also working as a crofter, postman and lighthouse keeper. By the time he finished, it was too late for his daughter who was now an adult but succeeding generations benefited from his foresight and hard work in creating the road which is still in use fifty years later. Calum could, like so many others, have done nothing but he decided that, despite the challenges, he would do something about a situation that needed a solution – and he did. He prepared and made the way.
The same was true of Doddie Weir, the Scots rugby player diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. He knew this would kill him, which it did, but was determined to do what he could to raise awareness and money to try to find a cure for it. Doddie’s courage as well as his determination not to lie down and give up began the challenge that has now evolved into Kevin Sinfield’s Running Home for Christmas, seven ultra marathons run over seven days in seven different places in honour of Rob Burrow, who played rugby in a seven shirt and who also died of MND earlier this year. A great many people were involved in the arrangements and preparation of the route for Kevin and his team of supporters, doctors, sports therapists and nutritionists, all combining to try to raise their target of £777,777,7. That was surpassed and, as the commentator John Maguire said, “It’s light in the darkness isn’t it?”
Looking for light in the darkness is not only part of the Advent preparation for Christmas but appropriate since this is being written at night during a power cut caused by Storm Darragh! May the light guide us in 2024 in whatever form of wilderness and authority we find ourselves in the reign of King Charles III, with Sir Keir Starmer as Prime Minister, Eluned Morgan as First Minister of Wales and the Church in turmoil as it comes to terms with a disgraced Archbishop of Canterbury and a storm of criticism for the institution itself over safeguarding issues. Nevertheless, like John the Baptist, we have our own part to play in serving the Lord as we are also tasked with preparing the way for what is to be or enabling others to do so. And, if the wilderness seems to dominate, it’s very dark and everything is topsy-turvy, perhaps we are closer to the kingdom of heaven than we may realise?
With my prayers; pob bendith,
Christine, Priest Guardian.