Baruch 5:1-9; Phil 1:4-6, 8-11; Luke 3: 1-6
Advent leads us to “discern what is of value” so that we “may advance secure in the glory of God” as Paul tells us in Philippians. Discernment takes time and patience. Time and patience, the key words of Advent, run against the grain of American life. We Americans are always in a hurry, and distracted. We don’t focus so we don’t notice what’s around us.
Notice, Baruch says, “For God has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low.” The mountains are being acted upon. They are “made low.” In scripture the passive voice is called, the “Divine Passive.” It signifies God is doing the acting. On us. When we are made low, we see. When God does the action, humans see it – if, that is, they are patient and take time to focus and see. They can see the divine presence, “the salvation of God,” as Isaiah says, hidden yet revealed to those who wait patiently and notice it. God is acting. In Isaiah, God says: “I am doing something new. Do you not perceive it?”
For example, when you’re walking through a neighborhood, you see much more than when you are driving. Walking affords us a more focused seeing. With focused vision one sees more. With God, there’s always more to see. “Do you not perceive it?” We see the presence of God hidden in our reality. It is this for which we wait to see. This is Christmas, the revelation of God, the manifestation of God, the epiphany of God in our daily lives. Paul prays today that we “may increase ever more in knowledge and every kind of perception and discern what is of value.” We in Harrodsburg, do we see the hidden presence of God, revealed in our everyday activities? My dear young people, do you find God hidden in your studies? This learning is indeed discernment of “what is of value.” God acts on us and in us. I remember once at UK a student came up to me exhilarated. She told me she had just turned in a major paper – and she couldn’t believe she had done it. It was a mountain in labor. She had felt the weight of it. The mountain was indeed made low. I asked her if she had sensed God’s help and she said an enthusiastic yes. Sometimes we think we’ll never get it done, and then, somehow we do. Where did that come from? That’s God’s grace, pushing us forward. Sometimes life brings us low like those valleys and hills, but God is still active, acting on us and in us, helping us to see — if we are focused. As Paul says today to the Philippians — God can complete the good work God has begun in us. This is discerning what is of ultimate value. Notice it – happening now! It is for your good and as Paul says today, “for the Glory and praise of God.”