Where All Roads Converge!

Have you ever come to a time in your life when you had the feeling, if only momentarily, that all the other moments up until that moment had been a preparation; that somehow all the lines and roads of the past were now converging in the present moment?

Perhaps a college graduate, someone making a career change, or a new parent has a sense of it.

It's an uncanny sense that everything you have ever done has carried you to and prepared you for this moment in time! It's one of those rare and strange moments when all the lines of time seem to converge and your life comes into a sharp focus when not long before things were a blur.

I can say that I have had that sense of clarity a couple of times when I've accepted a call to a new congregation. It's a sense that every success, every failure, every tear of joy and sorrow, every experience of my previous years had  prepared me for this new calling; for this new ministry; this new road.  I struggle to explain it because it's deeper than words. It's a humbling, yet empowering sense of call and purpose.

Today is the Second Sunday of Advent, and this is the Sunday every year that the rather wild and charismatic character of John the Baptist parades across our stage as the expected forerunner of the Messiah. He was the one who would come and "Prepare the way;" the one whose job description was laid out by the ancient prophets long before: the one to identify and announce the arrival of the long-awaited Messiah of God.

All the roads that John had traveled were converging; all the lines of his life were merging at this singular crossroad, this one incredible moment on the banks the Jordan River!

As he was preaching a baptism of repentance to the crowds of people in the wilderness of Judea by the Jordan, he senses that the Messiah is close at hand. Perhaps he even sees Jesus approaching, and when he does he proclaims,

"I baptize you with water for repentance. But... he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

All the roads of John's past life had converged and focused to this singular moment when he would behold with his own eyes the Messiah of God; the One who was the fulfillment of his life; the One to whom all the roads of his life had been leading.

We can scarcely imagine what it must have been like for John. Maybe you and I have had our fleeting moments of clarity and have caught tiny glimpses of such a thing. But here was John fulfilling the burning purpose of His life on the Banks of Jordan River as He announces the arrival of the Messiah, "I baptize you with water for repentance. But... he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire."

Other than the crucifixion there are few events in Jesus' life that all four Gospel writers include in their story lines. But John's incredible moment of clarity is one of them. For all four of the Gospel writers want us to know that in Jesus all the roads of John's life converged. The reason they want us to know is because the same is true for you and me! All the roads of your life and mine converge  in a clarity of purpose in the person of Jesus Christ.

All of us, without exception, are traveling on some kind of road - quite likely more than one – perhaps many roads at the same time, and only you can answer what roads you are on:

- the road of career and work; or figuring out your work and career?  - the road of learning and education?  - the road of marriage, family and relationships?  - the road of self-improvement and personal growth?  - the road to healing and recovery of something broken or sick?   - the road of coping with a chronic illness?   - the road toward retirement and financial security?   - the road of materialism? Or social status? On it goes.

As you travel your roads, maybe you didn't know it, but you are on an Advent Quest. We travel our roads hoping, looking and longing for real fulfillment, for authentic peace, for genuine joy, for a depth of purpose.  We are on a quest for something more; a quest to find the drink that will quench our thirst; a quest to find soothing relief for the deep ache in our souls. What roads are you on and where are they taking you?

There is a wonderful Indian parable about a guru who had a disciple with whom he was very pleased. The disciple had shown a remarkable level of spiritual maturity and had found peace and joy in simplicity and service to others. The disciple lived in a little hut in a small village. Every morning, after his devotions, the disciple washed his loincloth and hung it out to dry.

One day, he came to discover the loincloth had been eaten by rats. So, he had to get another one, but the rats ate that one also. "This won't do," he thought, so he got a cat to take care of the rats. The cat took care of the rats all right, but now he had to provide for the cat. So, he got a cow to provide milk for the cat. But, he discovered that now he had to provide fodder for the cow. So he decided to till and plant the ground around his hut and begin farming. Soon he found no time for contemplation, no time for service to others. He hired servants to help attend to his farm. Now he found he needed to acquire more land to provide for the servants. Overseeing all of this was difficult and stressful so he married to have his wife help him. Over time the disciple became the wealthiest man in the village. He forgot completely about contemplation and service to others.

Years later the guru returned and came through the village and he stopped in to see his disciple. He was shocked to see a palace surrounded by a vast elegant estate where once stood a simple hut. Dressed in the finest attire the disciple scarcely resemble the simple, peaceful man he once was. "What is the meaning of this? What happened to you?" he asked the disciple. "You won't believe this!" the disciple replied. "But there was no other way I could keep my loincloth!"

All of our frantic traveling is an Advent Quest, a longing, looking and hoping for something more than we've known. As wonderful as things can sometimes be on these roads, they're not SO wonderful that we are truly filled in the way that we DESIRE because something always happens and we get empty and hungry again and thirsty again - so we renew the quest and keep traveling, hoping, longing and looking that maybe around the next bend in the road we will find it: the next job; the next house; the next spouse, the next child, the next million, the next... whatever.

What roads are you on? Where are they taking you? Can they deliver what you really need? Do the roads you travel bring you the peace, the fulfillment and the joy for which your soul thirsts? Or, are they dead ends?

The Gospel writers tell us that John preached baptism of repentance. So what is repentance? Quite literally the word "repentance" means "to turn around."

Most of the time when we speak of repentance we think of it in terms of "turning away" from something, like turning away from our sin. And that certainly is a big part of it. John's ministry was devoted to calling for repentance; calling on people to "turn away" from their sin. And God knows there is much from which we need to turn away: hate, desire for revenge, a simmering grudge; greed and self-indulgence. But that's not the whole story. There's another part.

Repentance is also, like for John, a turning towards someone. John traveled the roads of his life trusting that his Advent Quest would lead to the Messiah of God, and went it did John turned toward him and opened his heart and welcomed him. When he finally met Jesus John knew that as important as it was, merely turning away from something wasn't enough. He knew that the most important turn he could ever make was to turn toward the arriving Lord Jesus Christ.

You see, it's when you make that "turn" on whatever road you are traveling that your hoping and  longing and yearning is finally over; that your Advent Quest is finally complete!

I read an interesting article about Martin Sheen, the actor.  He grew up in a poor family of twelve children of immigrant parents. As a young person he held down many menial jobs in an attempt to just make ends meet. At 24 he got a major break and began his acting career on Broadway. Within ten years or so he had it all including fame and fortune; had it all except one thing -purpose and happiness. He turned to alcohol, and while still in his 30's he suffered a heart attack. When he recovered he began to gain new insight into his life. He realized how fragmented and shallow he had become. Even though he had all the things that most people envy he was unhappy and unfulfilled. While in Paris one May he made his way to a church, and he found himself making a new beginning. He says, "It was there I made a very clear and decisive choice to reclaim my faith. Lost, I found myself again."

From that point on Sheen has traveled a different road. He has become an outspoken social activist for many causes.  His marriage and relationships with his children have been renewed and has become close and helpful to his adult children who have made some of the same bad choices that he had made earlier in life.

Sheen said something that stuck with me. "I learned I had to stand for something so I could stand to be me."

We travel many roads in this life looking for that something that will really fill us; that will quench our thirst. Our culture glitters with seductive avenues and boulevards, highways and byways that make big promises, but we have learned, haven't we, after traveling many miles on some of those they quickly lose their glitter and promise, and we find we're thirstier than ever; still longing and looking.

The late Father Henri Nouwen said,

"The great paradox of our time is that many of us are busy and bored at the same time. While frantically running from one event to the next we wonder in our innermost selves if anything is really happening. While we can hardly keep up with our many tasks and obligations, and we are not really sure that it would make any difference if we did nothing at all."

What roads are you traveling these days? Are they roads that touch your deepest yearnings for purpose and fulfillment, joy and peace? Or are your roads providing nothing much more than busy or shallow distractions, numbing you to the longings in your soul? What's it like for you?

Advent is time to acknowledge that all of your traveling on all of your roads is ultimately a pilgrimage in search of that something more. Advent is also a time to discover all of that for which you long is found in the simplicity of a manger where beats the loving heart of God. It's when you travel the road to Bethlehem, and finally to a lonely cross on the outskirts of Jerusalem where the love of God for you burns like a fire that you will come to know that you are finally home. It's there kneeling at his manger and standing at the foot of his cross that all of our advent roads converge. It’s when we receive Him anew into our hearts that we know we are finally at home.