The voice of one crying aloud in the wilderness:
“Prepare the road for the Lord,
make a straight path for him.”’
preparations
made and sold
have echoed their way
to the present
with all their burrs removed
how long does it take
to straighten crooked lives
heal vessels of G*D
strengthen intentions into action
should we care to look back
to better look ahead
we will note Ezra and Nehemiah
report Isaiah to be dewy-eyed
all that John brings to the party
still awaits Jesus redux
instead of claiming
a straight road
for our clean feet
we return to yesteryear
to add our preparation
that will tack one more
vowel to echo-o-o-o
on to o-u-m
Finally we come to Isaiah who introduces us to the wilderness imagery that will run through the rest of the book. Without wrestling with wilderness in general as well as deserts in specific we miss the signifi-cance of a contest between tomorrow and yesterday, between abundance and scarcity, life and death, good and evil, and all the dualities that sharpen and limit our engagement with one another, both neighbors and creation.
In The New Interpreter’s Bible, Pheme Perkins says, “Salvation traditionally comes from the wilderness.” In Mark we find Jesus entering and leaving wildernesses specifically mentioned (e.g., 1:35, 1:45, 6:32, and 8:4). It will also be important to begin sensitizing ourselves to listening for wilderness references beyond that of the physical.
The Wild is both cause and cure of our disasters. Left to its own, suffering ensues. Humbly entered and encountered, it contains suffering’s antidotes of Enough and Joy.
Whatever you consider “the Lord” to be, consider a circular way of being both on the way to and in a place prepared to aid us in preparing a next way. An old Shaker hymn has us turning and turning from prepared to preparing to prepared for a larger preparation, until we come around, together, just right and just right, again—and again.
We seem to constantly be tempted and find our attempts at straight-making turned into places of wilderness for others and a next reformation needed to move us from our current idolatry or limitation on abundant living. Prepare to need more preparation.