Advent

A voice of one is calling out, “Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness [remove the obstacles]; Make straight and smooth in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised, And every mountain and hill be made low; And let the rough ground become a plain, And the rugged places a broad valley. (Isaiah 40:3-4, Amplified Bible)

Every Christmas, ever since I can remember, my father would play George Frideric Handel’s Messiah and we grew up listening to the rich and glorious oratorio of one of the greatest composers who ever lived. The Messiah begins with a mournful string overture, then a tenor sings the words of Isaiah 40. “Comfort Ye, comfort Ye my people, saith your God...The voice of him that cries in the wilderness; prepare ye the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God...” 

The first time Handel’s Messiah was presented was for Easter 1742 in Dublin. There was a record breaking 700 attendees as the management had pleaded with the ladies not to wear “hoops” with their gowns so more could enter. It was not only Handel’s music that drew the crowd but many came to see and hear Susannah Cibber, the contralto, who was then the object of many wagging tongues for her part in a scandalous divorce. After many soloists and the chorus, it was Cibber’s turn and as she sang from Isaiah 53:3, “He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief,” so affected was the Rev. Patrick Delany that he leapt to his feet and cried out: "Woman, for this be all thy sins forgiven thee!"

This Advent is the perfect time to see our life in the light of God’s love for us. Are we living the way our loving, eternal Father wants us to live, and has planned for us? Sometimes we see it is impossible to make low our mountain of sin, our selfishness, arrogance, lack of charity. It seems beyond our capability to make our path straight instead of the crooked, messy, rocky byroad we’ve made for ourselves. But we should not be discouraged or hopeless. God can make a way where there is no way. As long as we pray, and ask God for His help, we can be sure just like St. Paul: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)