The Second Sunday of Advent-The Rev Melanie Lemburg

The Rev Melanie Lemburg

2^nd Sunday of Advent Year B

December 10, 2023

 

The Lonely Places by Melanie Lemburg

Why is it

that prophets so often appear

out in the wilderness?

The literal lonely places.

The places of dusty desert

and desolate valley.

The places of expansive

roads stretching out into nowhere under the endless-eye of the

horizon.

They come with challenge and comfort,

with new direction and solace and a certain

lostness.

They help us see

the danger and

risk and

nurture and

care

that all dwell deep in our loneliness.

And they remind us

of all the potential

in a simple change of

direction.

        Our gospel reading for today, on this Second Sunday of Advent, is the very beginning of Mark’s gospel.  We are plopped down in the middle of a wilderness and John the Baptist appears there with us.  We hear echoes of the song of comfort to the Children of Israel in exile in Babylon in the words of the prophet Isaiah.  And in this opening section, the writer of Mark mentions wilderness two out of the ten times that he will reference wilderness throughout the gospel. 

        The word Mark uses, eremos, is the Greek word for desert, but the first part, erem, literally means ‘lonely place.’  In this opening section, Mark is inviting us to hold together both good news and lonely places.[i]  What might that look like for us on this Second Sunday of Advent?

        I invite you to ponder when you have found yourself in a lonely place in your spiritual life?  Consider how the wilderness or a lonely place can be a place of both danger and risk and loneliness and also a place of refuge and rest for those who are wearied by the changes and chances of this life.  When have you found yourself in a lonely place and been offered a change of direction by one of God’s messengers?  Where are the wilderness or lonely places in your life right now, and what is the good news you need to hear there?

 

 

The Lonely Places by Melanie Lemburg

Why is it

that prophets so often appear

out in the wilderness?

The literal lonely places?

The places of dusty desert

and desolate valley.

The places of expansive

roads stretching out into nowhere under the endless-eye of the

horizon.

They come with challenge and comfort,

with new direction and solace and a certain

lostness.

They help us see

the danger and

risk and

nurture and

care

that all dwell deep in our loneliness.

And they remind us

of all the potential

in a simple change of

direction.

---

[i] This section was influenced by Bonnie Thurston’s book The Spiritual Landscape of Mark.  Liturgical Press: Collegeville, 2008, pp 4-5.