The Rev. Daniel A. Smith, MDiv '99, Senior Minister at First Church in Cambridge, and Lecturer on Ministry Studies (HDS), delivered the following remarks at Morning Prayers in Harvard's Memorial Church on December 3, 2019.
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A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up, and every mountain and hill be made low; the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain. Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
On “snow days” like today, I can’t help but covet those mini bulldozers that Harvard dispatches to clear its sidewalks and footpaths! I want one, badly, whenever I shovel my own walk. Or maybe I just want to drive one. Apparently I’m not alone. Turns out there’s a new craze in grown up recreation—Heavy Equipment Adventures! Check out this online description of one such company: “[We let] clients drive a 26-ton excavator or bulldozer for fun! Young and old, men and women, individuals and corporate groups, can live out their childhood dreams by playing in our sandboxes. There is no other place in the world where you can drive a bulldozer, crush a car, and finish off with a ride in our fire truck. We are Extreme Sandbox.” Throw in the chance to drive a Zamboni and I might just lost my mind joy at the prospect of living out my childhood! Silly I know. Problematic, sure. But if we take Isaiah’s words to heart, these earth moving dreams are almost biblical! Make straight a highway for God? Every mountain shall be made low? Sounds like a job for heavier equipment than even Harvard has.
Interestingly, the first recorded use of asphalt was in Babylon, about the time our text was written, near 625 BCE. In fact, Isaiah’s images in our text are rooted in ancient engineering practices that were all about creating safe, efficient travel for Kings. Royal engineers and workers were commissioned to cut through hillsides and smooth uneven roads. These images would surely speak to Israelites’ dreams of finding a way out of exile and captivity, and a way home to Jerusalem. But Isaiah was preparing the way not merely for a departure but an arrival, the arrival of holiness itself: the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords!
In the midst of a season of ungodly consumption, of increasingly profane public discourse, with political courage in exile and democracy in chaos, the question Isaiah asks of us is this: “how can we make space, and make a way, for the holy in our lives and world?” What would it take to move those mountains of digital distraction or to remove those boulders of climate crisis despair, or to touch that bedrock of our faith, and tap those wellsprings of divine hope and joy that are in the ground of our being?
Bear with me here, and just imagine you are in the cockpit of a Komatsu 575a, the world’s largest bull dozer! Your adrenaline rushes as the engine rumbles under your seat—you literally have the power to move mountains, to recast your every surrounding! Of all the things in this world that stand in the way of God’s presence and holiness, where you would begin? Would you start with yourself, filling those valleys of insecurity that need lifting up? Would you raze those towering hilltops of perfectionism, or wreck those boulders of anxiety so that you can know the gifts of your vulnerability and of God’s grace? Turning outwards, where would you begin if, with God’s help, you could reshape our current social and political landscape? Would you head straight to DC? In this crowd, some of you may have a flight to catch already! Would you tear down prison walls and proclaim release to the captives?
This season of Advent calls us to so much more than caroling, wreath-making, tree trimming and holiday cheer. Advent calls us to change the very landscape of our being and our world, to make clear a path for holiness, to set our feet again on a pilgrimage to the divine that is within and all around us, often just beneath the surface. Advent coaxes us to find holiness in sandboxes and on snow covered yards, in spaces of childlike wonder, joy and play. Advent is about allowing what is already holy and loving to emerge and be born in us again, like a child, in the fullness of wonder and love. God has already created the world and declared it good! God’s word has already become flesh. It is holy and so are we and everything around us, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
And a voice cries out, “Here is your God!” Here is your God! Even here, in this sanctuary of warmth and light, in this holy space of grace, and a snow-covered morning like this. Can you dig it?
Loving God, as we head out into a winter wilderness, equip us with your courage, power and grace that we too can clear a path for the holy. “For then your glory shall be revealed,and all people shall see it together!” Amen.