Devotional for the Week

Road Maintenance

Devotional for the week of December 8, 2024

When John the baptizer arrives on the scene, it must mean Jesus is just around the next bend. Yet the path ahead that the prophet Isaiah describes has no bends or curves. It is a way made straight, one on which the rough spots have been smoothed out and the stumbling blocks removed. Our daily lives are rarely, if ever, made straight and smooth, though. The stressors we encounter at work, the difficulties of parenting or caring for family, the challenges that come as we get older fill our paths with twists and turns. Little is plain and simple, in life or in scripture. The point of the gospel is not that everything will be smooth for us if we just have faith. But neither are we hopelessly lost along the way. The good news is that God provides a way forward. Amid the obstacles are also openings.

Preparing our hearts to follow the way of Jesus involves work. Just as maintaining a roadway demands ongoing inspection and service, our spiritual lives and the lives of our faith communities require consistent, long-term attention, care, and commitment. During Advent, we in the church together recommit to the “roadwork” necessary for preparing the way. We open ourselves to receiving the gift of God’s creative presence in the world.

Faith is the opening through which God begins this work. We do not baptize ourselves. We are not called to do the work alone. Rather, we are baptized into a community of faith, as members of Christ’s body in the world. God’s grace given to us in word and sacrament transforms and empowers us to work collectively, to care for one another and God’s creation, to work for justice and peace. Life together won’t always be smooth or straightforward. There will be obstacles. But by the grace of God, there are also open roads ahead.