The Second Sunday of Advent-Year B

The Rev Melanie Lemburg 2nd 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. 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.