Jeremy L. Berg

My favorite season for preaching and creating services is Advent. This is especially true for our church that typically gathers in a circle at home or in a fellowship space at the church. Each Advent we move into the beautiful 1888 chapel at St. Martin’s By the Lake Episcopal Church for more conventional services.

Like many churches, we are guilty of turning Advent into a prolonged Christmas season focusing on the infancy narratives with Mary and Joseph, Zechariah and Elizabeth, the magi and shepherds, and festive carols.

This year we’re going to honor the real mood and message of Advent, which is a starker season of preparation for the different comings of God — coming in the events of Jesus’ birth and coming again at the Final Judgment. Advent is for waiting and longing and repenting in anticipation for invasion of Light into our darkened world.

We will be sitting in and meditating on this classic Advent text from Isaiah 40:3-5:

A voice cries out: “In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every VALLEY shall be raised up, every MOUNTAIN and hill made low; the UNEVEN GROUND shall become level, the ROUGH PLACES a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Each week we will explore what it means for God to come meet us in four different circumstances — in the emotional valleys of life, staring at mountainous obstacles, navigating the uneven ground or injustice present in our world, and, finally, all the rough edges of our sinful character God wants to make smooth by the work of the Spirit.

We pray that in all of life’s circumstances, “the glory of the Lord would be revealed” in us and among us as we prepare the Way for his arrival anew this Christmas. Here’s an outline — we invite you to join us if you’re in the area.

11/30 – Tears in the Valley

12/7 – Moving Mountains

12/14 – Uneven Ground

12/21 – Rough Places

Grace and peace!

Pastor Jeremy