It’s wonderful to prepare

Toward the middle of Frank Capra’s “It’s a Wonderful Life” the narrator Joseph tells what George Bailey was doing during World War II.

George, the main character of the movie played by Jimmy Stewart, was unable to serve in the war on account of having lost his hearing when he jumped into freezing water to save the life of his brother who had fallen in the ice.

As an adult during the war, Joseph tells us George served as an air raid warden to help serve the cause.

He ran paper drives and scrap drives and rubber drives.

A pillar of the community, George served that community well.

And at the end of the conflict in Europe, Joseph narrates a scene of people praying in church and said, “Like everybody else, on V-E Day he wept and prayed.”

The camera then shifts to another angle, where Joseph says of George, “On V-J Day he wept and prayed again.”

And we get a sense that this is the end of things.

The end of the war.

The end of George’s service as an Air Raid Warden.

The end of the various scrap drives.

And yet, there is a new mission for George.

That is to welcome his brother, his younger brother whose life he saved as a child, home.

Directly after the scenes in church, we see George carrying a Christmas wreath because ‘tis the season, and a bunch of newspapers announcing George’s brother Harry’s return home.

Harry is a returning hero and he is soon to return home.

And I can’t get this image out of my head this week of George preparing for a hero’s welcome of the favored son, his brother.

George did the work to keep the place running.

And along with that, he prayed.

Now he is preparing the way for his brother’s arrival.

Sound familiar?

Because this morning we are hearing about another who will be preparing the way for their relative.

This time, a cousin, John the Baptist will be preparing for the way of the Lord.

Still, it’s not very clear at this point exactly what is going on in the readings, certainly not as clear as it will be next week when John calls out the broods of vipers and all that.

This week, we get the beauty of the Song of Zechariah in place of our psalm and a call back to Isaiah in our gospel with an introduction of who John is and the work he is performing but a lot of this is seemingly about what is going to happen.

Now, we’ve talked about this week’s readings and next week’s readings and in order to go full circle, let’s talk about last week’s readings.

Remember, Jesus was asking us to notice the signs of what is already occurring.

Like noticing that the leaves of the fig tree blooming is a sign of summer already being here, we are to notice that Jesus is in the process of arriving.

We are to notice that the arriving is ongoing; to look for and listen to the signs that everything is changing.

Back to this morning beginning with Zechariah, poor Zechariah who was made mute when he met the news of his impending parenthood with disbelief given that he and his wife were seemingly much too old to bear children anymore.

And yet, when Zechariah does gain his voice back once the child was born, as promised by the angel Gabriel, he speaks what is known as the Song of Zechariah.

In it, Zechariah proclaims the imminent arrival of a mighty savior born in the house of David, that savior being Jesus.

And then he speaks directly to his newborn son John, unnamed in the song: “You, my child, shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, To give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.”

We then turn to the gospel where along with an introduction to who John is, one who will baptized folks with the waters of redemption, we get a rereading of Isaiah, “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God…”

And then everything changes.

The highway is made straight.

The mountains are made low.

The valleys are lifted up.

All is being prepared for the arrival of the Christ.

And I imagine this relationship between John and Jesus as a close one.

Perhaps because I grew up close with my own cousins, I can see John and Jesus meeting together when their parents got together for coffee and what not.

Imagine them putting on Passover pageants as we put on Christmas pageants when we were kids.

And still, John had a role to play and perhaps with Zechariah’s guidance, knew he was to prepare the way for Jesus.

And then they were adults.

Then it was John’s turn to preach redemption and salvation through baptism.

He built a community of followers that in some form still exists to this day.

Yet John knew what was to come and he prepared.

Just as George Bailey did for his brother’s return, John did the work to proclaim the news of Jesus’ imminent beginning of ministry.

Jesus’ imminent baptism.

Jesus’ ultimate promise of salvation for all of humanity.

Yet that is not the end of John’s story.

John is arrested by Herod and eventually executed for things he said about Herod’s marriage.

His work complete, the mountains lowered and the valleys raised, Herod fell victim to Herod’s regime.

So, the comparison is not perfect but I brought up George Bailey and It’s a Wonderful Life because, A. ‘tis the season, and B. both George and John the Baptist prepared the way for a hero’s or our savior’s arrival.

Yet George was troubled by this.

He would have served too but for his ear, he thought.

He would have made a difference in life, more important differences than running rubber collections.

And beyond that, he wanted to do great things; bigger things than were happening in his hometown of Bedford Falls, he wanted to build buildings and travel the world.

Yet never did.

Perhaps, like John, he was called to prepare the way for others; he was called to straighten out the crooked and make the rough ways smooth.

And yet what John did and what George did had to happen, (and yes, I realize George Bailey is a fictional movie character from 80-some-odd years ago, but let’s go with this.)

For Jesus to arrive Isaiah’s prophecy had to be fulfilled, at least in the telling of Luke’s gospel.

For his brother to survive, George had to save him and by saving him his brother was able to defend a troop ship from harm, thus saving countless others.

Okay.

The comparison is not perfect, I admit.

It might even be heretical so let’s keep this between ourselves and the online stream, but I want to insert a human element here.

John’s role was deemed necessary by God and the prophet.

George’s role was less clear but just as necessary for humans to survive.

Not be saved in salvific terms but to survive.

And for me, in both John and George, both are necessary to fulfil God’s will.

Both are necessary to prepare the way of the Lord.

George lived a good life and did the right things.

He saved his brother, yes, and that was heroic, but he also loved his family.

He gave to those in need.

He built homes for those in need of shelter.

And so on.

That he did not do greater things as he saw them was a deficiency only through his eyes.

And that is what we are called to do.

We are called to be good people.

We are called to love each other.

We are called to give what we can to those in need of what we must give.

Each of us has special talents, special abilities that make this world a better place and it is on each of us to share those gifts.

These are not platitudes.

These are required actions on all our parts to perform if we are to fulfill the will of God.

Most likely, none of us will be asked to serve as John did and help to usher in the return of the kingdom.

Still, we have been asked and are required to build a kingdom here on earth that at least is the proximate human equivalent to that which will one day arrive.

We might not all experience the big dreams of world travel and building big buildings, but each of us has a purpose deigned by God to serve.

To make each individual’s life easier by smoothing their mountains, by raising their valleys, by making straight the crooked, and making the rough ways smooth.

Do not forget in this season of preparation that we prepare for the Lord, and.

And we prepare to serve each other as we are one community serving one God.

There is greatness in all of us and it is found in the love we share.

Share for God.

For each other.

For the world.

Amen.