Homily, Wilderness Moments
The Second Sunday of Advent, Year C, 2024
St. Peter’s Episcopal Church
Plant City, FL
The Rev. Derek M Larson, TSSF
Today’s Lectionary Readings:
In the name of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
’Tis the season for Hallmark Christmas movies! How many of you like a good Hallmark Christmas movie?
I’ll admit, sometimes I like a good Hallmark Christmas movie. They are not my favorite. And I can’t help but complain and critique throughout the movie, but there is something particularly heart warming about these stories.
Of course, if you’ve seen one, then you’ve seen them all.
Big city executive begrudgingly gets sent to a small, cute town, just before the holidays, where they run into a rough-around-the-edges, annoyingly handsome character that teaches them how to slow down and enjoy the simple things in life, giving them joy and purpose again.
Same thing every time.
I’m wondering if the reason these movies are so popular is because we really do long for a slower and simpler life. For many of us, our days are filled with noise and to-do lists, and even amidst the joy of getting ready for Christmas, it can be stressful. Hallmark Christmas movies then, are about escaping from that reality, even if just for a couple of hours.
But you know that kind of story, and that kind of desire, is nothing new. In fact, I think our gospel passage for today would make an excellent Hallmark Christmas movie.
Think about it. Like the big-city executive, it begins with a long list of important people in important metropolitan places: Tiberius, Herod, Pilate, etc. It then takes us out of those places and into the quiet of the wilderness. And there, I don’t know if he’s handsome or not, we meet a rough-around-the-edges character, John, who proclaims a different kind of life. And the people that go out to him are changed, are transformed—they see the world in a new way. And then they repent of the lives they had been living to find renewed purpose in the waters of baptism.
No Christmas trees. No baking cookies. But the pattern is there. Leaving behind one kind of life, and in the quiet wilderness finding another.
In the Christian tradition the pattern is quite familiar. From the earliest centuries the Desert Fathers and Mothers left the cities to find God in the wilderness. Kings and queens left their palaces to go on pilgrimage into holy lands. Christians like you and me left their homes to go on retreat for a day or a week or a month. There is something deep within us that longs to leave our everyday lives behind just to encounter something beautifully simple in the quiet of wilderness. And that something is the voice of God.
Notice that it is not the Herods, the Pilates, the Philips, or even the Caiaphas’ that hear the word of God in this passage; it is John. And notice that it is not in the cities of Rome, of Judea, or of Galilee that the word of God is heard, it is in the wilderness. The word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness, and it came to him, because there in the wilderness he could hear it.
God may speak in the noise of everyday life, but more often than not, it’s gonna be hard to hear it. But in the wilderness, John could here it. And in the wilderness, those that came out to listen to him could hear it.
In order to deepen our faith and draw ever closer to God, we need wilderness moments. Whether that be literally outside camping and hiking or whether it be metaphorically in the quiet of your own home. Whether that be a week’s vacation away from it all or whether that be 10 minutes before the children wake up with your prayerbook. Whether that be staying a few nights at a local monastery or coming to St. Peter’s for morning prayer or to be alone in the open church. If we are going to hear and listen to the voice of God, we need intentional moments where we leave the distractions of everyday life behind and enter into quiet places. For some of us those moments may be easy to find, for others it may seem impossible. But for all of us, as Christians we are called to seek out some form of wilderness moments as a regular practice of our life in prayer.
In our passage today, John calls people out from their cities into the wilderness for deep personal reflection in order that they might be prepared for the coming of Jesus. Each year in the season of Advent John calls out to us from the pages of Scripture as well, “Come into the wilderness, and prepare the way of the Lord.”
So where have you this Advent season, amidst the Christmas parties and children’s programs, amidst the shopping and the baking, amidst the cleaning and the decorating, intentionally set aside time in the wilderness to listen to the voice of God?
Real life is infinitely more messy than a Hallmark movie. We can’t get up and move to Christmas Village where the air is filled with the smell of freshly baked cookies and the sounds of children singing carols in the lightly falling snow. But the call to slow down and take time away from everyday distractions to get in touch with what is truly important in life is a call much more ancient than the heartwarming escape you see on TV. Because the call to get away is the voice of God that whispers in our hearts. And if we want to hear it, we must seek out those wilderness moments—we must find a place quiet enough to listen. Amen.
Questions for Further Reflection
- How do the “wilderness moments” in my own life allow me to hear and connect with God more deeply?
- In what ways can I intentionally carve out time during this Advent season to step away from my daily distractions and enter into silence?
- How can the message of John the Baptist challenge me this Advent season to prepare my heart for the coming of Christ amidst the busyness of holiday celebrations?
Thoughts on Faith 