Celebrates Twenty Years of equipping and supporting faith communities!

A message for the week starting on Sunday 5 December 2021

Lectionary Week: Advent 2

Prescribed Texts: Malachi 3:1-4, Luke 1:68-79, Philippians 1:3-11, Luke 3:1-11

Prepare the Way

Focus Text:  Luke 3: 1-6

“Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him . . . And all people will see God’s salvation”, the Apostle John cried out over 2000 years ago. He echoed the much earlier words of Isaiah. And many, many years later, in the time of Advent, we also cry out to people of faith all over the world to prepare the way, to straighten the road, to fill in the valleys, to prepare the way for the world to see God’s salvation.

But what does it really mean when we say that we need to prepare the way for the Lord? I think, quite simply, that we prepare the way for the Lord when we remove obstacles to the realization of the Kingdom coming on the earth. Every time we address an issue of injustice, every time we restore another individual to their own true dignity and worth that they have in Christ, every time we work to heal a broken world, every time we bring healing to broken relationships, “The people will see God’s salvation.”

It is the week after World AIDS Day. The posters are coming down, the t-shirts are packed away, maybe your red ribbon got lost somewhere, the euphoria and positive feelings of many of the wonderful events are dying down. However, the challenges remain. God’s salvation is not yet visible to ‘all people’.

To think about: What now? What are you going to do next week or next month? How will you prepare the way for the Lord in a world with HIV?

Written by: Ms Lynn van Rooyen, former director of CABSA