We’re Number Two!

Ahead of us is only New York City. But don’t feel badly: In this particular competition, we don’t want to be Number One.

I’m talking about traffic congestion. Our average one-way commute is now 33 minutes, and we residents of the DC area spend an average of 69 hours a year in traffic jams. “This is like the Olympics of gridlock,” said Lon Anderson of AAA to The Washington Post (May 10, 2005). Sometimes it seems as though we are going for the gold — although this is not an honor that should make any of us proud.

Unfortunately, our population is growing and not enough roads and rail lines are being built to meet the need. For the near future, it looks as though we are going to have to expect more time on choked highways, and less time with our families.

That’s the bad news. But don’t despair — I have some good news for you as well.

In today’s passage of Scripture, John the Baptist sounds like a traffic engineer when he cries out, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low … the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth” (Luke 3:4-5).

John is firing up his earthmovers — filling valleys, knocking down mountains, leveling hills. He is cranking up his cement-mixers — pouring concrete to make the rough ways smooth and the crooked lanes straight. John is building a highway for the Lord, one that will help all of us to “see the salvation of God” (v. 6).

John knows that you cannot keep doing things the same way and expect a different result. That, in a nutshell, is the definition of insanity. Fully aware of this, John appears on the scene with a radically new message — a message of good news that gives people a fresh way to make a connection with God. You see, there was every bit as much congestion in his world as there is in ours today — Luke goes to great pains to describe how John appeared “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis” … yada, yada, yada (v. 1). Through all this congestion and gridlock John breaks through with a message that fills valleys, knocks down mountains, smoothes rough roads, and creates straight paths.

John’s message is this: turn away from sin, receive forgiveness, and prepare to meet the Messiah.

The language that John uses for his message makes sense in the middle of all this talk about straightened paths and new highways. His challenge is simple and straightforward, but far from easy. He proclaims a baptism of “repentance” — from the Greek word “metanoia,” meaning “change of mind.” To repent is to do a 180 degree turn, reverse course, and head in a new direction. This is what John is calling us to do as he challenges us to turn away from sin and turn toward Jesus Christ. He wants us to take this new path, so that we can receive forgiveness and “see the salvation of God” (v. 6).

What is it about the course you are on that is leading you in the wrong direction? Are you focused too much on the demands of the power-people above you — the Tiberiuses, Pontius Pilates, Herods, and Philips of your workplace or organization? Are you being lured off the right path by envy or anger or ambition or laziness or lust? Are you neglecting yourself — physically, emotionally, spiritually — as you put too much energy into meeting the needs of others? Are you simply feeling lost, confused by crooked roads; or banged up, rattled by the many rough paths that exist in our world today?

If any of this describes your current course, the message of John is being spoken to you today: turn away from sin, receive forgiveness, and prepare to meet the Messiah. I have found, in my own life, that a decisive break is sometimes needed — from a course of study that was out of sync with my abilities, and from a part-time job that was sucking all the life out of me. There are times when we need to pull a 180, an about-face, and head in a completely different direction.

Today is the first in a series of sermons that Michelle and I will be preaching over the next five weeks. It is called “Intersections,” and it will be an exploration of the many ways in which our own paths connect with God’s path, in our lives as individuals and as a community of faith. We are excited about these intersections, not because they bring to mind thoughts of congestion and gridlock, but because they point to the places where we can have a life-changing encounter with our Lord.

Next week, I’ll be preaching on the story of Jesus beginning his ministry in the synagogue at Nazareth. This is when he announced that “the Spirit of the Lord is upon me” (Luke 4:18), and when people were first sensed that he was on a mission from God. The sermon will be called “The Intersection of God and Humanity,” and we will explore how Jesus is, for us, the clearest sign of God’s involvement in human life.

Then, on September 24th, I’ll look at the intersection of one person to another — focusing on the way that Jesus sent seventy followers out to do his work in the world. Jesus organized them in pairs, and commanded them to go out two-by-two and spread peace and healing to all the communities they visited (Luke 10:1-12). He gave them the message of the coming of the kingdom of God — a message that some neighbors would believe, and some would not.

October 1st is World Communion Sunday, and my sermon that day will focus on the intersection of gifts and the Holy Spirit. We’ll be reminded that there are “varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:4), and we’ll discover that it was in the one Holy Spirit that “we were all baptized into one body” (v. 13). Our Communion that day will be a sign of our unity in the body of Christ — union with one another and with all the Christians of the world.

Michelle will preach on October 8th, exploring the intersection of gifts and needs. Her text will be the story of Peter healing a crippled beggar in the third chapter of the Book of Acts, and she will speak on how our spiritual gifts can be matched with the needs of the world.

Finally, on October 15th, I will conclude this Intersections series with a sermon on the passage from Acts in which the earliest Christians shared their possessions freely with one another (Acts 4:32-37). My topic will be “The Intersection of Gifts and Commitment,” and our worship that day will include an opportunity for you to pledge your time and talent to God’s work in this place. This will be a commitment of spiritual gifts, not monetary gifts — a chance for you to match your interests and abilities with the mission of this church.

Intersections: This will be our theme for the next five weeks. Michelle and I both hope that this series will enable your personal path to connect with God’s path, in some new and maybe-even life-changing ways.

The journey begins today, as we prepare the way of the Lord, and start our journey on the straight path that John the Baptist has prepared for us. We are to turn away from sin, and turn toward Jesus Christ, as parents promise to do when they bring a child for baptism — and as we are challenged to do every day of our lives. We are to keep our eyes open for opportunities to intersect with God, and to discover where God is leading us as we travel through life together. We are to watch for places where our gifts can intersect with the needs of the world, and where we can spread peace and healing in the name of Jesus Christ.

Today, you will have just such an opportunity in our Festival of Ministries, which will follow this service of worship. You are invited to join fellow members and visitors on a tour of our church building, and to discover at various stations throughout the church the numerous ways that you can be involved with your own unique gifts and abilities. From singing in the choir to helping the homeless, and from teaching a class to feeding the youth group, there are countless ways for you to be involved in the mission and ministry of this church.

The journey of faith begins with a single step — one which you are invited to take today. You’ll be walking a path without gridlock, a street without frustrating congestion, a road without maddening curves and disorienting detours. It is, in fact, a royal road — a road that has been made straight and level out of respect for the coming Messiah.

May you meet our Lord Jesus at every intersection that lies ahead. Amen.


Sources:

D’Vera Cohn and Robert Samuels, “Daily Misery Has a Number: Commute 2nd-Longest in U.S.,” The Washington Post, August 30, 2006, A1.

Steven Ginsberg and Timothy Dwyer, “D.C. Traffic Creeps Toward Nation's Worst: Area Drivers Spend Almost 69 Hours in Gridlock a Year,” The Washington Post, May 10, 2005, A1.