Could it be? Yes it could! Advent promises

The 1957 Broadway musical “West Side Story” offered up one of the best Advent songs ever:
          “Could be
          Who knows?
          There’s something due any day
          I will know right away
          Soon as it shows
          It may come cannonballin’ down through the sky
          Gleam in its eye
          Bright as a rose!
          Who knows?”

Granted, the number is a little “me-centric” but there was a lot of that in the 20th Century.  And the 21st, and probably the 1st.

The Advent promise voiced by Isaiah, though, was the full-bodied, all-inclusive, stake-your-life-on-it, once-in-an-eternity, for-all-the-people assurance:

          A shoot shall come out from the remnant of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of those roots. The spirit of the Almighty shall rest on this new hope, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and trust of the Creator.  It will delight the Anointed One to rely utterly upon the Author of Life.  The Messiah shall not judge by what eyes can see, or decide by what ears can hear, but shall, in total harmony with the intentions of the Most High, advocate for the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth.  The words of the Messiah will strike the earth like a rod; the breath of God’s Anointed shall bring an end to oppression.

This is the One Who will remove disaster from the table of our daily meals; bring those who are ailing or troubled to full life; gather the outcasts into the community of the beloved, and restore us all to the blessed state of joy and abundance.

          “The air is hummin’
          And something great is coming…”

And we are encouraged to be active about this coming of the Promise, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” John the Baptizer says. Open up your lives so that the Holy One can enter.

Opening up our lives is a challenge we face daily as followers of Jesus.  Opening our selves to a future of uncertainty, opening our congregations to all those who are seeking new life, opening our scope of concern to a global setting, opening our awareness to the crud and crudeness that clogs and contaminates human life, opening our eyes to the wonders that abound.

Advent is a disturbing season, a discordant melody, with the whacked-out prophets singing atonally. Fill up the valleys.  Level the hills.  Straighten out the crooked paths, and smooth out the rough passages.

If we do all that, the whole landscape is changed.  If all that happens, absolutely nothing will seem familiar. Yet, here comes that annoying tune again, the one we can’t keep out of our heads, “Could it be? Yes it could, Something’s coming, Something good…..”  And we get the message.  Messing up the cosmic Legos, the Creator is about to begin anew,  picking up the pieces and reassembling the world.  We are talking about a geography of the spirit, a preparation of human hearts and history so that when the Messiah comes, all that has been fierce and terrifying will be gentled.  Curses will melt into blessings.  Harsh rocks and rugged trails will become refreshing ointment and springy substance, healing our weary and aching feet, making our way bouncy with delight.

Even while we’re doing what we can to make ready, the Anointed One is already on the way, barreling toward us along a wide open heavenly highway, crushing mountains, raising valley floors, causing earth tremors, as the foundations of everyday politics and economics are rattled;  sloshing through the spilled waters of the upended rivers of pain and woe, in rushing wild exuberance just to be with us.

As Isaiah puts it,

          "Be strong, do not fear! Here is your God…
          Waters shall break forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert….”

“It may come cannonballin’ down through the sky, Gleam in its eye, Bright as a rose!”
 
And that might be Isaiah you hear, singing God’s love song to us and for us in the Motown sound of my youth, through the words of Marvin Gaye,
          “There ain’t no mountain high enough
          Ain’t no valley low enough
          Ain’t no river wide enough
          To keep me from getting to you.”