Is 40:1-5, 9-11
2 Pt 3:8-14
Mk 1:1-8

Just last week I heard someone say loudly in the lobby, “Hey chaplain lady!” I kept walking because I am so new I thought it had to be for someone else. I heard it again and turned around. There was the night nurse who had cared for a dear friend of mine a few weeks ago. She wanted to know how she was doing. After our conversation I smiled as I walked away…hey chaplain lady…I had been called a lot of things but this was the first time to be called that.

As I thought about the Sunday readings for December 7th, I was reminded of this incident. The nurse’s voice cut right through and above the noise of the lobby, had she not said it more than once I would not have turned around. How often have I missed the voice that cried out to invite me to turn around, to be in dialogue, to be aware of another? I am guessing it happens all of the time.

When I hear the first reading and the gospel it is easy to imagine a perfect crowd drinking up the words of Isaiah and John the Baptist. However, I think that their message had all the challenges and more that the night nurse had trying to get my attention. What if the message that God is sending us during this Advent seasons is the still small voice within me, am I ever quiet enough inside to hear the invitation to make way for something…someone new in my life?

Dare I get off my beaten path of fast forward to be in the present moment, the only place where God is present? As this week unfolds I want to show up for that which calls me more deeply into each Advent invitation.