Decorations, holiday music, and Advent celebrations seem to join Isaiah in declaring, "The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom" (35:1). When the world is in turmoil, and life feels like a wilderness of unmet hope and desert sands, it's easy to recoil from promises and seasons of rejoicing. For many, celebrating at Christmas time rings false and harsh. If we bear the weight of seemingly unanswered prayers, the collective glee can inflame our thirst for what seems impossible. Yet the Hebrew and Christian promises of God's redemption don't paint God's coming as a "merry" holiday party. God seeks his beloved people where they are, be they in deserts of burning sand, or exposed to predators. God, born in flesh and blood, poverty and danger, exile and suffering, knows what it's like to be excluded from celebration and lavish gift-exchanges. God has come to where we are, even when we're on the sidelines, the outskirts, the margins. From wherever we stand on dry and dusty feet, God forges a path, bit by bit, and encourages our steps. On that path, accompanied by God, we might feel a song rise to our lips.
"As with joyful steps they sped, to that lowly manger bed...
So may we with willing feet, ever seek the mercy seat."
