The Trouble with Journeys

During the season of Advent, the four Sundays leading up to Christmas and all the festivities therein, many devotional books, biblical texts, and sermons make extensive use of the metaphor of a Journey.  Journey is a word used repeatedly in the Bible to reflect a season of change or soul-searching. Most obvious is that of the Israelites journeying through the wilderness for 40 years. There are other more subtle references to this whole concept of the journey throughout the scriptures. In fact, the idea of a journey as a metaphor of moving through a life of faith isn't even restricted to the Christian religion. Sikhs and Sufis, Greeks and Romans, modern and ancient religions use this journey language to describe our walk through life to faith.
The word "journey" is defined as the act of traveling from one place to another, a process or course likened to traveling - a passage, the journey of life. It comes from the Latin meaning "of a day".  Our word for journal comes from this. It is how we spend our days, traveling from one place to another - physically, mentally and spiritually.
My mom and dad used to have several time-share condos. They traveled at least 4 times a year to various places for a week at a time.  My dad always took care of the car as they prepared for the journey. He'd rotate the tires, check the oil, etc. My mom took care of the packing. When going to the condo, she had a kit she kept equipped just for these trips. It included coffee filters and coffee, sample sizes of dish soap in the brand she liked to use. It also included dryer sheets, clothes detergent, salt and pepper shakers, and a good ole' cast iron skillet, the one thing my mother could not cook without.
They ALWAYS prepared for these "journeys" depending on where they were going. Going to grandma's was a different preparation process. Going to the beach house our family owned was different again. The idea is: you need to prepare for an important thing like a journey.
Today, with a Wal-Mart on every corner, people have forgotten how to make preparations. Anything can be bought at the last minute if you forgot it. We don't realize that good preparation greatly reduces our stress. If you prepare for a journey for weeks ahead of time, it allows you to do things easily and on your terms. A box of this extra on this grocery trip, a box of that extra on that grocery trip, and the money comes out of the budget slowly in a measured progression. If you wait until you get there and run out to get what you need, you deplete the resources you have saved for your journey, and you may not be able to do all you had hoped to do at your destination.
Our spiritual journey needs this type of deliberate and regular preparation. That's what Advent is trying to tell us: don't rush to Christmas yet, make preparations, get ready, examine your heart, clean out your closets, make ready for something and someone amazing is about to happen. And you don't want to be left in line at Wal-Mart when it does!  Read the scriptures of the prophets, who explain our need for a savior. Read the prophecy that God will take care of his people. Examine your conscience for any sins not given over to Christ for redemption. Prepare for the journey to meet your savior - not just at the end of times when we all face judgment - but everyday when we all rise to live one day more on the journey of life. How are you walking? Are you running too fast that you might lose the beauty of the birth in quiet Bethlehem? Are you moving too slow, that you lose momentum and enthusiasm and settle for things as they are? Or are you making your way steadily, purposefully, and faithfully every day on the journey to becoming a whole person in Christ Jesus?

Judges 18:6
"Go in peace," the priest replied. "For the Lord is watching over your journey." (NLT)

a. The act of traveling from one place to another; a trip.

b. A distance to be traveled or the time required for a trip: a 2,000-mile journey to the Pacific; the three-day journey home.

2. A process or course likened to traveling; a passage: the journey of life.

[Middle English journei, day, day's travel, journey, from Old French jornee, from Vulgar Latin *diurnta, from Late Latin diurnum, day, from neuter of Latin diurnus, of a day, from dis, day; see diary.]

Prepare ye the Way of the Lord

Last night I went to see the touring company of Godspell at Charlotte's Knight Theater. It was a great production: great set, great cast, awesome musicians in the band. The venue was also excellent, because I was up in the cheap seats and I could see everything! They intentionally used references to Charlotte at various points to pull us in.
That in itself was amazing enough. A great cast presenting the Gospel of Matthew through song, dance and soliloquy was more than enough to touch my soul.  I had seen Godspell back in the 70's, and even played piano for Fayetteville Little Theater's local production of it. But nothing prepared me for the changes that Stephen Schwartz made to the score and to the story. He begins it with a new song about philosophy, science, cell phones, and more. It was hard to determine what the actors were singing, because they did many songs at once. The cacophony built to a roar as they began to act out the tower of Babel and folded into a revision of "Beautiful City". Just as it reaches fever pitch, John the Baptist breaks through with "Prepare ye the way of the Lord".
For me, this put into perspective the whole Advent season. It's not about the candles and wreaths.  It's not about too much opulence, too much food, too much partying and too many church services. It's not about presents that put us into debt. It's not about anything else except Jesus coming into our world. It's about turning off the cell phone, the TV, the iPhone/Pad/Pod, and the noise to listen for the breath of heaven. It's about, as one of the cast members listed in his biography, PREPRAYER YE THE WAY OF THE LORD! And that's not a typo.  Preprayer is a fusion of prepare and prayer that we need in our lives to truly find joy in this season. The focus must remain on Christ. All else is just window dressing.
Matthew 1:18 says "This is how Jesus the Messiah was born." (NLT) Preparing, praying and readying ourselves to receive - This IS how Jesus the Messiah is born again in each of our hearts.