The roadwork on Hendricks Avenue is endless. I was warned when I first arrived in Jacksonville that “they” like to “work” on Hendricks Avenue every other year or so. But ever since I arrived at St. Mark’s, “they” have been paving, stripping, repaving, and paving some more. Some days I feel like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day,” stuck in repetition. Didn’t they pave this exact lane yesterday?
Last week, I was sitting in traffic on University Blvd, waiting to turn on to Hendricks Avenue, and I heard the words of the prophet Isaiah in my head as John the Baptist is introduced in Luke 3, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
If Advent is a season of anticipation and preparation, anxious yet patient waiting-- a season calling us to prepare the way for the king of kings and to straighten and smooth pathways-- then it seemed oddly appropriate that I sit in traffic waiting for a giant truck to lay a new, shiny path for me to journey on. So I waited to turn right, said a prayer of thanksgiving that the return of Jesus was not dependent upon FL-DOT or Duval Asphalt, and then waited some more.
By the time you read this, Advent has come and gone (here’s to hoping we can say the same for the work on Hendricks). We transitioned from Advent to Christmas, and now Christmas to Epiphany as the liturgical cycle continues. But I wonder, have our lives been changed by all the hard work of Advent-- the waiting, anticipation, and preparation? We spent a significant amount of emotional and spiritual energy preparing the way, making straight the paths, filling the valleys, and lowering the mountains. Are we at all changed by the labor of Advent? Or like Hendricks Avenue being “worked” on every other year, are we resigned to simply wait around for another time of waiting? Do we wait for waiting’s sake because that’s what “we” like to do?
True, our waiting comes to somewhat of a culmination on Christmas Eve as we remember the birth of Christ but, deep down within our Christian identities, waiting is deeply rooted in the promised return of our Messiah. And with every season of waiting-- active waiting-- the path is formed, reformed, and transformed. Each cycle of waiting brings new light to the imperfections of our way. Once corrected, lowered, raised, or straightened, our new, shiny way yields a renewed sense of waiting-- active, proclamation-filled waiting. A re-reformed path should be easier to traverse, clearly marked with signs and direction.
Maybe I’m naive and hopeful because I’m still new to Jacksonville, but I think the work on Hendricks Avenue will come to an end (even if temporary). Then we will travel Hendricks again and again until such a time that it needs to be “worked” on once more.
The same is true with us. Advent was a season of waiting and preparation, making straight the paths. Now that Advent has gone (and it will come again), how has your life in Christ been changed? Illumined? Reformed? Transformed?
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