Doors and Gateways

Rugged North Cornwall Coastline by Paul Collings

Luke 3:5

‘Every ravine will be filled,

And every mountain and hill will be brought low;

The crooked will become straight,

And the rough roads smooth;

Passage through the wilderness was an integral part of John’s mission, as it was for Abraham, Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Where, in all the hurly burly of modern life, do we find a holy place, a place where we can be apart and encounter God daily? 

John began his mission in the wilderness, as Jesus was to do. We each have a wilderness inside us, a place of testing, where the power of false gods is broken. It is a place of encounter with ourselves, with our inner demons and with God. We should not be afraid of going into this wilderness, since it is there that the word of God will come to us.

The paths we follow are often crooked, diverting us from our eternal goal. We may well ask  what can I do to make my path to God straight?

We are always invited to open ourselves to further conversion, to an ever deeper change of heart, to a deeper listening to what Jesus is asking of us, “Lord, what do you want me to do, to be?”

Our own role is not unlike that of John the Baptist. Like him, each one of us has a mission to communicate the Spirit of Christ and his message of hope, love, freedom and peace to others.

To help people fill their valleys and make their rough paths smoother. A word of affirmation, encouragement and indeed a simple smile can work wonders.

Loving God, 

be to us as a bulldozer of the spirit.

Clear your road in us;

clear a path through the detritus of possessions and obsessions.

Thrust aside our divided aims and devious games.

Topple the ramparts of pride and the doubts that deride.

Make a highway on which Christ may come

and take possession of the whole territory of our being.  

To the glory of your name we pray.

Amen!