Do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day. 

2 Peter 3:8

Scripture makes it abundantly clear, God’s time is not our time. But in every time, whenever God’s time intersects with our time, there are voices that call us to pay attention! Voices that call from the wilderness, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.” (Mark 1:3). Saying in essence, “this is the moment.” The intersection of God’s time and our time is now!

In Jesus’ time, the voice came from John, the baptizer (Mark 1:1-8). John’s lone voice proclaimed this is the moment and called people to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Imagine that! John called people to confession – to repent of the ways that their own lives did not reflect God’s intent for them or for world around them and people listened and followed him to the river Jordan! It’s like they were hungry for a new way and just waiting for a voice to lead them!

In our time, the voices still call out – this is the moment! – demanding to be heard; seeking a new way. Luther College Campus Pastor Melissa Bills reminds us that “John’s voice . . . is the voice of all . . . who call out from the margins, begging to be seen and heard and known, begging for their needs to be addressed, begging for their lives.” Voices that call from God’s time into our time still insisting that the world around us does not reflect God’s good intent for creation. God’s good intent which is evidenced by abundance and wholeness and enough for all.

These voices not only call out in order to draw our attention to the ways that God’s time is intersecting with our time. They call out, seeking those who will join the work of preparing the way for the Lord and his saving power; those who are ready to be part of making straight the desert highway; those who will partner to lift up the valleys or lower the mountains, those who can smooth out the rough patches . . . not for the sake of uniformity or expediency, but so that God’s way of justice, and forgiveness, and grace, and compassion, and liberation, and, above all, love, will be made smoother and straighter and be visible in the world.

Advent reminds us again and again that God’s time is not our time. When we hear the voice of one who calls us into God’s wholeness, it is God’s voice calling from beyond human time and reminding us – even now I am with you. My promises are not made in vain. The moment when God’s time intersects our time has come in a manger in Bethlehem and will come again. Whether it be a day or a thousand years . . . we live in this promise.

Come, Lord Jesus.