Isaiah 11:1-10, Matthew 3:1-12
By now, we’re into the story. Week two in the season of Advent feels right. Week one is a shock, to be honest. We’re not ready, even though the call is to get ready, to be ready. So, we come into the season with confession. We’re not ready; we haven’t been ready. We’ve been caught up in our own stories, getting by, getting ahead. But now it’s week two, and we’ve gotten our Advent bearings; we’ve remembered our Advent legs as we walk the journey into a promised future.
Or maybe not. John comes alongside to tell us we aren’t ready. We haven’t yet claimed the story as our story. We aren’t yet living and dying by the promise. We haven’t become the story and lived as the sign. Not yet. At least that’s what he says. Doesn’t he?