"...no matter which road you choose, they all end up here!"
Dear Friends,
This past Thanksgiving holiday, my family and I hosted our friends from out-of-state for the holiday weekend. They are among the closest of our friends, and their son is already a great companion to our two children. Their recent trip to Long Island was their first trip here to the Island. When they were plotting and planning their trip here, they were overwhelmed by the number of options on how they could get to our house. Should they take the Parkway or should they take the L.I.E.? How could they get from the North down to the South Shore? For this non-native, in explaining to them how to get here, in hedging bets on how best they could get here in a reasonable travel time, I desperately wanted to call out, for a straight highway for our friends here to Massapequa! But I told them no matter which road you choose, they all end up here!
With the beginning of Advent on Sunday, November 27, we have begun a new Church Year. With the beginning of this New Year, we also begin to prepare for the return of God. Recently, I have been pondering this verse from Isaiah. It is also familiar to us in a Christian context; for these are also the prophetic words used by John the Baptist to announce the coming of Jesus Christ in his own day. The image of creating a highway in the midst of a less than cooperative landscape was not much easier in the time of Isaiah or John the Baptist than it is for us today. Some parts need to be lowered; others stretches of land need to be filled in; and other parts need to be cleared of clutter. Yet for all the processes that we go through, the toils and struggles, when we get to that destination and once that straight highway is ‘made straight’ the level of satisfaction is enormous.
In the end, all roads point to the end. It is true that all roads point to wherever it is that you wish to go. There is never a guarantee that it will be as straight or as direct as you had hoped. But there was some truth to the old Roman adage: All roads lead to Rome. But I would also add that you can only get to Rome if you are looking to get there. Are you looking for a straight highway to our God? The first step in that journey is to take the first step. The second step is to take the second step. The third step is to be determined to get there. The good news is that even as you are looking for God, God is with you along the way. Even in our search for God, God is clearing the brambles, lowering the hill and raising up the valleys for us. Quite honestly, you cannot search for God without God for which I know I am thankful.
In this period of preparation, the Advent of our Lord’s Birth, take time to look down that highway. Chances are you will catch a glimpse of the end, and you’ll see that God is all along the way leading you there. Let us prepare with grace and all faith.
Faithfully, your rector and friend,
The Rev. Joshua D. Walters
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