The Right Rev. Craig Loya

Uneven Geography

From the Bishop

Beloved in Christ, 

I grew up in North Platte, Nebraska - a railroad, cattle, and farm town that sits right on Interstate 80 at the gateway to the western expanse of the state. Across Nebraska, I-80 follows the Platte River valley. Unlike the winding river, the highway feels arrow-straight, and carries cars very quickly over wide vistas of farmland that give way to plains as you travel west. So when I hear John the Baptist in this week’s gospel lesson, quoting Isaiah’s prophetic cry to prepare the way of the Lord by making his pathways straight, it doesn’t sound like a stretch. 

In the geography where John stood, on the other hand, this was a bold claim. John was preaching in a spot that is only about fifteen miles from Jerusalem, but it could be ninety degrees where John was standing, and snowing in Jerusalem. The route in between is a rocky and winding wilderness that was hard to traverse and incredibly dangerous. To call for the construction of I-80 in such a place was a bold claim indeed. 

Advent is the season we are invited to sit in the uneven geography of the world, and our own hearts, and remember that God can always do what seems too impossible to believe, and too good to be true. The gospel of Jesus is good news precisely because it is unbelievable, and makes no rational sense. While we wait for the fulfillment of God’s promises, we are called to move some of the stones of injustice, smooth out rough patches with mercy, and make the path for the mighty waters of God’s love to flow unimpeded through ourselves, our communities, and the whole world. 

The path we are called to walk is often difficult, dangerous, and demanding, dear ones. But there is a voice crying in the wilderness, a voice pointing to God’s unfailing faithfulness, a voice calling us to the better way of love, a voice promising that all the uneven, broken places will be filled up, until that highway buoys us all into the unending embrace of God’s love. Can you hear it? Will you join it?

Grace and Peace, 

The Right Rev. Craig Loya