Advent 3a 2010
12 Dec.
Isa. 35:1-10; Ps. 146:4-9
James 5:7-10; Matt. 11:2-11
Jack Hardaway
STORM FROM HEAVEN
The weather is changing.
The wind is changing directions.
Clouds are gathering in the distance, heading this way.
A storm front is coming, a collision of two weather fronts, and where they touch, that is where
the storm happens, as one front pushing back the other.
But this is not a regular storm of wind and rain.
This is a storm from heaven, the kingdom of God approaches, a new weather front is pushing in,
the weather of the Holy Spirit.
Waters are breaking forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert, the burning sands are
becoming a pool, the thirsty ground now has springs of water.
The eyes of the blind are being opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, the lame leap like a deer,
and the tongues of the speechless sing for joy.
The storm from heaven is rolling in, the kingdom of God is touching, colliding and kissing the
kingdom of this world and is pushing it back, and that point of impact where two fronts converge
is the storm, and Jesus is that storm, the point of contact. He is the evidence, the foretaste of
what is coming after him.
The dry places have become streams of water; those who were broken are being healed.
From prison John the Baptist sends the message, the question, “Are you the one?”
And Jesus responds, “What do you hear, what do you see? Is this what you are waiting for ?
The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are
raised, the poor have good news brought to them. Is this who you are waiting for? If so then
you are blessed.”
John the Baptist is the last and greatest prophet that this world has to offer, he is the edge of the
storm front of this world, he is where one age of the world ends and Jesus is the long awaited
beginning of the new age, the new weather front rolling across the world.
And us? Here today, here on the other side of that storm? We still look and listen for the signs
of that storms arrival. We are those who are all eyes and ears, watching the weather.
We live as if it were here already. We live out those same signs by being water in dry places, by
bringing healing where humanity is broken.
We live on the other side of the storm from John the Baptist, we live with the gift of the
Resurrection and the gift of the Holy Spirit but like John we still wait for the fullness of the
kingdom to arrive, we are still in that place of storm, the place of contact between two worlds,
two weather fronts, meeting, colliding, kissing.
The storm from heaven is still here, and we are now that point of contact, we are now the storm,
we are now the weather of the Holy Spirit.
We live as if it were already so even though it is not so.
It is a place of contradiction and faith, it where the weather of the Spirit rains down upon us, it is
the place of the season of Advent.
The weather is changing. Can you hear it? Can you see it?