Prepare the way and an evening with Marilynne Robinson
Second Sunday of Advent - This Week Along the Way
Dec. 7th, 2024
I love this deck and it pains me that I don’t sit out on it more. I’ve always wanted a rooftop deck. And though this deck is not on our very top rooftop, it’s way up high, three stories over our driveway below. It overlooks the treetops of the forest we live in. Our house is in a canyon, so we’re always in the shade. This deck is where to go to get a little sun.
But again, I hardly ever sit up here. One of the reasons, I’d say, is that it’s kind of set apart from the main traffic areas of our house. It’s the deck off of our bedroom. It’s up on the third floor. And when I’m in the middle of my day, I usually just plop down in my office or at the kitchen table. But another big reason I don’t sit on that deck is that it’s always covered with pine needles. It’s right under this big towering pine tree that just sits there and sheds needles all day and night. I thought there might be a time of year when the shedding would cease. But nope. Shedding is a full-time job for this pine tree. It’s always a mess. So when you go on the deck, you end up tracking all kinds of pine needles into the house. And then the dog goes out there and lays down by you and gets all this pine tree fodder in her fur.
So yesterday, I swept it. I do this every so often, and it’s always such a futile exercise. Because I know that tomorrow I’ll go out and see that the deck is covered in pine needles again. Why am I doing this, I wondered? What a lost cause.
And then it hit me (as it does)… Maybe this is like Advent. From out of the wilderness, John the Baptizer, Jesus’ cousin and forebear - the opening act - invites us to prepare the way for the Lord.
In response to this exhortation, I realize that I can barely remember to do my daily 5-minute Duolingo practice. Duolingo sends me aggressive notifications and emails all day telling me what a slacker I am for not putting in the measly 5-minute goal I’ve set for myself. So if I can’t do THAT, how am I going to, uh… PREPARE THE WAY FOR THE LORD?!
So there’s that.
But really, what does it even mean to prepare the way for the Lord? What does that work of repentance look like?
Advent is a penitential season. We are called to confess our human situation and take an honest examination of how desperately we need communion with our Lord and Savior. Why do we have to do this?! I mean, I’ve lived through 44 - going on 45 - Christmases. Christmas - God’s arrival with us - has come and gone 44 times in my life. So why do I have to sweep the deck again? I MEAN, why do I have to do this work of repentance again? I thought I was saved by grace, not work. If “it is finished,” why does the longing and chaos of life not stop?
No answers emerged. But as I swept, things felt… So much better. And cleaner. As I tossed a couple dustpans full of pine needles from my deck and watched them fall like snow on the driveway below, I started to feel a heck of a lot… Better. I sat on that deck as the sun went down above the trees, soaking in that late autumn glow, and was so happy I had a clean deck to put my feet on. And Dagny was happy to when she laid down next to me.
I realized that this is life. If there was nothing left to do, what would even be the fun of being here? Maybe the problem isn’t the pine needles, but my ridiculous expectation that I should never have to sweep my deck again. That I shouldn’t have to lift a finger in my life to get what I want. I mean, I could cut the damn thing down. That’d take care of it. But I like its shade. I even kind of like the pine needles. It reminds me I am a created being like the trees.
It is good to sweep the deck. It’s really not much. It only takes a minute. I don’t even know if you can call it work. It’s meditative. This isn’t punishment. It’s a small way that I can participate in this life. I don’t have to do it. I can just let the things fall. But it sure feels better to sweep.
Each Advent - and every time throughout the rest of the year that we want to bring in a little advent of our own - for we know that God is always arriving - we do this work. Not because we have to or are forced to. But because God has given us the wherewithal to do so. To sweep the damn deck. And then sit and enjoy the things that you can only accept as a gift.
So, why not?
Prepare the way of the Lord.
Dec. 4th, 2024
It’s not every day that you get to sit at the feet of a wise sage. But last night, I took the family to see the great Marilynne Robinson give a lecture and a Q&A for the UC Santa Cruz speaker series.
I’ve wanted to read her for the longest time and just picked up Gilead a couple of weeks ago, which I’m thoroughly enjoying. I’ve listened to several interviews with her. The woman permeates wisdom.
Yes, wisdom…
God, we need more wisdom.
Our world is full of knowledge. We’ve OD’d on it, I’d say. It’s sickening how much information we have available to us at the swipe of a finger. Smart is the new cool and it’s such a tired look. We’ve gone all-in on smart. And here we are.
I digress…
Marilynne Robinson is a wise crone if there ever was one. Yes, she’s smart (brilliant, actually). But her wisdom transcends smarts. If you’ve read or heard her, you know what I mean.
Sitting there, I thought this was probably what it was like listening to Ralph Waldo Emerson in the early 1800s. This was a LECTURE. It was thick and gamey. Not easily palatable. Today, we have a million TED Talks we can listen to at any given moment. Great information. Very palatable. But our culture is too busy and distracted for a lecture. I felt this. It was hard. Like a workout for my brain and soul. I pushed through, though, and finally got to a point where I told my mind to stop trying to logically understand every sentence she offered. I just let the words sink into me.
I brought Rory to it. Yes, she’s only 11. And I debated this decision. I could’ve just taken her to a friend’s house for pizza and a movie or something. But I brought her along. Because I think kids need more boredom in their lives. To sit and listen to a wise crone wax poetically about the most abstract things - I think - is good for her. I mean, 95% of what Marilynne Robinson was saying flew waaaay over my head. I can only imagine what it was like for Rory.
But then again, kids are wiser than we know. When we enter the realm of the mystical - the realm that Marilynne Robinson travels in - a lot of that stuff enters our souls at levels deeper than rational conceptual thought. I think one day Rory will be glad she sat and listened to this sage pour her wisdom out into the room. She might even pick up her books one day and be blown away like I am.
