Dev: Dec 21 - On Jordan's Bank

On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Awake, and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings of the King of kings!

Then cleansed be every heart from sin;
Make straight the way for God within;
Prepare we in our hearts a home
Where such a mighty Guest may come.

 

When I was young, I wasn’t sure why we Lutherans were singing about a bunch of people from another denomination. Yes, I wondered: “Who are all of these Baptists, standing along the banks of the Jordan River? And why are they crying?!”

 

Punctuation matters!

 

This song, I hope you know, is not talking about a bunch of Baptists crying out!

 

This is about the cry of the Baptist – of, indeed, John the Baptist. And yes, this is his – the Baptist’s – cry.

 

And what was John the Baptist crying during the Advent (the dawning and coming) of our Lord Jesus Christ? John was fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah, saying to us, essentially, “Make straight the way for God within.”

 

John the Baptist was, indeed, “the voice of one, crying in the wilderness.” Like Elijah, the “wild man” and prophet who dressed in camel’s hair and lived in the wilderness, John the Baptist was the promised prophet (in the form of Elijah) who would “prepare a way for the Lord.”

 

John did that through baptisms. He called Israel to the Jordan and impelled them to repent.

 

That was then. The question is now, “How are you preparing a way for the Lord in your life?”

 

·         Is your heart, soul, mind, and strength “awake[ning]”?

 

·         Are you listening for and trusting in the “glad tidings of the King of kings!”

 

·         Is your “heart … be[ing] … cleansed … from sin”?

 

·         Are you living with integrity by “mak[ing] straight the way for God within”?

 

·         Are you “prepar[ing] in [y]our hearts a home” for Jesus, “the mighty Guest,” to “come” and dwell with you?

That’s the call of Advent! That’s what the Baptist (and perhaps the Baptists) are crying about!

 

In Christ’s Love,

a Lutheran who on

Jordan’s banks in Israel

renewed his baptism

(Join us at worship

on January 1 as we offer

a chance to renew

your Baptism!)