The readings for this second week in Advent are more eager about the future than perplexed with the present, in contrast to last week’s readings. Isaiah and John the Baptist both call people to prepare God’s way. In different ways Psalm 85 and 2 Peter both proclaim that peace is at hand, though still to arrive.

Marti Steussy points out that Isaiah 40:1-11 reflects an earlier time than last week’s reading. Here something new and unprecedented and immeasurably good is about to happen – the long awaited return from exile. Isaiah imagines the equivalent of a superhighway, says Charles Allen, stretching from Babylon to Jerusalem. In the face of this new happening, all things seem possible. Marti recalls the day the Berlin Wall came down – she was at a conference, rooming with a woman from Germany. Those moments are real, and we need to hang onto them, even though there will be lots of gritty slogging to be done once the good news is announced. Those of us who have come out, according to Holly Hearon, experience a return from exile when we reclaim our history, our identities, our stories – all the things that have been scattered or repressed.

	Have you lived in exile? Have you returned from exile? Or are you still waiting? What needs to happen next for you?

Who would not like Psalm 85? It speaks for itself, says Marti. Helene Russell, Holly and Charles think verse 10 is utterly fabulous: “Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.” Holly likes the image of kissing: it assumes a kind of intimacy, a willingness to be a little vulnerable and a commitment of heart along with mind. Of course in today’s world steadfast love and faithfulness have yet to meet, Charles observes, and righteousness and peace are not even holding hands, much less kissing. There is still need for matchmaking, Helene quips; maybe these virtues should subscribe to Chemistry.com.

	Think of moments when it seemed that everything was finally coming together. What was that reconciliation like? How long did it last? Is it happening now? Will it happen again?

Charles hears echoes of Psalm 85 in 2 Peter 3:13-14, where the author looks for a new heaven and a new earth “where righteousness is at home” and where we “strive to be found by [God] at peace.” 2 Peter 3:8-15a is trying to explain why the promised day of the Lord has not yet arrived. It might take thousands of years! Marti notes that there are a number of Jewish texts from around the same time that offer similar explanations: God wants everybody to be reconciled, no matter how long things have to wait. We are not waiting to escape this world, but for a reconciled world. And while we wait we should live by the same values of that world, not this one. God’s patience is our salvation. Holly wonders, if God is waiting for everybody, “How long will everyone else have to wait for me? How long will I have to wait for everyone else? Is there a way we can help each other in this process?” Reconciliation requires repentance, but not repentance from reconciling love, regardless of one’s sexuality.

	When others call you to repent, how do you respond? Do you feel pressured into denying the love that has found you? How could turning from love ever bring genuine repentance? What about repenting for not following your heart?

Charles notices how easily many of us identify with “the voice of one crying out in the wilderness” in Mark 1:1-8. Helene concurs. This experience of being a single voice alone and not being heard can leave us feeling discounted and ineffectual. But being such a voice is part of who we are. We cannot afford to let ourselves be silenced. Repentance appears again as a connecting theme between this passage and 2 Peter 3:8-15a, Holly comments, but here it is connected with a “rite of passage,” baptism.

Rituals are important for honoring transitions, a way of marking time and giving such moments a place in our memory. What might such rituals look like among those of us who have come out? What rituals do we already have that help us to recognize that God is present even in the midst of our wilderness and joins with us through the Holy Spirit? Charles suggests that the promised baptism with the Holy Spirit may be what people experience when they come out, recalling that in Acts 10:44-48 a baptism in the Spirit causes Peter to recognize that people he considered impure are as acceptable to God as he is.

	Where is your voice? Do you find yourself in the wilderness? Who hears you? Where can you see signs of God’s new community emerging in unexpected places?