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     The broad sweep of Isaiah's vision in today's first scripture resembles nothing less than a huge land reclamation project.  I am put in mind of Pope Francis' vision in his encyclical on the environment, Laudato si.  However, the early Christian community, again in one of its "fast backward" understandings, saw a foretelling of the coming of the kingdom, and the ministry of John the Baptist was seen in the threshing image.  I remember an experience I once had when I visited a student friend in Arizona.  His dad worked for one of the big mining companies and we were taken down into one of the huge pits where there were machines that completely dwarfed anything around them, tearing down a mountain and putting it in the back of huge trucks!   While that image is not comfortable for those of us who would rather not have such things going on, the force of it all gets distilled into the image of God restoring all of creation.

    John the Baptist gets quite an endorsement from Jesus in the gospel scripture today: "Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist: yet the least in the Kingdom of heaven is greater than he."   What matters is the kingdom and it can come with a rush that is almost violent.  John the Baptist's preaching used such strong images.   If we are afraid to be forceful about our faith, we have God's assurance in Isaiah, "Fear not, I will help you."  I know I have counted on those words at difficult times.  

     Advent offers us an opportunity to come to terms with our faith-fears.  God will hold our hand and we can get big things done in small ways and small things done in big ways to make the Kingdom come in this season.  AMEN