Shouting All Over Heaven - A Reflection for the Second Sunday of Advent

I suspect we have all heard the words of the negro spiritual: “I’m gonna shout all over heaven, what a day that’s gonna be.”  

The words to this song spring from the heart of a people who had experienced untold injustice. “Shouting all over heaven” is a jubilant expression of a world they had never experienced as well as a world they could hardly wait to know.

John the Baptist speaks words that call us to change. The word often used to describe this change is metanoia—not just repentance, but a transformation of our very being and mindset. We often talk of John’s words calling us to repentance which concentrates on ourselves. Here John reflects the vision of Isaiah—God’s holy mountain where all will be peaceful and glorious—where lamb will lay with the lion, the child will play by the cobra’s den. This metanoia is the change that brings about a whole new person, a whole new way of being. 

This we do, according to St. Paul in his words to the Romans, by reaching out to “welcome one another.”   In the world of God’s kingdom, there is no room for the least fear or suspicion. There is no room for judgment or gossip. There is no room for complaint or exclusion. Isaiah anticipated a new paradise where the poor are defended and the selfish removed. It is to be a world we cannot imagine if we hold onto our exclusions and self-focus. It is a world where we know only generosity and acceptance. 

Such spontaneous goodness in the human family may seem to us as impossible as the desert’s blooming with luxuriant growth. Yet deserts do come to life miraculously! God will settle for nothing less--the glorious freedom of the children of God when we live in perfect harmony. 

It all seems impossible in this world of ours. If we argue that the person whom we reject will not change and be reconciled, John replies: “God can raise up children to Abraham from these very stones.” The desert can and will blossom again. 

This Advent we can make the decision whether we will choose the gift of the new paradise. The decision is made by our willingness to change our mindset, by our outreach for reconciliation.

We wait---for a belief within ourselves that the new creation, the paradise of God’s world, can be a reality, not only in a life distant, but one which can take shape today. 

Otherwise, Jesus would not come proclaiming that the kingdom of God is here. We are to live in that kingdom, doing what Jesus did —“welcoming one another” in every way we can.

Can we make room in our hearts for the birth of God’s new creation which Jesus has promised?

Sister Rachel Bergschneider, OSB