Are you ready for Christmas? I hope so! After all, I’d imagine that the last few weeks have been filled with preparation. There have been gifts to buy, and treats to bake, and trips to plan—all to make sure that when Christmas morning arrives, we’ll be ready to celebrate.

But now, let me ask a different question. Are you ready…for the Lord? After all, the two aren’t necessarily the same! We can be completely ready for Christmas—all the arrangements in place, ready to be with family, and so on—without being ready for Christ.

I bring all this up because today’s word comes from Luke Chapter 1, where we find the story of how John the Baptist’s birth was foretold. His father Zechariah was offering incense in the temple; and an angel appeared and said that, even in their old age, he and his wife would have a child. And then, the angel told Zechariah the mission this child would have: “He will go on before the Lord…to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Lk. 1:17; emphasis added)

Naturally, we don’t have a John the Baptist preaching out on the edge of town and helping us to get ready. But maybe we’ve got something better. We’ve got the scriptures. We’ve got the season of Advent. And we’ve got this day—a day to remind ourselves that, if we really want to “keep Christ in Christmas,” then it’s him we need to be ready for, and not so much all the “trappings” we’ve come to associate with the holiday that honors him.

Now, don’t get me wrong: there’s nothing wrong with those trappings. And I hope that all your trappings are in place! But even more, I pray that you’re prepared for the Lord to be born in you; so that through you, the light of his presence will shine a bit more brightly in a world that still needs to get ready for his coming.

Even so, Lord, quickly come. Amen.