Preparation

Scarcely a day passes, it seems, without the newsreader telling us about someone preparing to do something.  “The Chancellor is preparing to deliver his budget this afternoon”; “the minister is preparing to return home after the conference”; “Andrew Strauss is preparing to lead the English cricket team in their campaign to retain the Ashes” and so on. 

I wonder at all this preparation: just what does it entail?  Is the Chancellor still wielding his pen and calculator, or putting on a clean shirt and brushing his suit?  Is the minister pushing those last items into his suitcase, checking he has his airline ticket to hand?  Is Andrew Strauss encouraging his team mates, pressing his flannels, or oiling his bat?  (And beneath it all, I ask, is all this preparation really news?)

When it comes to being prepared, perhaps one of the most familiar examples known to us – Boy Scouts apart – is the famous aria from Messiah, “O Prepare ye the Way of the Lord.”  Maybe you will hear this – or even sing it – during the Christmas season.  It is appropriate as we commemorate the birth of Christ, and the coming of a new Age, but no less in a few weeks, as we march out into a new year.

Handel borrowed many of the words for Messiah from the Bible; this phrase is to be found in Isaiah 40:3.  In his prophecy, Isaiah was encouraging the Israelites to make themselves ready for God’s coming among them.  This verse refers specifically to the making of a road; one modern translation, NET Bible^(R), renders it, “In the wilderness clear a way for the LORD; construct in the desert a road for our God.”

Now, my trusty dictionary tells me that ‘prepare’ comes from ‘pre’ (before) and ‘parare’ (make ready), so to prepare is to make ready before something happens.  I also found that ‘parare’ is the root from which we get our word ‘pare’, meaning to trim, shave or cut off.  So I’d like to link these two and suggest that to prepare means to trim off the rough bits, or to cut away that which is not wanted, in readiness for what follows.

I’m sure many of us will be making tasty stews and soups this winter, and many more will enjoy eating them.  As you do so, remember what had to be done to the vegetables when that stew was made.  Before they could give out that beautiful flavour, they had to be prepared.  The rough bits had to be removed, the unwanted parts cut away.  In the same way, if we are to be of greatest use to our Lord in this new year, we must remove all the unwanted bits of our lives.  We must cut away anything that stops our lives being a sweet savour to God, in the way of the offerings of the Israelites, as described in great detail at the start of Leviticus.