Who am I? Advent: Light to the Nations series - Christian Lindbeck (Luke 1;3;15)

Numbing noise,
lights,
flashing and 
inconsequential,
pointing at 
anything 
and nothing.
Holy whispers
drowned
in fa-la-la's
and
ho-ho-ho's.

Culture seems 
coordinated to
keep us from
pondering
who we are
and
why we are -
telling us 
our most important
identity is
consumer
of goods.

Find a quiet place.
Shut the door.
And listen.

John, the desert 
rock star,
knew who he was
and why.
Born to parents,
prepared through postponement;
patient
and prayerful.
His father's response to his
nascent birth
sprinkled prophecies
and promises
foreign as green smoke
curling and tumbling
from astonished lips.

The long-awaited child
learned obedience,
Torah
and Hebraic stories;
rocked to sleep
with lullabies of lions
and lordly lambs,
he grew.

In manhood, 
his earthy charisma
gathered crowds
ready to idolize
but John said,
"Wait!
I am not he."

"Then who are you?"
the deflated ones
cried,
and fired off a 
series of possible
roles for this
obvious gift
from God.

"I am not"s 
dropped like 
stones in a well,
echoing and 
plummeting
down
to a far off
splash
of incomprehension.

"Then who are you?"

Again.

I am the finger,
pointing.
The arrow drawn,
the road sign
illuminated
to point the way.

Born for this,
and this alone,
he shunned fame
and adulation,
knowing 
both were two sizes
too large.

And when Christ
appeared,
he served as His
emcee
and bowed off
center stage.

When followers 
fell away,
he flinched not,
but cheered
from the wings.

He knew his calling
and clung to his role
with tenacity
worthy of the lowly
barnacle.
Set free from abundant choices,
his narrowed vision
allowed scalpel-like
precision.

Can I do the same?
Accept who and what I am
without comparison,
envy, or what ifs?
No facades or 
impossible standards
to strive for;
the narrow door
the way to 
a larger life?

Let me find a quiet place
to hear Your voice.
Let me accept who and
where I am with grace.
And help me let go
of all that I am not,
quieting the cacophony
of false prophets
who would make me
dance to some 
other tune,
not of Your 
composing. 
Help me hear
Your holy whispers
and know peace
in the present.