Tiberius is emperor of the world. Pontius Pilate is his governor of Judea. Herod is the ruler of Galilee. Annas and Caiaphas are high priests of Israel.

This is the scene that St. Luke provides in his Gospel, setting the stage for the beginning of Christ's ministry. "The word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the desert," Luke tells us.

This is a dramatic contrast --- the mighty and powerful might like to think they rule the world. The word of God is not bound by these titles and positions. The word of God does not arrive through the religious or political elite. The word of God comes to a virtual nobody, a backwoods preacher, who probably seems more than a little odd to those in power.

John launches his ministry of repentance and baptism --- preparation for the arrival of the Messiah --- and people find his message irresistible. They come from the cities and countryside to be baptized, to be ready.

We might like to think we know how God will communicate to us. We might expect God to speak to us through proper channels --- the church hierarchy, the leaders we have selected or that have been appointed to guide us.

Advent calls us to be prepared, and we need to be prepared to hear and respond to the word of God, and to be prepared for God's word to come from unexpected sources. We need to remember that God is not bound by the structures we create, well intended as they are.

This is good news in our era where life seems to be dominated by forces outside our control. The leadership of our nation and communities, and sometimes even our churches, can seem out of reach to us. We might wonder what difference we can make in our parishes, cities, and towns. One of the messages of today's Gospel is that just as God began to change the world through the ministry of John the Baptist, so can God change the world through you and I.

Just as we are called to hear and respond to the word of God in Advent, we are also challenged to bring the word of God to others through our actions and words. The mighty and powerful are not ultimately the most influential people in the world. It is really those who authentically bear witness to the Gospel with their lives that most impact others.

It is easy to be distracted during Advent by things that seem to be important. There are people to please, parties to attend, shopping to be done. Our social calendars can dominate our lives during these weeks. It is easy to forget that God might be at work away from the bright lights and big events.

As we go about our shopping, our celebrating, our preparations for the season, we need to keep our eyes and ears open for the presence of God in the obscure. We also need to be open to allowing ourselves to be transformed, to become the means by which God might speak to others.

Bill Peatman writes from Napa.