Advent is the season about preparation for what is coming,
and last Sunday Sabeth reminded us of three ways of Christ
coming:
as
the baby in Bethlehem,
as
the Spirit of Christ with us,
and
as the final coming in glory and for the judgment that sets all at right.
This week it’s John the Baptist
and
his message about preparing the way for the Lord.
And we hear the quintessential Advent Gospel:
“Repent,
for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!
Prepare
the Way of the Lord!”
Advent just wouldn’t be Advent without John the Baptist.
His role in calling us to repentance is one very important
element
in
our preparation to celebrate Christmas.
Amid all the decorating and putting up the tree and
musical presentations
and
shopping and baking
and
Christmas cards or email newsletters to send out,
here
is John the Baptist poking his head into the fun
with
a cold-water reality check.
It’s not all about the baby Jesus and shepherds and
angels.
It is about a self-reflective
preparation for a coming encounter with Jesus.
John the Baptist is keyed into
the message of the prophets about the Messiah
a
Messiah who is fearsome and powerful, violent in his coming.
As
we heard from the Isaiah reading, a Messiah who will
not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor/
he
shall vindicate the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
So John is preaching in the
fiery style of the prophets of old,
and
no one escapes his critical remarks.
“You brood of vipers,” he calls
the Pharisees and the Sadducees;
now
the Sadducees are the priests, the clergy,
and
the Pharisees are those known for their upright living.
You bunch of poisoners, he calls
them,
you
poison the people with the way you practice your religion.
You are coming to me, John says,
because you can feel the fire on your backsides.
Well then, bear fruit worthy of repentance.
Rather
than poisoning those you come in contact with,
you
are to be fruitful for them.
And the Baptist tells us how to prepare for the coming of
the One
who
will change everything for you.
“I
baptize you with water for repentance,” John says,
“but
HE will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”
John is pointing to Jesus as a baptizer with fire
and
a winnowing fork and a threshing floor,
implements
for purging wheat from its chaff, stalks, leaves
and
other detritus
so
that the only thing that is left is what is fruitful.
We are talking about a spiritual process
that
Jesus wants to accomplish in us,
a
process of purging, purifying, changing us.
We could look at Advent then as an exhortation to engage
in a four week vigil,
a
spiritual exercise in watching, waiting and
being willing to be changed,
being
willing to get turned around, getting repentance.
This is where Advent can get serious if we are to pay
attention
to
the Bible verses we had read to us this morning.
So let me help us all to do a little self-reflection here
about
what this might mean on a practical and personal level.
Jesus coming at us with a pitchfork or a flame thrower is
a rather scary image,
but
that’s the way John the Baptist got folks’ attention.
Let’s look at another version of this: from the Gospel of
John, chapter 15.
Jesus said,
"I
am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower.
He
removes every branch in me that bears no fruit.
Every
branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. …
Abide
in me as I abide in you.
Just
as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither
can you unless you abide in me.
I
am the vine, you are the branches.
Those
who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit,
because
apart from me you can do nothing.
Whoever
does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such
branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
My
Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit
and
become my disciples.
As
the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.”
Now I am no gardener,
but I do know the difference between trimming a hedge and
pruning roses.
The idea with a hedge is that you trim off all of the
branches and leaves
along
the sides and the top so that they are even.
But you shouldn’t do that with rose bushes.
There you need to cut each bush individually,
checking
each branch to see where to cut it,
so
that it will produce more blossoms.
From my own limited experience I know that each rose bush
is
its own unique self.
And if you prune it correctly, you can coax a whole lot
more out of that beauty.
In our case God is the one doing the pruning.
We don’t prune ourselves.
But we can cooperate.
That will make it easier on ourselves,
because,
as the old saying goes, what you resist, persists.
And if you ask me how do I cooperate with this spiritual
process of getting pruned/purged/purified,
well,
what would you guess I might say.
One very good, and particularly advent-y way
is
to meditate:
to
sit and do nothing
so
as to allow for God to work without interference.
That is one spiritual practice for cooperating with God’s
grace and mercy
purifying
us.
So what does this purging accomplish in us?
The chaff, the useless is removed.
What is fruitful, nourishing and life-giving is enhanced.
Think of what that means practically.
Think of it in terms of relationships.
Think about how that would impact the way we talk with
each other,
-
not just within these walls, but out there -
how
we see each other,
what
our attitudes and motivations are with each other,
how
we are with each other.
We would see the judgments and assumptions and
stereotyping
that
have kept us separated and fearful of one another.
We would see how we use others, maneuver and manipulate
for
our own ends.
We would see how we discount others, turn a blind eye,
how
the heart is cold,
or
how we just plain fail to see how interconnected and interdependent
we
all really are with one another.
This is the kind of self-reflection work that we need to
do,
because we are each a different rose bush
needing
customized pruning. Right?
This personal work is important right now,
not
just as an Advent spiritual exercise
but
because of what is happening currently in the world around us.
The word to describe it that I hear most is “unprecedented.”
And people are scrambling into all sorts of actions.
I have been asked the question, “What do we do now?” a lot
in the last month.
And I have been telling people not to let fear take over
or
be their motivation for what to do.
The important thing is to respond, not react.
This is our course of action for whatever happens,
whether
we judge what has happened as favorable or a disaster.
Respond instead of reacting.
And in order to do that, we first must understand and see
clearly
that
we do not have within ourselves
or
in any resource derived from the world
the knowledge, insight and understanding
to
do the work it will take for what we want to engage or change.
The sufficient knowledge we seek for an outcome that
benefits all
will
come only through spiritual awakening.
If we can be a faith community in which this awakening is
born,
we
will then know how to serve others in effective action.
It really is best not to go running off into action
until
spiritual awakening and knowledge have come to birth in you.
This birthing is not impossible, nor is it even difficult.
Meditate.
Sit
in silence
awake,
watchful,
willing
to sit in the fire of the Holy Spirit baptism
until
you can acknowledge what has been given you –
the
inner spiritual healing,
the
presence of Jesus which is the guiding and empowering factor
for
what the world needs,
waiting
for the coming Christ to be born in you
for
the sake of the world.
This is important.
You have a role to play.
You can make a difference
if
you let God work in you
for
the sake of the world.
