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| Advent 2 December 09, 2001 Once again, our Gospel this week has a distinctly “un-Christmasy” flavor. The Baptist’s prophetic image of Christ with a pitchfork, casting the chaff into unquenchable fire doesn’t exactly warm the heart or invite one join in the “spirit of the season”. The images that Matthew presents us with today don’t draw families together or make the eyes of children sparkle. What’s more, I mean, what about the “spirit of giving” that we’ve heard so much about? Does anybody feel like shopping, knowing that, “Even now, the ax is lying at the root of the tree.” Knowing that, “every tree…that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire,” does anyone have the urge to work through his or her Christmas list? All this makes me wonder why we do this. John the Baptist and his message are such downers. Why spoil good Christmas Cheer with all this gloom and anger? Haven’t we had enough of that already this year? Let’s just put all that aside and focus on feeling good about ourselves and our fellow man. I must confess, nothing would suit me better right now than to stand here and give you that kind of dose of affirmation, a heapin’ helpin’ of warmth and comfort. But we’re just not there yet, and we can’t get there without addressing the cry of John the Baptist: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” You see, unless we hear and heed this cry, we’ll never get to Christmas, because we’ll be headed in the wrong direction altogether. “Repent.” When we hear this command, what we might hear is, “do penance” or “be sorry” or “regret your sins”. None of these is a misinterpretation of the call to repent, but another dimension is implicit in John’s words in today’s Gospel. One of the ideas underlying the Greek word that is translated as “repent” in English is a change, a radical change in direction. Thus when we hear the Baptist’s call to repent, it is as if on this pilgrimage, our earthly existence, John is waving his hands off in the distance saying, “you’re going the wrong way, it’s this way, he’s over here. You need to change direction.” I daresay, we all need to change direction. We might think that some need to change direction more than others, if they want to arrive at the place to which God has called them. I don’t think I’ve met any notorious sinners since I’ve been at Christ Church. One might assume that most of our fellow parishioners are headed generally in the right direction, and furthermore that that is good enough. “No indeed,” says John the Baptist. Carelessness and inattentiveness to God and his call to us can take us just as far astray as intentionally embarking on a life of crime. So periodically checking our coordinates and adjusting our course are not just a good idea, they’re necessary if we want to end up where we set out to go. This time of year, a good question to ask in determining how we might need to adjust our course is, “What do I expect of this Christmas?” Good food, festive gatherings, tradition, renewing valued relationships, family…you might want to get the family together. All good answers, but still we should expect more of Christmas. We should expect in all these things, and in Christmas itself to experience the presence of God. Because if we expect anything less than the experience of God’s presence at Christmas, we are headed in the wrong direction. Our parties, our relationships, our traditions, even our family togetherness at Christmas are all means to an end, ways in which we experience God’s presence. I submit that attending to the experience of God’s presence first in all of this will result in a radical change in the direction most of us are headed at Christmas. For when we focus on God’s presence to us, suddenly lavish giving gives way to the exchange of genuine affection, frustration with those who are absent gives way to cherishing those who are present, and ostentation gives way to the true outpouring of self. No one who seeks God’s presence is disappointed. Indeed, those who seek God’s presence usually wind up making God present to those around them. Therefore, let us be sure we are headed in the right direction as Christmas draws near. Let us “repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near.” Amen. The Rev’d Robert M. Odom M.Div., Curate |
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