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The Second Sunday in Advent December 6, 2015

This Weekend's Readings (click each reading to view the passage)

Malachi 3:1-4; Luke 1:68-79; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6

Pr. Steve's Sermon: Sin and Repentance

Children's Sermon: St. Nicholas Day

Choir Anthem: The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came

Christmas Pageant 2015 - 'Twas the Light Before Christmas

Sermon Notes from Pastor Steve...

John the Baptist is one of the most interesting characters in the Bible. And of course, by "interesting" I mean "weird"!

In fact, the whole story of John the Baptist is pretty weird. Today's Gospel reading begins with:

A whole series of weird names, mostly of people you've never heard of and places you probably couldn't locate on a map ...

A weird setting - John doesn't choose a synagogue or the Temple to talk about God; he goes out in the wilderness where practically nobody lives ...

A bunch of prophetic sayings and quotations that could be interpreted, and were interpreted, in a wide variety of ways ...

But weird stuff is interesting because it's so unusual and so removed from what we usually experience in our everyday lives. And because of that, it's easy to see and hear weird stuff, and either simply be entertained by it, or dismiss it as having nothing to do with us.

And that's true even when the weird person speaking uses relatively common words that we are used to hearing. And two of the most common and important words John uses are "sin" and "repentance."

Especially when a weird person like John says these words, we think of things like "repent sinner!" And usually to us, that means very bad people (people who sin) should STOP! (that is, just stop being bad.)

Indeed, on the surface, "sin" can mean a bad thing somebody does. And "repent" at least in part, can mean "stop being bad." But usually, we think of these words as sort of weird words that apply to really bad people. Really bad people should stop being bad, and it's good that some weird person like John will shout at them and tell them to stop being bad.

Of course, we admit that we all do bad things sometimes. But you and I don't think of ourselves as particularly bad people. And so words like "sin" and "repent" don't seem all that relevant in our daily lives.

But here's the thing about these words. The word "sin" is actually a term from target practice. It means "to miss the mark." It actually implies that you're trying to do the right thing, but you miss it. You miss out. You're just not getting it.

And the word "repent" doesn't mean "stop". It means to turn around; to re-orient yourself. It means to change, or to adapt your posture and your technique so that you can hit the target you've been aiming for.

So instead of hearing John the Baptist as a weird guy who tells really bad people to stop being bad, we're really supposed to hear John like this:

"God is doing a new a thing in your midst, and creating a whole new opportunity for you to experience God's love and presence in your lives. But you guys are missing it! You've been aiming for things that used to make a difference in your relationship with God, but now you've got to adapt and reorient yourselves to a new way of life so that you can fully experience the new way that God is acting in the world."

"It isn't so much that you're doing bad things. Some of those things are really good, but they aren't going to help you experience the living presence of God anymore. You need to adapt to the new thing God is doing in your lives - and yes, that means that you need to turn away from bad things, but it also means you may have to turn away from some of the old, traditional "good" things, so that you can re-orient yourselves to the new way that God is about to act in your lives."

I think that I could be entertained by a weird guy who yells at bad people, telling them to stop being bad. But being challenged to adapt to new situations - and being asked to consider if even my "good" traditions are hurting my ability to be oriented to what God is doing in my life - that hits close to home for me. And it should hit close to home for all of us.

"Repentance" is far more than a call to stop being bad. Instead, it's the call of God in our lives each and every day to:

Consider if we're "missing it" - are we missing out on what God is doing, or who God is calling us to be ... (or are we just going through the motions?; "getting it" is a whole lot more than "don't be bad", which is sometimes where Christians stop when they think about what it means to be a follower of Jesus...)

Adapt to life as it is, not life as it used to be or life as we think it "ought to be" ... (that requires "adaptive change" not simply technical change; the goal is the same, but the way to get there may be different; what happens when we realize that Christmas is only celebrated in our society as a commercial and winter solstice event; It's one thing to complain that we need to "keep Christ in Christmas", but how do we do that when it doesn't automatically happen anymore...?)

Act differently, even if that means giving up some good, old "traditions" ... (which is especially hard at this most "traditional" time of year; some of our traditions are great and make us feel good; but what happens when simply perpetuating the tradition masks the problem? - this is the real problem with people who complain about Nativity scenes not being allowed on public property anymore - leaving them up creates the impression that our society is just like it used to be, and so we can pretend that we can go on just like we used to...)

It's easy during Advent to listen to John the Baptist and think, "well yes, God was about to do a new thing in Jesus, and people had to adapt and re-orient themselves to a new way of living as God's people. But since then, everything is the same."

But it's not. Every year, and in every age, Jesus is alive and working in our lives, but not in exactly the same way as before. But the world around us continues to change, and is changing more rapidly than ever. And so God is calling us also to be willing to adapt and change so that we don't miss out on the opportunities Jesus is giving us to be his people and share the good news in a new day and in new situations.

Amen.