Advent in the ancient church was a period
of repentance and preparation. More recently we seem to forget the repentance
part, and instead consider Advent a time of preparation and waiting. If this is
so, then we might well ask, “Preparation and waiting for what?”
The obvious answer
is a time of preparation for Christmas, getting ready for the birth of Christ.
But somehow we’ve left out of this season the idea that to be ready we have to make
room for whatever is coming. Our metaphorical closets are full of outdated,
outmoded, unusable clothing. Advent calls us to clear out those closets to make
room for the swaddling clothes of a new babe. Unfortunately, what most of us do
instead is fill Advent with shopping and wrapping and cleaning. Rather than
move anything out, we just move stuff around to fit in more stuff.
Much as we might
like to conveniently forget or leave repentance out of Advent, the Gospel
reading for this second Sunday of Advent makes it difficult to concentrate on
much else. Each year of our three-year lectionary cycle we’re forced to listen
to that odd dude, John the Baptizer.
· John the dunker, who held people
under water in the Jordan.
· John the fashion plate, who wore camel
hair with a leather belt.[1]
·
John the health food nut, who invented trail mix.
Don’t look at me as
though I’ve lost my mind. What else would you call dried locusts mixed with
honey? I’ll bet they’d be a big hit at your Christmas buffet this year.
In addition to holding
people under water, wearing weird clothing and eating strange food, John did a
lot of shouting. He called people names, as you’ll find out in next week’s
Gospel reading. During this season of Advent, John keeps popping up like an
unkempt, loudmouth in the middle of our lovely season of preparation for the
Christ child. It’s like the minute you get the Christmas tree up, there’s your
least-liked relative leaping in front of it yelling, “ Surprise!”
Unpopular and untidy
as he seems to us, John reminds us we can’t move into the future until we are
willing to deal with the past. John is the fellow telling people exactly what
they don’t want to hear. John spent
his days, “proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”[2]
This is not something
we like to think about unless it’s pleasant. Reflecting on our sins can be
pleasurable when we remember how much fun we had committing them. It’s when we
look at the results that reality sets in. And some of us hold onto the past
without truly assessing how things may be different now; that things that went
well then cannot continue in the same way now.
John the Baptist
annoys us with his shouting about repentance and his yelling about dealing with
the past. And besides, there is all that business about making the paths of the
Lord straight, filling valleys, and bringing mountains and hills level.
Perhaps it is the
ending phrase in our gospel today where we can find the most meaning for what
John the Baptist is telling us. Luke’s gospel paraphrases the Prophet Isaiah,
and says, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”[3]
“All flesh shall
see the salvation of God.”[4] This
is what happens when true repentance and examination of the past takes place.
The best of the past remains a gift. The door to God is flung open. And our hearts
have room for the Babe.
Taking off garments
of sin and sorrow can be hard. It requires honesty and willingness to do an
Advent closet cleaning of the past. Examining our lives is seldom easy or fun.
We have to look closely at what we thought and did and felt and reflect on how
those things may or may not have contributed to what is happening in our lives.
It’s a time to put away the blame game and become responsible grown ups. It’s a
time to look at what was good about the past that we can bring into the future
in a new way. It’s a time to house clean, both inside and outside us.
Advent is a time to
ask, how can I make rough places smooth? How can I fill valleys and level hills?
In our cleaning and
making room, God is always present. Where we least expect it, as we become
immersed in what we have thought or said or done, we can see where God is
present. God has been present in our worst, because even in our worst we are
struggling to be the person God created us to be. And God is present in our best,
as we become the person God created us to be.
Repentance is what
brings us to God in ways that are deep and lasting. It is when we can say, “I
have sinned; I have done wrong and I regret what I did,” that we have done our
Advent cleaning. The door to God is flung open. And our hearts have room for
the Babe. AMEN.
The
Rev Nicolette Papanek
©201
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