"Behaving As We Believe", December 16, 2012

Zephaniah 3: 14-20 Luke 3: 7-18 The temptation this morning is to speak tenderly to Jerusalem, saying “Comfort, comfort my people says your God,” recognizing that we are all in a state of Post Traumatic Stress. When the first Iraq War had begun, with minute by minute television coverage, our children now in their twenties were three and five, and they stood before the screen shouting “No More, No More.” Since that time, we have witnessed the bombing of Embassies, and hijacking of ships, the events of 911, killings in an Amish community, in a movie theater in Oregon, so many conflicts, so much war, we have begun to be numbed by the evil in our midst. Then 48 hours ago, a 20 year old in a community much like our own, shot and killed his mother, filled with hate and anger he tried to kill everyone that represented what he thought she most loved and 20 children in one elementary school are dead. There is a temptation, in response to this to react by placing guards and metal detectors in all our schools, to see the deaths of so many innocents as a cry for gathering up all the weapons across our society, to get rid of all the weapons of the world, in order to make this world safe, to make our lives secure. This is Advent, when we long to sit before the television watching Charlie Brown's Christmas and Frosty the Snowman, singing the Carols of White Christmas. Someone this weekend asked how we planned to respond to the events of Friday? Whether we would just go ahead with the Bible readings planned and celebrate Christmas as if nothing had happened? And without having to think, I replied the 3rd Sunday of Advent is focused on PEACE and SALVATION. Last summer, in the Evening Bible Study, I accepted a challenge, that as a pastor known for preaching trust and compassion, love and forgiveness, speaking softly and tenderly, that I would try to preach a sermon this year with Hellfire and Brimstone. We in the Church, have made of Baptism, a tender sacrament of parents presenting their infants for the love of God, however the origin of Christian Baptism comes from John. On Jordan's Banks, John preached to the people who came to be Baptized: “You Incestuous Nest of Blood-sucking Snakes! You Brood of Vipers, who warned you to Change?” We remember that John the Baptist preached and all the world, even Jesus, came out to be baptized. We remember that his was a baptism of water, proclaiming that the Messiah was to come, who was so holy and so pure that the lace of his sandal even John the Baptist claimed he was unworthy to tie. But the whole of the Gospel is that John came preaching “REPENTANCE” and later when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, Jesus came from the wilderness also preaching REPENTANCE. One of my children's favorite stories, when they were little was Rudyard Kipling's “Elephant Child or How the Elephant Got It's Trunk,” which ends with the affirmation that a leopard cannot change its spots, nor a person their skin, but we can choose to change. The fact of the matter is that we cannot get to Bethlehem, we cannot witness the birth of the Savior at Christmas, if all we have done is to buy a tree and presents, put up the decorations and send out greetings, even if we got exactly the gift that they always wanted. Christmas is expensive! Christmas requires our self-examination of whether we are living the words we claim to believe. According to Luke, the question of Advent is WHAT SHALL WE DO? The other Gospels describe John addressing the Scribes and the Pharisees with his rebuke, but Luke insists John the Baptist preached repentance to everyone, and instead of walking away the people asked what they/we must do? SHARE when you have more than you need. DO NOT SCAM others for your profit. DO NOT INTIMIDATE and cause others to fear you. But the first half of this Gospel passage is also vitally important. Luke names every historic person for that time, in National and Local Government, Tribally and Religiously, to say this is when this actually did happen in history. These events and circumstances are not philosophical, they are not myth, this is what took place. And John the Baptist went on to say, “DO NOT SAY TO ME, WE ARE DESCENDED FROM ABRAHAM.” Do not tell me I am a resident of Florida, or our church did wonderful things in Africa, or thank God we are not in Connecticut, because hatred and divisiveness and anger, like "family," are common to us all. And until we face these angers, until we resolve our differences, we are only prepared to drown in the River, not to be Baptized. The events of this week were horrific. I hope and pray we get over sensationalizing this, interviewing people on how they feel. But we cannot adopt an attitude of amnesia, that this never happened, because 20 children are dead, 20 families, a whole community, our Nation, the world, cannot forget. Violence, anger and hate, domination of others have become accepted in our world. IF we are to make plain the rough places, fill the lows and lower the highs, we must try to live life differently, to live as we claim to believe. That what is to happen within 10 days, is not a cartoon or claymation, not scripted in a movie. God is reconciling all of life to God. God is preparing to enter into our lives, are we cluttered, are we distracted, or are any of us prepared for God to judge us as we are?