Newsletter - Pastor's Message - December, 2019

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

"The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 'Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'"

Now John wore clothing of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

"I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing-fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing-floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." 

(Matthew 3:1-6)

We begin another church year together as we celebrate Advent, the season of preparation for the coming of the Christ child.  Once again, our Advent wreath is set up (downstairs this year), as we light the candles signifying Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love.  Once again, the United Church of Christ Advent devotional booklets are available, free of charge.  Once again, we sing the familiar Advent hymns. 

And once again we read about John the Baptist, the wild man in the wilderness sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus.  A less festive figure could hardly be imagined.   While our children look forward to department store Santas making promises for others to keep, John the Baptist offered those who came to him uncompromising demands and fearsome threats.  If we brought our children to see John the Baptist at the local mall, they’d probably run screaming.  But we’re told that people from all over the region traveled on foot through the wilderness to the Jordan River to be baptized by John.

Why did they go to John the Baptist?  What did they hope to learn or experience in their time with him?  

They were looking for change, in their lives, and in the world around them.  The vast majority of the people experienced grinding poverty and oppression under the Roman occupation, and the Temple system of sacrifices only added to their burdens.  They were looking for release from their oppression.  The prophet Malachi and others wrote that the Day of the Lord was coming, when “all arrogant and all evildoers would be stubble” to be burned, while for the faithful “the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings” (Malachi 4:1-3)  Malachi further prophesied that God would “send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes.  He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.” (Malachi 4:5-6) Dressed in camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, John the Baptist resembled the description of Elijah in 2 Kings 1:8.

John told his listeners that in order for the world around them to change, they themselves would have to change.  There would be no deliverance from the oppression around them if they themselves continued to project the oppression within them onto others. Put another way, the change they sought in the world around them would first have to begin within them.  Accepting John’s baptism was a commitment to repentance, to changing the direction of one’s life. And that may be why John reacted so harshly to the Pharisees and Sadducees who came for baptism, as John saw their teachings and practices as a source of oppression.   Their sense of certitude and entitlement as “children of Abraham” would present almost insurmountable obstacles to the change John demanded of his listeners. 

John told his listeners that in order for the world around them to change, they themselves would have to change. The same is true for us.  In our divided, polarized country, there is a plethora of pundits pointing out problems (real or imagined) and proposing solutions (real or imagined).  Few indeed, however, are those pundits who are willing to own their own role in creating and promoting antagonism.  The same is true of ordinary people; it is always easier to see the sins of our opponents than our own.  Often the qualities that most strongly provoke us in others are the same qualities we most strongly suppress in ourselves.  And yet those who have not experienced at least some measure of inner healing cannot bring healing to others.  Those who have not experienced at least some measure of transformation within themselves cannot bring transformation to others.  Franciscan priest and writer Richard Rohr uses such terms as “shadow work” and “shadow boxing” to describe the process of coming to terms with and ultimately being at peace with our own contradictions, limitations, mistakes, and failures.  Those in twelve-step recovery work may use phrases such as “letting go and letting God” to describe their process of healing and transformation.

Isaiah wrote these words, which the Gospel writers used in reference to the mission of John the Baptist:

 In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
    make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be lifted up,
    and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
    and the rough places a plain.
Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed,
    and all people shall see it together,
    for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.” (Isaiah 40:3-5)

It all sounds like a project for a PennDOT road crew, but this is God’s work of transformation.   What paths in our lives does the Lord want straightened?  What blind alleys and cul de sacs of concealed sin must be opened up, cleaned out, and connected to the more public parts of our lives? What valleys of despair and mountains of pride, what uneven ground and what rough places must be leveled before the glory of the Lord will be revealed in our lives? 

The last verse of a familiar Advent hymn (#88 in the E&R hymnal) runs as follows:

“O come, Desire of nations bind all peoples in one heart and mind.

Bid envy, strife, and discord cease; fill the whole world with heaven’s peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!”

Blessings for Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and the New Year!

Pastor Dave