Me: Here we are on the second Sunday of Advent and it is time for us to grow reflective as we continue on our slow walk towards Christmas day, and beyond. It has been rehashed many, many times how the religious significance of Christmas gets muffled by the noise of a materialistic culture. Christmas is a success if sales are up and if there is snow on the ground, at least in some parts of the country.

Interestingly, the second Sunday of Advent this year, on the church calendar, invites us to consider John the Baptist. It's kind of curious because the events in the life of the adult John the Baptist take place after the birth of Jesus, yet these stories always get included at Advent. Perhaps it is because, as an adult, John was something of a forerunner of Jesus, so therefore we want to talk about him, as it were, before Jesus is born.

It is always handy when you can transcend time so I'm especially glad that today we can do just that, and invite John the Baptist into our time of fellowship this morning. Now we think of John as pretty wild and even out-of-control, but I do believe he will be respectful of our customs here at First Mennonite Church this morning. So enough of the formalities, let's have John come in…

John: (stiffly walks in and sits down)

Me: We welcome you, John, to this worship service. This is, I'm sure a little different for you. I assume that you are more comfortable out in the open air, closer to nature, than you are in a heated building, the seats instead of the side of a hill, the carpet instead of dirt and grass. So, welcome to the 21^st century, and may God bless us all as we talk together.

John: To that I can say ``amen.'' Yes, God bless us all, God help us all, that's for sure. I am happy to be here, and to see how you do things in Reedley. You are right, it is really different for me, but I'll do my best. I'll be honest though, it is hard for me to sit still and I'm used to more relaxed clothes, but I'll do my best.

Me: We appreciate your efforts, John. Thank you. But now, we are very interested in your message, in your own time, and how it might resonate with us today. As we read it, a big theme for you was repentance. We picture you out in the desert, instructing people to ``repent.'' Matthew says your words remind us of what the great prophet Isaiah said, ``prepare the way of the Lord.'' Can you say a little bit more about what you meant by ``repent?''

John: Well, sure, repentance for me meant a whole lot more than just saying ``I'm sorry,'' a whole lot more. I came from an understanding that repentance involved the recognition of sin, remorse about that sin, a willingness to now stop the sinning, the provision of restitution if necessary, and also the element of confession. Repentance for me wasn't just a slight alteration in the path, a soothing mid-course correction, it was a dramatic turning, a completely new direction. Repentance, changing direction, it is big stuff.

Me: That's very interesting, John. So I guess a significant question for us is this, how would you talk about repentance in our time, right here, right now? What would it look like not back in your day, but in ours?

John: (some fuming silence, and then) So you are asking me what I think it would mean to repent today? Hmmm… Let me try to respond. Repentance means to turn, so we have to consider what kind of things people today ought to turn from…

Wait, just wait…what the …the… SAM … is going on here? Do you realize what you doing to me? You are forcing me to talk to you in this nice, polite way. You are making me sit here on this nice chair and talk in a nice, reasonable way about stuff that you can't talk about in a nice, reasonable way.

There's nothing polite, nothing nice, nothing reasonable about repentance! This is hard and dirty and real and YOU, my friend, are a part of the problem because you have the audacity to sit there all nice and clean and talk about repentance in some kind of pretend even-handed way, like you were talking about whether to have potatoes or rice for dinner tonight, or like you are talking about where to go on your next vacation. That's about how serious you are!

But I'm talking about repentance, that's REPENTANCE, and this is, this is…REAL serious!

You want to know what you have to repent about? Let me tell you, there is plenty! Look how GREEDY you are. Look how SELFISH you are. Look how you LUST for more, for what isn't yours! Look at the houses you live in? How do they compare to houses in the rest of the world? All you can think about are yourselves, and how you can protect what you've got. You don't say it but you act like you have some kind of divine right to have more stuff than everyone else in the world. Let me tell you, your pride, the way you think you know better, or think you are smarter, and your selfishness, those are your big sins. I'm telling you, get down on your knees right now and repent, and just start giving stuff away!

And your greed and your selfishness isn't just you, it's all of you too, all put together, the collective YOU. You think this world is yours to possess as your own little fiefdom. You need three cars for two people so you go half way around the world to fight and kill to make sure you have the oil to run your cars. You want workers to be treated fairly in your own country but you don't mind buying the cheap toys and cheap clothes from other countries! I'm telling you, it is time to REPENT.

And then, when my point gets a little too close to home, you hide behind your religiosity. Oh, you say, we are people who love Jesus. But at the same time you won't listen to him when he says to go the extra mile for someone you can't stand. Or you say, Oh, we are people of peace. But if someone is critical of you you can't control your tongue in saying angry things about them. Or you say, but Oh, we are Mennonites. But what does that mean if the way you live is absolutely no different from anyone else. Tell me? So again, REPENT!

Me: John, I hardly know what to say. You are so forceful I don't know what to say. And from what we read of you and what you say right now you are just so judgmental. And we just don't handle that well. There are just too many people, I feel, who are judgmental. They won't listen to another side. They just say I am right, and I know what God wants, and so this is the way it is, and if you don't like it, then too bad, but you are going to hell and that is it. And to tell the truth, John the Baptist, maybe you are getting far too judgmental yourself!

So I guess what I want to ask you is if there needs to be some repentance about being judgmental as well? Can I be so bold as to ask you that?

John: OK, I'm calmed down now. You make your point. Judging can get out of hand, though I think righteous judgment has its place, the kind of judgment that knows when to say ``you brood of vipers,'' when to throw the tables over, and when to be quiet.

But it's true, for an important part of my life I was out in the desert, out there judging. I was trying to clean things up, pave the way. But I knew too that I was not worthy. I wasn't good enough to hold his shoes. I stayed out in the desert but he came right into the middle of life. He finds his place right in the middle, right between my inner life and what I actually do. He stands right up to sin, and he was willing to let it do its worse to him, but in the end, he was mightier than the worst evil, stronger than the ugliest sin.

Me: Well, John, our time is about us but I'd like to say two things. First a little story. Evidently William Willimon, the former Duke University chaplain, once went to the funeral of a family member of a church member somewhere in rural Georgia. The family came in and the preacher started carrying on. Sam, he said is gone. There ain't nothing we can do. He had his chance. But what about you? You are here now. You've got a chance. Repent! Make your life count for something. Give yourself to Jesus. Repent!

Afterwards, Willimon in the car said to his wife, What a horrible message. The family is grieving and you manipulate their emotions like that. How tacky. That was the most inappropriate message at a funeral I have ever heard. To which his wife replied, Of course you are right. But the worst thing is, it was true.

Yes, we need to listen to John, and repent.

But it may also be true that we speak so much about the diabolical power of sin, whether the personal stuff of idolatry and lust and greed, or the corporate stuff that translates into war and economic oppressionperhaps we leave the impression that our sinfulness is more powerful than the one who saves, this Jesus, born in Bethlehem, whose love is stronger than all evil. Let's never forget that this love which we embrace again at this time of year is more powerful than all evil. Let's live right within the canopy of this infinite love.

--December 9, 2007