St. Paul's Episcopal Church

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
425 Cleveland Ave SW
Canton, Ohio 44702
Phone: 330-455-0286
Fax: 330-455-9818
E-mail: office@stpaulscanton.org

Advent 3
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Canton OH
Luke 3:7-18

December 13, 2009
The Rev. Barbara L Bond

In Your Face

I have this fantasy. Here we are, strolling through the mall, music in the air, “Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way….” when the Public Address system comes on. “Attention, shoppers! We have an important message for you.” And there, amid the twinkling lights, the department store Santa, the special bargains and the tinsel, you hear: “You brood of vipers!” It is an Advent message from John the Baptist.

He’s crude, he’s rude, he’s in your face. If you think Christmas is all that stuff at the mall, John is here to tell you, “Wrong!”

We’ve had John on the cover of our bulletin for three weeks now. It is high time we paid attention. What is he trying to tell us?

First, he lays into us about our complacency. We think we can rest on our traditions, that our church has this Advent and Christmas thing all sewed up, and we can coast along with the season. Warm and fuzzy sentimentalism, the baby in the manger. NO, he says, it’s more like a bomb in the manger – the coming of Christ is going to change you forever. Get ready to see the world differently, and get ready to change the world, beginning with yourself.

Well, John got the attention of the people in front of him, if not the mall shoppers. The folks seeking baptism at the river asked what they should do, and John gave them his second point, an action plan: look at your excess consumption, and give away what you don’t need. I start thinking of the extra coats in my closet, the extra food I don’t need. John is starting to get under my skin. Why doesn’t he just go away?

No, here he comes again with his third point: That the Christ is coming, and the Christ is no crème puff either. John baptizes with water, an outward sign of repentance. But the Christ is going to baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire. John is just the opening act: The Christ, the anointed one, is going to make real changes in the world, and in you personally. Speaking to this age, John asks us to look at things that matter, like affordable health care, like climate change, like economic inequities. We are asked to pay attention, and ask ourselves how we can make a difference. Like the folks at the river with John, we ask, “What then should we do?”

There are huge political implications to John the Baptist, and to Jesus of Nazareth. Both of them were executed by the governmental system of their time, for challenging assumptions and systems, for daring to point out injustice. John kept getting in King Herod’s way, questioning his marital situation. Herod finally had him beheaded, to shut up both his wife and John. Jesus preached a different kingdom than the reigning occupational forces, the Romans, and he was not shy about pointing out the inequities in his own religion either. Jesus may have been popular with the poor masses, but the rich and powerful just wanted to get rid of him.

When we think of that pretty Christmas card picture, with the soft light emanating from the manger, Mary staring lovingly at her newborn son, let’s remember: when God entered this world through the agency of Mary, in the person of Jesus, that little baby arrived to challenge all the systems of the world, including our own assumptions. That little baby grew up, went out in the desert, met his cousin John, and got primed for ministry. Newly baptized with water, Jesus took off, and he baptized his society with the Holy Spirit and fire, burning off the dross, the fat, the excess, and helping us come down to what matters.

There are ways of getting down to basics in a hurry: for example, if one of your loved ones is seriously ill. Then the tinsel doesn’t make any difference; all you want is healing. I visited three parishioners in Aultman Hospital on Thursday. None of them talked about parties and presents. My sister-in-law is dying in a Houston hospital – my phone conversations with my brother, her husband, didn’t touch on the holidays at all.

We do not wish disaster or catastrophe on anyone; my God, life is hard enough without that. But crisis does make you pay attention to the basics: to life, to love, to family, to our utter dependence on God’s grace.

So if you are one of the lucky few who is not dealing with life and death issues this season, you can still listen to the unruly cousins, John and Jesus. We all make choices, every day. When you purchase something, listen to the cousins: does your purchase help or harm the environment? When you decide to drive long distances, listen to the cousins: how are your gas emissions affecting the air? When you over-eat, over-drink, and slough off taking care of your body, what are you doing to your own physical future? When you choose vacuous entertainment instead of doing something of value, what are you doing to your own mind? When you choose parties over worship, what are you doing to your own soul?

The unruly cousins John and Jesus are right there, in your face, asking the questions.

AMEN