This Week's Sermon:

       Second Advent, Year C

                 December 10, 2006:

     John had been reared a Pentecostal Holiness, but had not been an active churchgoer for many years.  He bought a house in a predominantly Catholic neighborhood.  On the first Friday in Lent, John was outside grilling a big juicy steak on his newly installed gas grill.

     Meanwhile, of course, all his neighbors were eating cold tuna fish for supper.  This went on right through the Lenten season.  On the last Friday of Lent the neighborhood men got together and decided that something had to be done about John, he was tempting them to eat meat each Friday and they couldn’t take it anymore.

     They came to the consensus that their best bet was to convert John to Catholicism.  They went over and talked with him and were elated that he decided to join all of his neighbors and become a Roman Catholic.  They took him to church, and the Priest sprinkled some water over him and said, “You were born a Pentecostal, you were raised a Pentecostal, and now you are a Roman Catholic.”

     The men were so relieved, now their biggest Lenten temptation was resolved.  The next year’s Lenten season rolled around.  The first Friday of Lent came, and just at supper time, when the neighborhood was sitting down to their tuna fish dinner, came the wafting smell of steak cooking on a grill.

     The neighborhood men could not believe their noses!  What was going on?  They called each other on the phone and decided the smell was coming from the backyard of the newly converted John.  They agreed to meet over in John’s yard to see if he had forgotten it was the first Friday of Lent?

     The group arrived just in time to see John standing over his grill with a small pitcher of water.  He was sprinkling some water over his steak on the grill, saying, “You were born a cow, you were raised a cow, and now you are a fish!”

      Now, don’t tell that to your Roman neighbors and don’t tell anyone that I got it from Father Steve.

     I think it is safe to say that the ministry of John the Baptist involved a little more than just a few drops of water sprinkled over the head.  John’s baptism was intended to create something.  People came to John covered with a thick coat of self-importance, egotistical living, and without much sense of community.  John reminded them that the covenant was still in force and that the way of the Lord must be prepared.  The path over which this King desired to ride needed to be straightened out.  The valleys had to be filled in and the hills and mountains had to be shaved off.  Anything that was crooked had to be bent back into shape and rough places, like a jagged fingernail had to be filed smooth.  Then, John said, “All flesh shall see the salvation of God.”

     John the Baptist always reminded his hearers that all preparation that involves the relationship of people with God had to begin with repentance.  We cannot walk in the direction of our own choosing and hope to find God at the end of the journey.  Repentance calls not just for a change of direction, but a change of heart as well.  One of the great problems with much of contemporary Christianity is that some those who occupy self-appointed positions as spokespersons talk as if the world must be saved and we must be the ones to do it.  The truth is that the Savior of the world has come and we must live into the truth that he ushered into the world.  Only through repentance can the rough places in our hearts be made smooth.  If we fail to change direction, ask for God’s forgiveness, and especially if we have no intention of amending our lives, then Christmas comes and goes so quickly and we miss the message of comfort, hope, and grace.

     John also reminded his hearers that proper preparation always includes prayer.  It is the most powerful force on this earth and the least used or understood.  Ninety-nine percent of our prayers are to be ones of gratitude and praise.  Ingratitude always places obstacles in the path leading to God.

     It is often said that the only scoffers at prayer are those who have not tried it or those who pray only when a crisis occurs.  Then when things don’t turn out the way they wanted God becomes the focus of scorn and derision. 

     It is through prayer that the heart is prepared for God’s entry.  Prayer, following a genuine confession, softens the heart and makes it ready for God to change.  It is through prayer that our attitude, values, priorities, and subsequently, our actions are brought into line with God’s will for us.  It is impossible to think our way into praying.  It is possible to pray our way into a new way of thinking.

     Finally, John the Baptist reminded his hearers that preparation through repentance and prayer would always lead to proclamation.  The message we have been given to share is not a theory.  It is the Light of the world that breaks in upon the human experience and shines in and through the human heart.  To experience God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s forgiveness and to share that with others is the business of every Christian person.  Our efforts to increase our outreach to the last, the least, and the lost are an important part of that proclamation.  Maintaining and improving this physical plant is a part of that proclamation.  Our giving of time, talent, and treasure is a part of that proclamation.  Our involvement in the community of our fellows and our commitment toward helping every person become the best they can be are part of that proclamation.  All of those things, and many others, make us proclaimers of the Word made flesh.

     So, dear people of this wonderful parish, our Advent question is, are we preparing our hearts for the entrance of the King?  Are we getting ready to hear again the “thrill of victory?”  Are we preparing to carry that message to others?  In the here and now; in the sixth year of George, the President of the United States, in this final month of 2006, with Tim being our Governor, Virgil being our Representative, John and George being our Senators and Jim being our Senator-elect, and Tom being our Mayor are we prepared?  Are we preparing through repentance and prayer to be the ones to proclaim the One who came in history, who continues to come to us in our everyday lives, and the One who will come again in glory?  Are we preparing ourselves to be used in service so that all may see the salvation of God? 

     We can, of course, deceive ourselves and others by dabbing a few drops of water on our own foreheads and say that we are immune from a man like John the Baptist.  I would need to point out that to do so would be extremely dangerous.  Amen.