Creating Space this Advent

Sermon-2 Advent B-Dec. 4, 2011
O Lord, we pray, speak in this place, in the calming of our minds and in the longing of our hearts, by the words of my lips and in the thoughts that we form. Speak, O Lord, for your servants listen. Amen.
Mark 1:1-8The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,"See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,who will prepare your way;the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:'Prepare the way of the Lord,make his paths straight,'"John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, "The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

2 Peter 3:8-15a But do not ignore this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day.

“In the Old Testament when a prophet sent a message to King Ahaziah of Israel, the king asked the messengers, "What sort of man was he who came to meet you and told you these things?" The messengers reported to the king, "A hairy man, with a leather belt around his waist." When king Ahaziah heard that description, he concluded immediately, "It’s[the prophet]- Elijah the Tishbite" (2 Kings 1:7-8).” That’s how a prophet was know in Israel-how they dressed, and what they said. Prophets spoke hard truths and lived severe lives. Needless to say, very few prophets lived til old age. They spoke unpopular words and made a living offending people-especially those in power. But a prophet was a truth teller, someone who told others what they needed to hear.

John the Baptist was considered one of the greatest of the prophets. In Advent and in Epiphany every year we hear his story. Mark the gospel writer starts off Jesus’ life, not with his birth, like Luke and Matthew, and not with a poem about creation (in the beginning) like John. Mark the 1st gospel writer begins Jesus’ story with John the Baptist, a prophet, telling the people of Israel what they needed to hear.
So, Jesus had a warm up man, someone to get the people ready-his cousin, John. John’s job was to wake people up, get them on high alert. His job was to open people up for the main act that was to come. John the Baptizer was supposed to tell people the truth, so that when the messiah came they would be ready to follow. Hold that thought.
Who is the dominant character leading up to Christmas for us? Who is in every commercial, on every child’s lips, the addressee for every letter at this time of the year? That’s right, Santa. Tuesday is the feast day for St. Nicholas. Santa is everywhere. One commentator I was reading wondered, “what if John the Baptist was Santa?” Instead of cookies and milk you would leave out locusts and honey. Children wouldn’t go up to show John their list of what they wanted for Christmas-they would kneel and confess their sins. In fact, John could care less what we wanted for Christmas, he’d tell us how to live different lives, and that it’s time to shape up. Advent is John’s season, but he doesn’t do a good job as a mall Santa. As one preacher Alyce MacKenzie) wrote: “John would make a poor Santa on a fire engine. Instead of throwing candy canes, he'd stand up and shout, "This year better be different! Going through the motions of …Christmas will not guarantee you joy, peace, or the perfect gift on Christmas Eve!"”

Pastor Sharron R. Blezard says that if she really wants her house cleaned, she throws a party. She knows the deadline of a party will make her work nonstop getting the house ready. Deadlines do that for us, as much as we hate them. They force us to get our house clean. Christmas is the deadline. This year, what are we going to do to get our hearts ready in time?
Over the years I have passed on lots of advice about what to do, how to act in Advent to get ready. Today I’m going to give you a little John the Baptist as you prepare for Christmas. As often happens I turn to Alyce MacKenzie who made what I thought was a great point about getting ready in Advent. This is what she wrote:
“When I first started out in ministry, I thought being a minister meant being so strong that I didn't need support from others. I was walling myself off from others, putting on a good face to my colleagues. A good friend of mine, also a pastor, saw through my game face and said to me, "Isn't it funny how sometimes what we think is our greatest strength is really our greatest weakness?" It was as if she had slapped my face. What do you mean by that? I asked her. "You already know," she said.
Proverbs 27:6 says, "Profuse are the kisses of an enemy, but well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts." [Alyce continues]
I once preached a sermon on that text and afterwards two men from the congregation came up to me. Gus and Roy were retired and had been friends and members of the church for years and years. Roy said, "Your sermon reminded us of a time a couple years ago when we were both in a Bible study on Jesus' teachings about not judging. Gus said to me privately after one session, 'Roy, you really need this verse, because you tend to see people's faults before you give them a chance to show their virtues.' That made me angry, but later I realized he was right. And I thanked him for it."
If you think I’m going to encourage you to be honest and truthful with a friend as you prepare your heart this Advent, you have misjudged John the Baptist. That would be hard to do, telling someone you care for a hard truth. But that doesn’t get our hearts ready. Rather, this is a good season to ask someone you really trust for a hard truth about yourself. Can you do that? Do you trust someone enough to let them tell you something difficult about yourself, something you need to change? I hear the voice in my own head saying, “Why would I do that? Why would I ask someone else to tell me something I don’t want to hear?” What you’re doing is asking someone to be John the Baptist for you. What you’re really doing is trying to get your heart ready for Christmas. Go up to someone you really trust, a good friend, someone you believe that not only is honest, but also will tell you the truth with kindness. Someone who will help you get your heart ready.
There’s a reason we start our Advent worship each week with the 10 commandments. I’m not trying to get you to feel worse about yourself-or more self-righteous. I’m trying to get you to begin examining your life and faith, to really get your spirit ready for Christmas.
How can we expect joy, if our lives are too busy, too full? Where would there be room in us if we are so consumed with all the stuff that goes on around Christmas? This Advent, we have a deadline. Clean your house. Go to someone you trust and ask them to tell you something you really need to know about yourself-a truth. Start clearing out some space inside of you. We have a word for this in Christianity and it really started with a character named John the Baptist. It was how he prepared people for Jesus. The word is “repentance” and it means turning one’s life around so that we can be more open to God. Amen.