Mark 1:1-8

The beginning of the good news of Jesus the 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.”

Reflection        Can you hear yourself crying in the wilderness? “What is going on here? I have worked hard to be safe and secure still I am under siege by a shape shifting virus. I have cared for my family and established my social standing but the sources of my affection and esteem are in quarantine.  I have made my mark in the bureaucracy yet I have neither power nor control in the current Covid climate. Surely there is a better way of living.”

Could it be that we, like the bug eating baptizer John, are standing in the wilderness between worlds, between the way life has been and the way life could be? Could it be that we are ready to  change our lives and bravely join the people of the Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem to begin something new? Are we ready to join ALL the people looking for a better way of living?

Here I believe the operant word is ALL. The transition from the way life has been to the way life could be occurs in the company of ALL the people. And so the question before us is, “Are we ALL ready to walk into the wilderness, step into the Jordan river, die to the way life has been (life that is all about me) and begin a new way of living (that is all about we)?

By every measure the way life has been is not good enough. It is not good enough because too many people do not have access to dignity and a decent life and as a result, they have lost hope. When hope is lost, fear and anger conquer humanity and we all suffer, we ALL suffer.

Let’s be honest. We are creatures of habit. We prefer predictability and frequently choose a negative outcome rather than risk uncertainty, a sure and certain way to lose hope. But every chapter in life’s book has an ending that offers the possibility of a new beginning. It is up to us to turn the page. When the way life has been is not good enough it is time to choose to begin again because our lives are not the artifact of our circumstance. They are the result of our choices.  

And so we begin again by letting go of the story of how good things used to be. We stop complaining about the things we have lost or miss. Instead of thinking of change in terms of cost and fear of failure, we embrace it like a personal operating system upgrade that corrects errors and enhances our lived experience. 

When we choose to join John the baptizer in the wilderness standing between the way life has been and the way life could be, we have an opportunity to manifest the one thing that makes a real difference. Hope.

Hope is what gives people the energy to act. In the absence of hope we either sink into despair or erupt into anger, neither of which foster new or renewed life.  

Please consider just a few of the insidious idioms for the way life has been. “Every man or woman for herself.” “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps.” “Better look out for number one.” There is no ignoring the tragic consequences of these invocations. Suddenly John the baptizer’s call to repentance makes sense. Repentance is not about blame or shame. It is about making a conscious and conscientious choice to turn away from the way life has been and adopt new words for living, words that foster hope. 

Perhaps Winston Churchill, “We make a living by what we get but we make a life by what we give.” Or Mother Teresa, “Love is not patronizing and charity isn't about pity, it is about love. Charity and love are the same - with charity you give love, so don't just give money but reach out your hand instead.” Finally, “It is one of the most beautiful compensations of this life that no man can sincerely try to help another without helping himself.”  Ralph Waldo Emerson.**  Words that foster hope. 

Poised  between the way life has been and the way life could be we tremble when we hear John call, “Prepare the way of the Lord” because we know we must choose one way or the other. Will we cling to life as it has been, all about me procuring my private security, safety, esteem, power and control? Or will we step out of our comfortable ruts? Join ALL of  the people, step  bravely into the river of life and be the new beginning of “Good news of Jesus the Christ for ALL people?” 

• *https://www.wisesayings.com/helping-others-quotes/#ixzz6fctweEgt

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Gospel text for Sunday 10 December 2017

Mark 1:1-8        The beginning of the  good news of Jesus the 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.”

Reflection        Isaiah is not sending us out with axes and saws, root loopers and clippers, hazel hoes and rock bars to blaze a trail through the wilderness, to “Prepare the way of the Lord.” Isaiah is inviting us to see and be a new way in the wilderness. For the most part our human way, our path through the wilderness of life, is fraught with obstacles. Whether they are fallen timber or emotional memories, mountains or inherited facts of our mental, physical or emotional condition, at every turn and junction we have a choice. Are we going to direct our time and attention to our struggle with the obstacle and consequently get lost in a sea of distractions?  or, are we going to turn ourselves around and pay attention to life as it envelops us, smell the roses even when faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles? 

What if instead of seeing fallen trees or sordid family history or a series of bad breaks as getting in our way or keeping us from arriving at our joy, what if we saw our obstacles as that which prevents us from welcoming the Spirit of God that is already with us? When we return our attention to God, which is what John the Baptizer means when he “proclaims a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin,” we are essentially making straight the path or the way between us and God. 

When John the Baptizer says, “Repent,” he is not saying beat yourself up for your shameful deeds. John calls for a change of mind… “the change of mind of those who have begun to abhor their errors and misdeeds, and have determined to enter upon a better course of life, so that it embraces… a recognition of sin, sorrow for it and hearty amendment…” (Strong’s G3341) When we repent we admit we are focused on or entrapped by our obstacles and then choose to turn instead toward God, not only by changing our mind but also by changing our behavior. 

And when John speaks of sin he is talking about the ways we allow ourselves to live without a share in God, missing the mark, being mistaken. (Strong’s G266) This is cheating ourselves out of the experience of God with us. The remedy for sin is not shame or self loathing. It is changing our minds and deciding to live with our share of God. This is the good news that we hear when Second Isaiah speaks on behalf of God to our Israelite ancestors who have been suffering in the wilderness and believe God has abandoned them. “Comfort, O comfort my people.” Our comfort comes when we change our minds, when we lean against our obstacles and decide that life is better when we pay attention to what is good and true and always with us. Life is better when we turn toward God. 

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Gospel text for 2nd Advent - Sunday, 7 December 2014

Mark 1:1-8

The 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.”

Reflection    What does this have to say to us, many of whom were baptized as infants? Isn’t baptism a done deal? Not according to John. “This is the beginnning of the good news, ” news that always we begin again. There is no shortage of opportunities for each of us to pause, listen to the words of the prophet, examine our lives for vestigages of sin asking; To what am I clinging for my safety and security? How do I use alcohol, drugs, food, shopping, sex, work, video games, people or the internet for comfort or esteem? What means do I employ to acquire and exert power and control? What if I found my safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control in relationship with God instead?

Now let me be crystal clear. I am not suggesting that the things of earth or creation are evil. That would be a heresy.  It is our attachment to things as sources of that which is of God that is sin. Just another way of saying, we have a tendency to turn things into idols - golden calves, golden parachutes.  When we decide to repent, to change our minds, to let go of our idols, our habits, attachments and addictions, we are ready for something new. This is how we prepare the way for the one who is and is to come. This is our work for the Advent season; preparing the way for the Christ to be born again in each of us. 

Surely preparing the way for something new is as natural as new families making countless trips to Babies R Us as they prepare for the coming of a child ? Aunties buy cribs and friends cuddly blankets. Parents search the web for advice, install baby monitors and socket guards. With nothing but the best of intentions boatloads of things are gathered to welcome the child into a world of safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control. This is as it should be - and - immediately the writer of Mark’s gospel invites us to put that child in God’s hands, drenched in the water of baptism to die to a life constrained by things and rise into a life of safety, security, affection, esteem, power and control born in the hands of God. We prepare the way to give our children away to God in baptism.

At the other end of the spectrum linger those of us in later seasons of life faced with the burden of scores of physical stuff, habitual stuff,  stuff we no longer have the energy to sustain. Mountains of possessions possess us. Decades of habitual behaviors and reactions stand between us and freedom like barbed wire prision walls. Are we not like the people of the Judean countryside and Jerusalem compelled by a sense of desperation and desire for something more than old stuff and the empty promises of city, state, empire? How many of us long to walk into the wilderness, throw all the things that possess us into the Jordan river, watch them sink to the watery depths and experience the lightness of being born anew in the hands of God? “This is the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God….” Do you dare to prepare the way of the Lord?   

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