2B Advent                                           Mark 1: 1-8                                       Dec. 7, 2008  

From the middle ages comes the story of a young woman who was expelled from heaven.
As she left she was told that if she were to bring back the gift that is most valued by God, she would be welcomed back. So, in an effort to regain her place in heaven she brought back drops of blood from a dying patriot.
She brought back some coins that a destitute widow had given to the poor.
She brought back a remnant of a Bible that had been used by an eminent preacher.
She brought back some dust from the shoes of a missionary in a remote wasteland.
She brought back many similar things, but was turned back repeatedly.

One day she saw a small boy playing by a fountain. A man rode up on horseback and dismounted to take a drink. The man saw the child and suddenly remembered his boyhood innocence.
Then, looking in the fountain and seeing the reflection of his hardened face, he realized what he had done with his life. The tears of repentance welled up in his eyes and began to trickle down his check. The young woman took one of these tears back to heaven and was received with joy and love.

Repentance.  Tear of repentance.
In today’s Gospel reading John the Baptizer came out of the wilderness to encourage repentance.
Out of the wilderness he came to tell the world that the Messiah was coming and repentance was the order of the day. According to John we are to repent and receive the gift of forgiveness.
That was John’s message back then and it his message for each and every one of us gathered here today.

So what does it mean to repent? I ask this because I ‘m not entirely sure we have an appropriate understanding of what repentance is. Far too often when a preacher talks about repentance people seem to assume that guilt is the feeling they should experience. I’m not sure that this is entirely helpful when it comes to talking about repentance.

One pastor has written that repentance is not so much about feeling bad, but rather about thinking differently. Christians that I know are already pretty good at talking guilt trips or sending people on guilt trips, but the truth is wallowing in guilt won’t change anything.
The Greek word, “metanoia”, translated into English is “conversion” or “repentance”, literally means to change one’s way of thought, feeling, and behavior.

What this means is that a repentant person doesn’t primarily feel bad, in fact in all likely hood, the repentant person might very well feel much better, why because their lives, their focus is finally in sync with God’s love for the world, their lives finally make sense, there is a greater sense of peace in their lives, and quite frankly, that feels good.

As forgiven people, our focus is not on the mistakes, sins, and guilt of our past, rather it is on a present and future of promise and possibility.

There is another story and this one comes from Japan that tells of a soldier who approached the Teacher and said, “I have mastered all of the martial arts, I have risen to the highest rank possible for a man of my training, I now wish to learn about God, and can you help me?”

The teacher smiled and invited the man to sit at the table. “Let us have a cup of tea before we talk further.” After the soldier sat, the teacher began to pour tea into the man’s cup.
He filled the cup and kept poring until he tea was running over the table and onto the floor.
The soldier watched dumbfounded until he could no longer be silent. “Stop! It’s full! The cup will not hold more tea!”

Placing the teapot on the table, the teacher addressed the soldier, “You are so full of yourself that there is no room for God. It is not possible for you to learn until you empty yourself.”

Repentance involves the act of emptying ourselves. Repentance involves letting go of those things that hold us back from being the people God created us to be. Repentance involves emptying our hearts of the bile and cancer that eats away at our lives and our relationships.
So how do we do this?

It has been said that a journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step. John the baptizer has come to help us take that first step. He has come to help us step out of the wilderness of our lives and into the promised land of God’s kingdom. John is calling us to take a step that will affect our actions and our inactions.

The first step involves preparing a place for Jesus, a place for Emmanuel—God-with-us, to reside at the center of our lives day in and day out, not just on Sunday mornings, but each every morning, 24-7.

And this season of Advent is as good a time as any to take that first step because for some it is lonely time.  Unlike the desert wilderness that John emerged from, we live in our own wilderness that brings loneliness to our lives and a lack of peace in our hearts.

Maybe it’s because of the cold and people are huddled in their homes with the shades drawn to keep the heat in. Or, maybe it is the lack of daylight and we tend to have more days that are overcast and cloudy as opposed to sunny and bright that attributes to the loneliness of this season.

In any case, for many, this is a lonely time. It is a lonely time for those who are alone because they are widowed or because they are orphaned. It is lonely time because our consumer culture is constantly hounding us of how we ought not be lonely, that this is a time of year filled with joy and celebration. And then there is the lure of being deceived into thinking that we can buy happiness by buying bigger and better gifts.

Just as it is a lonely time, it also a barren time. Once again, for some, this is a time barren and void of joy. And despite our best efforts of artificially planting that spirit of joy in our lives by attending yet another company party or having the perfect Christmas tree, or the biggest display of Christmas decorations, despite all these efforts, the truth is they fail to deliver and we are left empty handed.

Another characteristic of this wilderness we live in is the busyness that consumes our lives.
This is a time of year where we are often wrapped up in continual rounds of shopping and partying; this busyness exhausts us physically and emotionally.

This is a time of year where we are pressured to be happy, to be full of cheer, to enjoy ourselves—even when we are too tired or wrapped up in private and important grief.

This is a time of year where we feel compelled to spend money we do not have charging up greater debts so that our families and friends can have the latest toys and trinkets and gadgets that they really don’t need.

We are in a wilderness all right, a wilderness both inside our hearts and outside, and we need the way of the Lord to be made ready in our midst so that we can emerge from that wilderness, and come to a place where there is rest, a place of hope, peace and love. The place where our God resides.

A colleague of mine offered some suggestions some time ago that while I appreciate, have yet to enact in my own life.
He suggests that instead of doing more things during Advent and Christmas, we might do well to do less. He suggests that we would all do well to gear down and relax a little more.
Specifically he writes:
“These precious days are too important to spend marching to other people’s tunes.
In other words, it is a month to say NO.
NO to meetings that I can just as well put off until January.
NO to invitations that I will resent when the date arrives.
NO to demands that take me away from home.
When I say NO to these things, it allows me to say YES to other things.
YES to trying out that new Christmas punch or cookie recipe.
YES to writing letters to neglected friends and relatives.
YES to sharing stories and songs of the season with the children in my life.
YES to playing with my grandchildren and spending time with my wife.

Another pastor friend offered some similar suggestions in his Advent letter, suggestions such as:
I will speak a word of encouragement and support to a fellow worker, a family member, a neighbor, a stranger whose actions touch my life.
I will invite a stranger to dinner—or someone I know is lonely.
I will read the scriptures daily and pray for my church and my community.
I will let go of some activity so that I will have more time for my family, my church home, and my friends.
I will meditate each day on God’s generosity and his call to live by his love.

My friends…the repentance that most of us need, the turning around that most of us require, is not a hard thing, but it is a change of attitude toward life, and toward the things we think important now.

Repentance is not about beating ones breast and saying what a miserable sinner one has been.
Repentance is not saying, “I’m sorry” over and over again.
Repentance is doing things in a new way, a way that gives life to both yourself and others, a way that allows Christ to enter more deeply into your hearts.

Over two thousand years ago John entered the scene with his call to repentance.
Out of the wilderness he came encouraging the people of his day to prepare for the Messiah, the Lord of Life, the light of the world, a man who bestowed health and wholeness on all who were ready for him.

That was over two thousand years ago...and these words are still important.
They are words that need to be directed to each and every one of us gathered here today.
John calls us to the new life revealed in Jesus, and he reminds us that if we are to have that life,
we must do just a little more than just want it, we must prepare ourselves for it,
by changing our direction, by doing certain things differently that we have done them before.

To repent is to recognize that the old ways in which we have traveled leads us nowhere, and then to turn around, and to ask for God’s forgiveness and help, and to start walking in the way that leads us to the light.
Repentance is a beginning that is blessed by God.
A beginning that we need to make each and every day, one day at a time.
As we turn to face the Son, our lives are warmed, his light shines on our path, and as we walk forward from that place we find our paths are made straight, the valley in our way will be raised up, the mountains and hills will be made low, the rough places will become a plain.
Why? Because our Lord and Savior, Emmanuel, walks with us.
And to this we can all say…Amen. Thanks be to God!

 

Pastor Stephen P. Blenkush
Zion Lutheran Church
Milaca, MN

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