Preparation

Year C: The Second Sunday of Advent

Baruch 5:1-9

Canticle 4

(Philippians 1:3-11)

Luke 3:1-6

Preparation

            The Church packs several big themes into the very short Advent season.

            

             Last Sunday we focused on the first great Advent theme: looking ahead to the last day – looking ahead to the Second Coming of Christ.

            

             Here’s what Jesus had to say about the last day in last week’s gospel lesson from Luke:

            "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

            

             I’m glad that last Sunday was Lauren’s turn to preach!

            

             Anyway, last week we focused on our first great Advent theme. We heard Jesus’ frightening, but ultimately hopeful, vision of the last day – the last day when the old world of hate and violence will be no more – the last day when God will complete the restoration begun long ago – the restoration of the world into the land of love and peace that God has always meant it to be.

            Now, two thousand years later, God’s great restoration of the world is still very much a work in progress.

            We live in a world where some of the worst hotspots have recently become even more dangerous:  Israel and Palestine, Syria, Congo – the list goes on.

            We live in a world where a man pushes another man onto the subway tracks as a train approached – a world in which no one in the station offered help but someone was quick enough to take pictures – and a world in which a newspaper would publish one of those pictures on its front page. 

            We live in a world in which recently 112 Bangladeshi garment workers died unnecessarily in a factory fire  - 53 of them so badly burned their bodies could not be identified. They died while they were making cheap clothing for Americans and Europeans. The fire made the news - for a day or two. I’m not sure we see the victims – really see them – as people who hoped and loved like we do. If we think of them at all, we think of them as simply part of the invisible machinery that produces our clothing, our cell phones and so much else that we take for granted.

            So, yes, God’s restoration of the world is very much a work in progress. 

            And now, today, we move on to our second great Advent theme: preparation. We are called to prepare for Christ and to prepare for the new world that God is at work restoring all around us.

            Today we are reintroduced to John the Baptist: that wild, charismatic and demanding prophet of preparation.

            All four gospels begin the story of Jesus’ public ministry by telling us something about John the Baptist. Obviously John played a significant role in Jewish life back in the First Century and was definitely someone very important to Jesus.

            But, it’s only Luke who gives us back-story on John. Only Luke tells us that John and Jesus were related – that their mothers, Elizabeth and Mary, were kinswomen.

            And it’s only Luke who tells us anything about John’s father, the Jewish priest Zechariah. In fact, Luke gives Zechariah his own song.

            Zechariah sings to his son John:

            “You my child shall be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his way, to give people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.”

            In the gospels, John is a symbol and sign of preparation.

            Preparation.  We know all about the importance of preparation. We know that preparation can make all the difference between success and failure at school, in sports and at work. This time of year most of us know all about preparation because we’re busily getting ready for Christmas: choosing and buying gifts, making lists and checking them twice, putting up and decorating trees, stringing lights outside our homes.

            Preparation.

            But the kind of preparation that John calls for – the kind of preparation that God calls for – is a little different.

            Luke tells us that John “went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”

            For John, and for us today as Christians, preparation for Christ and preparation for God’s restoration of the world begins with… repentance.

            For John and for us, preparation begins with repentance.

            And repentance means turning back to God.

            Repentance means doing what we do here in church during that quiet moment before we say the confession.

            Repentance means taking stock of our lives – recognizing the ways we’ve let down God and let down other people. Repentance means recognizing the ways that we’ve been violent – not like the man on the subway platform but with our harsh words, with gossip, with not giving others the benefit of the doubt, with ridicule and sarcasm.

            Repentance means recognizing that we all benefit from the backbreaking and sometimes life-threatening work of the mostly invisible poor.

            Repentance means taking stock and recognizing all of that and more. Repentance means asking – and receiving – God’s merciful forgiveness. And repentance means promising to try to do better – knowing that we’ll still stumble and fall short.

            Preparation begins with repentance.

            But our preparation for Christ and for God’s restoration of the world doesn’t end with repentance.

            Our preparation continues with action.

            God is counting on us not to just say we’re sorry and then sit and wait for Christ. God is counting on us to actually help with God’s restoration of the world.

            In Judaism there is an idea called tikkun olam. Tikkun olam means healing and restoring the world. And it’s not just a nice, dreamy abstract idea. Tikkun olam is achieved when everyone pitches in helping in concrete ways with God’s restoration of the world.

            And if we pay attention we can glimpse tikkun olam – we can glimpse people helping with God’s restoration of the world.

            We help with God’s restoration of the world in the outpouring of care and help for those who lost so much in the recent storms – in an affluent town like Madison reaching out to Union Beach, a shore community that was struggling even before it was nearly washed away by Sandy.

            We help with God’s restoration of the world when we almost furtively drop items into the Food for Friends barrel – not needing anyone to see our generosity.

            We help with God’s restoration of the world when we take a tag from the Angel Tree and buy something at least as good as what we’d buy for ourselves or those we love.

            We help with God’s restoration of the world when we pray for peace in the Middle East and Africa – when we pray for peace in our own communities and homes – when we pray for peace in our own hearts.

            We help with God’s restoration of the world when we pray for the man killed on the subway tracks and the man who pushed him – when we pray for our enemies, when we ask for forgiveness and when we offer forgiveness.

            We help with God’s restoration of the world when we at least take an interest in the nearly invisible people who make our clothes and our cell phones, the people who produce our food, the people who mow our lawns and clean our homes.

            God is counting on us not to just say we’re sorry and then sit and wait for Christ. God is counting on us to actually help with God’s restoration of the world.

            So, today, we move on to our second great Advent theme: preparation.                        

            We are called to prepare for Christ and to prepare for the new world that God is at work restoring all around us.

            Today we are reintroduced to John the Baptist: that wild, charismatic and demanding prophet of preparation.

            Our preparation begins with repentance – taking stock of our lives and turning back to God.

            And our preparation continues when we help with God’s restoration of the world. Our preparation continues when we participate in tikkun olam.

            Together - God and we - will work toward the last day when the old world of hate and violence will be no more – the last day when God will complete the restoration begun long ago – the restoration of the world into the land of love and peace that God has always meant it to be.

            Amen.