Second Sunday of Advent 2005

John the Baptist is one of the great figures of our history.

He’s a little like Ed McMahan.

For nearly 30 years Ed McMahan

introduced the star of the show with, "H-e-e-e-r-r-e-e's Johnny."

And he knew his role. He did not outshine Johnny Carson.

He was not funnier than Johnny Carson.

John the Baptist also knew his role.

John the Baptist is one of the great figures of our history.

He’s a little like Hagar the Horrible.

Neither one knows how to dress to impress.

In one of the Hagar strips Hagar is addressed by a Monk who has a bible tucked under his arm, an expression of peace on his face. He tells Hagar, "Remember, it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness."

In the next frame, we see the monk disappearing over the horizon.

Then Hagar looks out at us and says-- "But I enjoy cursing the darkness"

You know, I feel like that. I don’t like this time of year when it is dark by five. I get home and want to stay home. The heck with meetings that begin at 7. The heck with extended shopping hours at the mall.

It’s hard sometimes to light a candle.

And I’m not talking about the candles of our Advent wreath.

Or the candles on your dinner table.

I’m suggesting that true light against the darkness of poverty, violence and injustice comes from within each and every one of us.

How does that song go?

Let there be peace on earth.

And let it begin with me.

I am suggesting that we are all candles.

And sometimes its hard to light a candle.

It’s hard sometimes to step up when there’s a problem and offer your experience, your insight, your gifts and talents.

We say we don’t want to get involved.

Yet it is often true that if we are not part of the solution, we are part of the problem.

We ask "what can one person do"?

Yet none of us really has to do it all alone. We live in families and communities. Asking for help can strengthen the whole group.

We say that we don’t have the strength.

We don’t carry the Clout or the weight necessary to be successful.

Yet what is the weight of one snow flake? Hardly anything weight at all.

But consider it is the weight of that last snowflake which causes the branch to fall.

Now here’s one of the hard parts of being a lit candle.

The waiting. The just being there– shining.

It doesn’t always feel active and productive enough for us.

That’s why we are given the comfort of scripture which reminds us...beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive to be found at peace...the Lord is not slow...as we think of slowness.

Christ is coming.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German pastor who was arrested and executed, for his role in a plot to kill Hilter wrote about the mystery of Christmas.

Here’s part of an Advent message:

Today, who can manage to wait,

to live in the future

as if it were the present,

to live on God

as if he were more certain than our own lives?

Only those who know

that the God who will come

has long since come before.

The God who has long since come before is

our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

He was born in a manger where hay was laid to feed cattle and horses.

His family had to flee as political refugees from the king Herod.

In his teaching and preaching, he warned that we cannot serve two Masters.

His healings and miracles showed us that God wants us to be whole and holy.

In his life laid down for us, he showed us the way of servanthood and sacrifice.

In his death and resurrection, he opened for us the way of everlasting life with God.

Whenever you want to know what God looks like, look at Jesus. Jesus took children on his knees and blessed them. Jesus walked on water. Jesus talked with women as equals. Jesus touched and healed lepers. Jesus dined with sinners. Jesus knelt at the feet of his friends, washing their feet. Jesus overturned the tables of the corrupt money changers. Jesus regularly sought times alone for prayer and meditation. From the wood of the manger to the wood of the Cross, every moment of the Incarnation shows us who God is. And how God loves us.

Please, this Advent season, as you prepare your homes for Christmas,

prepare your hearts also to receive anew the gift of Jesus Christ in your life.

Take the time to know the Christ who is the reason for the season.

Here’s Bonhoeffer again:

Celebrating Christmas

Who among us will celebrate Christmas right?

Those who finally lay down all their power, honor, and prestige,

all their vanity, pride, and self-will

at the manger,

those who stand by the lowly and let God alone be exalted,

those who see in the child in the manger the glory of God

precisely in this lowliness.

Those who say, along with Mary,

"the Lord has regarded my low estate.

My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."

Let your spirit rejoice.

AMEN.

Bonhoeffer quotes from:

Dieltrich Bonhoeffer: The Mystery of Holy Night ISBN 0824515919

JOHN THE BAPTIST