Christ Episcopal Church
December 6, 2015
2 Advent C
Years ago, when Don and I lived in Lexington, Kentucky, we lived across the street from a little boy named Greg, and his parents, Ann and Jim. Greg was probably 6 or 7 years old, full of energy and imagination. Every now and then, Don and I would look out our front window, and Greg would be out in his front yard, all dressed up as superman, or batman, or some other super hero, flying around his yard and working hard to save the world. As we watched Greg scale tall buildings with a single bound, I learned that there is a fine line between pretending, and allowing oneself to be transformed into someone or something else, even if for a brief time. Greg would tell you quickly that he was not pretending to be superman. Greg was superman, just not all the time. Which, of course, is very superman like. And I have to wonder if Greg wasn't just a little more confident and a little more sure of himself for the time he spent transformed into Superman. Perhaps having worked to save the world on Saturday made first grade a little easier come Monday.
Our reading from Baruch this morning calls us to enter into a similar sort of behavior. The book of Baruch is named for the prophet Jeremiah's scribe and set in the 6th century BCE at the time of the Babylonian exile. God's chosen people had been removed from the Promised Land, the land burned, the temple destroyed, and they wondered how they could possibly worship God away from the land God had given them. Into this situation, Baruch writes the words we hear this morning, "Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the glory of God...For God will evermore give you the name ‘Righteous peace, Godly glory." Then Baruch echos the words of Isaiah that we hear from John the Baptist in the gospel reading: "God has ordered that every high mountain and the everlasting hills be made low, and the valleys filled up to make level ground, so that Israel may walk safely in the glory of God."
Baruch is speaking words of hope to this exiled people, telling them to live like people who have been given the name "Righteous peace, Godly glory." Stop with the self-pity and the negative thinking. Live like people who believe God will lead them with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that come from God. Baruch does not say this, but I imagine the scribe is thinking that if the people can live as people of deep hope, even in the midst of deep adversity, they will be transformed by that hope, and they will walk safely in the glory of God.
On the other hand, John the Baptist proclaims a baptism of repentance this morning. He won't actually get around to calling us a brood of vipers until next Sunday. This Sunday is a milder call to repent in order to prepare the way of the Lord. We hear words similar to those of Baruch "Every valley shall be filled and every mountain shall be made low...and all flesh shall see the salvation of God."
Repentance. When I think of repentance I usually think of things I need to stop doing. But the word "repent" actually means to turn around, to change course, not just to stop doing something. So, I wonder if the repentance John calls for actually looks like the change of behavior Baruch calls for. What if repentance, preparing the way of the Lord, is actually about taking off the garment of sorrow and affliction, giving up whatever negative thoughts and self pity control us, and putting on the beauty of the glory from God? What if repentance means living like God is leading us with joy, in the light of his glory, with the mercy and righteousness that comes from God? And if we were to really live into the name "Righteous peace, Godly glory" what valley might be filled or what mountain might be made straight?
Neither Baruch nor John the Baptist are calling us to pretend that we are something we are not, or to pretend that problems which really do exist are not there. Both are calling us to live like the people God calls us to be, whether we feel like that on any given day or not, and allow ourselves to be transformed from the outside in by our new behavior. Baruch reminds us that we can't always control how we feel, but we can control how we act. And if we act and engage the world as someone God calls "Righteous peace, Godly glory" what difference might that make in our own lives and the lives of those we encounter?
John the Baptist tells us to prepare the way of the Lord, to make his paths straight, not so that our own lives will be easier or better, or so that we will be more pleasant to live with, but so that all flesh shall see the salvation of God. The salvation of God is not an abstract concept, something left to theologians to debate and explain to us. The salvation of God is something we can see, and as Christians we believe that the salvation of God became visible in the person of Jesus. Advent points us to the Christ Child and calls us to prepare the way of the Lord. We can make the mountains impassable or we can put on the glory of God and make the rough ways smooth. Advent calls us to put on the glory of God and prepare for the Christ child by living so that all flesh can see the salvation of God.
Amen.
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