What Do You Need to Let Go?

Based on Matthew 4:12-23
First delivered Jan. 26, 2020
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            Who would you drop everything for and follow if they asked you to follow them? Likely you would only do that for someone you love, who really matters to you: your spouse or life partner, your kids, your parents, your closest friends. Or maybe it is someone who has authority over you, like a supervisor or boss. Or maybe it is someone who you have great respect for or admire, like a mentor. Whoever it is you drop everything and follow is likely someone you have a relationship with. You hold enough value in the relationship that you are willing to let go of whatever it is you are doing so that you can follow that person on the barest of requests. All they have to say is, “follow me” and you go. You don’t need to know where you are going or what you will have to do. If they say “come with me” you go, no questions asked. Most of us won’t do this for just anybody, and certainly not a stranger unless we at least ask some questions first.

            So, what is it about Jesus, that when he invited Simon and Andrew, James and John, to follow him, that they were willing to immediately drop everything and follow, no questions asked? Was Jesus a stranger to them? It could be that there was something about Jesus’ charisma that prompted in them the willingness to follow Jesus immediately. But it could also be that they had already heard about Jesus. Maybe they had already met him. Perhaps they had already heard him proclaim his message to repent, for the kingdom of heaven is drawing near. Perhaps they had heard about, or even seen him working miracles of healing. Perhaps they had heard what John the Baptist was saying, that this is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, the very Son of God, the Messiah. Whatever the reasons were, Simon and Andrew, James and John, chose to drop everything and to follow Jesus, no questions asked and with the barest of insight as to what they were getting themselves in to. Jesus said to Simon and Andrew that he would make them fish for people. That’s all they needed to know.

            What about you? If you have ever heard that call in your heart, of Jesus inviting you to follow him, did you metaphorically drop everything and follow him immediately, no questions asked? It didn’t happen right away for me. I suppose there were a number of times as a kid that Jesus was stirring in my heart to follow him and I either didn’t understand what was happening or maybe thought I already was following, I already believed. But then, one evening in October of 1983, everything changed. It was that night, at a church youth retreat, when for the first time I knew in my heart that Jesus died on the cross for my sin, that God loved me and had a plan for my life…this was a call to follow that was loud and clear. After sharing a message with us, the pastor said to us, “If you feel called to be a fisher of men, come forward.” My heart was in my throat. I knew this was for me. Without thinking I immediately made my way to the pastor, who had me kneel. He placed his hand on my head and said, “Kevin, go forth and be a fisher of men.” The youth pastor pinned on to my shirt collar a lapel pin that had the shape of a fish hook. It was that moment that for the first time I dropped everything, let go of how I used to think about myself, of little value, with no real purpose, of mere existence, I let all that go, and instead began to follow Jesus, the one who loves me and who has a plan for me, the one who is worthy of being followed. I was only 15. I had no idea where this journey of following Jesus would take me. And it’s a journey I’m still on. Who knows where it will go?

            Maybe you said yes to follow Jesus the first time you felt that invitation. Maybe you had to be prompted many times. Perhaps you were also at a church youth retreat. Or you were at a Billy Graham crusade. Or you were sitting in church one Sunday morning. Or it was at some point during a confirmation class. Or you were alone in your bedroom. Or you were sitting by a creek, along the beach, overlooking a scenic vista, sitting with your back against a tall oak in the woods. We hear that invitation in our hearts many different ways and in many different places. And it’s been my experience that I have heard Jesus’ invitation to follow all through my life. At some point along the way, those of us who claim to be Christians sensed that call to follow, we left something behind, and started on the path of following Jesus.

            But I wonder if we actually dropped everything when we decided to follow Jesus. These four fishermen physically dropped their nets and followed Jesus as he walked along the beach. We don’t physically drop things when we decide to follow Jesus. But we do have to let things go. Maybe you have to let go of certain priorities in your life. To follow Jesus, you may have to let go of the priorities of making lots of money, or always having to win at any cost, or always getting what you want. To follow Jesus, maybe you have to let go of always putting yourself first. Maybe to follow Jesus you have to let go of some of your life goals, or the plans you had mapped out for your life. It is this kind of letting go where I have heard people say has given them pause in following Jesus. They think things like, “If I give my life to Jesus, he might call me to be a missionary in Africa or give away all my possessions and live hand to mouth as an evangelist or something. I always planned to be a lawyer or an accountant and now Jesus is going to lead me away from that life and be something else that I don’t want to be. Yes, to let go of those aspirations you have for your career, or the kind of lifestyle that you have the ambition to achieve to follow Jesus, that can give a lot of people pause.

            Maybe to follow Jesus you have to let go of some bad habits, or some bad relationships. You may have to get yourself a new set of friends. And that’s not always easy. Then again, it might be easier than you think when your old friends discover you are taking this following Jesus thing seriously and you aren’t the same anymore. Those old friends may not want to hang out with you anymore. So, yes, following Jesus may mean letting go of some relationships.

            Maybe following Jesus means letting go of some negative talk about yourself. You used to think about yourself as wandering through life with no purpose, no direction. You used to think that there really wasn’t any reason for you to be living. You may even had sometimes wondered if it was worth living. But now, having chosen to follow Jesus, your life has a purpose. You are finding meaning. You now have a reason to get out of bed in the morning. You are letting go of that sense of purposelessness and worthlessness and discovering that by Jesus calling you to follow him, you have received an invitation to live a life of purpose. You have been acknowledged as someone with purpose, with worth, with a reason to live. So, you let go of all that negative talk and the negative thoughts you had about yourself and your life as you step out in faith to follow the one who has called you.

            What I have come to discover though is that the journey of following Jesus includes an ongoing process of letting go. I think we discover as we go along that although we have been following Jesus, there are still some things we have held on to that we need to let go of. Maybe there is still a negative attitude about yourself that you still haven’t been able to let go of. Or there is still that bad habit, or that character flaw that you still struggle to let go of. Maybe there is something you are keeping in your back pocket, something you can fall back on when the call to follow Jesus looks like it will take you to a place that doesn’t feel safe and secure. It’s like when you were a kid, and all your friends were swimming in the deep end of the pool. You got as close as you could to the deep end, that part of the pool where the floor suddenly dips down. And you want to go swim with your friends. You gingerly move a little into that deep end but you do not let go of the edge of the pool. You work your way further and further, but you don’t let go of that edge. Eventually, if you want to swim with your friends in the deep end, you are going to have to let go of the edge of the pool. Until you do, you’re stuck. But eventually, you get enough courage, you let go of the edge, push off with your foot, and you paddle and kick as hard as you can to keep your head above water. And before you know it, you’re swimming with your friends in the deep end. Following Jesus can sometimes be like that. We sense Jesus calling us to follow him a little deeper into the water. We want to do it. But it’s scary. We hold back, clinging to what we know, to where we are, to what is familiar and safe. But our heart longs to follow Jesus into those unknown and deeper waters. Will we let go of the familiar and safe, steel ourselves with courage, and swim into the unknown with Jesus?

            Some of us have had the privilege of teaching our kids how to ride a bike. It starts easy. Just put on training wheels and the kids are good to go. But eventually, we start asking, “You ready for me to take those training wheels off?” “Not yet, daddy.” “OK.” You wait a bit a longer and then ask, “You ready yet?” “Not yet.” “OK.” Eventually, the day comes, and you ask the question, “You ready yet?” “Yes, I’m ready. Take them off.” The training wheels go off and now the fun really begins. You explain how to keep the bicycle upright. Sit up straight. Lean forward a little. Whatever you do, keep peddling. Standing by their side, holding the bike steady, your kid gets on and slowly, together, you pushing and them sort of peddling, you start moving forward. Eventually they start peddling. You get a little faster. And you say, “OK, I’m going to let go.” No, daddy, don’t let go!” By this time you’re running out of breath! You let go, your kid falls over, and you have to pick them up, dust them off, and encourage them to get back on the bike. Over and over, you say, “I’m letting go.” “Don’t let go!” But, eventually, it happens. The both of you push off, you pick up speed, and your kid says, “Now, daddy!” You let go, and you watch with pride as your kid peddles down the sidewalk. They are free. The adventures they will have on their bikes.

            Throughout our lives, we hear that call from Jesus. “Are you ready to follow me?” “Not yet.” We aren’t quite ready to let go. We want to. But we are scared. We are unsure if we can do it. But Jesus keeps inviting, keeps calling us to follow him just a little bit further. He assures us that if we start sinking, he will be there to pull us up. If we fall over, he will be there to dust us off and get us back going again. Jesus is always there for us. And he is always one step ahead of us, calling us forward. So, what about it? What do you need to let go of so that you can take the next step in your journey of following Jesus?

What's in a Name?

Based on John 1:29-42
First delivered Jan. 19, 2020
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            “What name is given this child?” That’s the question a parent is asked when the minister takes the baby in their arms and prepares to baptize the child. It is a momentous question. The name parents give their children is a name they will carry the rest of their lives. Yes, there is a legal process by which a person can change their name. But most people will keep the name their parents gave them, a name they had no input in receiving. Try asking a baby what name they should have. You aren’t going to get much of an answer! Just as none of us asked to be born, none of us ask for our names. Our name, just as life itself, is a gift that is offered to us. And the gift of our names took a good deal of intention from our parents.

            Those of us who have had the privilege to choose names for our children understand how weighty that decision can be. I know for Kim and myself, when we knew we would be adopting a baby boy, we got ourselves a baby names book. It was thick. There were literally thousands of names in that book, each one with a brief definition of what that name means. We made our list of top names. We got advice, sometimes unsolicited, from family and friends. We went back and forth, slowly whittling down our list until we finally got to one that we both felt was right. That’s how it is, isn’t it? We choose a name because it feels right. Our gut tells us what the name should be.

            And this makes me wonder. Often, when we ask for divine direction regarding a choice we need to make, we often listen to our gut. Our brains help us list all the realistic possibilities, but it is our gut that often directs us to the choice we make. Could it be that God speaks to us through our gut? We understand our bodies to be temples of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit dwells within us. Could the gut be where the Spirit dwells? Could it be that when the name we select for our children feels right, that is an instance where God is weighing in on what that name should be? I wonder if, intentionally or not, the names our parents gave us was influenced by God.

            There are many examples in scripture where God actively influences the selection of names for children. There are two examples in the gospels. When Elizabeth was pregnant, she and Zechariah were both told by an angel that the child’s name will be John. It was a bit peculiar when Elizabeth announced the child’s name. People said to her, “There’s no one in your family by that name. Are you sure you want to name the child John?” They ask Zechariah, who was still mute as a consequence of not believing the angel right away when told he would have a son. Zechariah writes, “His name is John.” And then, all of a sudden, his tongue is loosed and he begins to praise God.

            And then there is Mary and Joseph, who were told by an angel that the child in her womb will be named Jesus, or Yeshua which means “Yahweh saves.” Whether or not the parents of John and Jesus made their lists of names and whittled them down, we don’t know. But the story is that they were told directly by God through an angel what the names will be. They are divinely appointed names. And I think it is possible that, although we may not recognize an angel telling us what the names are to be for our children, that God does have an influence on the names we choose.

            What’s in a name? What impact does the name given to us have on us? Sometimes names point to our purpose in life. The name “Jesus” points to his purpose, to be the savior. Maybe the name given to us suggests something about what our character is to be. If you haven’t done it in a while, try to look up the meaning of your name. I looked “Kevin” and learned that it is an anglicized version of an old Irish word “Coemgein”. “Caohm” means “kind, gentle, or handsome” and “gin” means “birth.” So Coemgein means gentle birth. Or maybe “handsome birth.” I was a handsome baby at birth. Or it was a relatively gentle birth. Perhaps to live up to my name, my challenge is to be a kind and gentle person. This is the character trait that I am meant to have. What about you? I invite you to research the meaning of your name and reflect on what it might say to you.

            Throughout our lives, we often are called other names. None of us gets through childhood without being called mean names; certainly if we have siblings! What parents of children did not hear at least once, “Mommy, he’s calling me names!” Often that name calling we endure is in fun. But we also know that some of those names stick and they can hurt us. To be called “four eyes” or “fattie” or “dufus” as children, that can make a mark. Mean names have the potential to cut deep wounds that can fester for a long time and may never really heal.

            We also may pick up a nick name or two. In my college days I had a few friends who started calling me “Kev the rev.” Nick names can be silly. What does “Puddin’” mean? Or they could be a compliment, like “Steady Eddie”, he’s always dependable and nothing shakes him. Nick names you may pick up along the way may give some insight into how people see you.

            This morning in the scripture, I wouldn’t say we hear of some nick names given to Jesus or to Simon. But there are some names that are given. John calls Jesus “Lamb of God” and “Son of God.” Andrew calls Jesus “Rabbi” and “Messiah.” These are not exactly nick names, but they are names. They identify who Jesus is. John calls Jesus the Lamb of God because he takes away the sins of the world just as a sacrificial lamb covers the sin of the one who offers the sacrifice. He is called the Son of God because John saw the Spirit descend on him and God told him that whoever this happens to baptizes with the Holy Spirit. So, for John, that meant that Jesus is the Son of God. Andrew calls Jesus rabbi because that’s who he thinks he is, a teacher. And there is something about the place where Jesus took Andrew, and the connection he made with what John called Jesus, to conclude that Jesus is the messiah, the anointed one. These are names for Jesus that point to who he is and what his purpose is. He is a teacher and he is anointed by the Spirit, the Son of God and the one who offers himself as a sacrifice sufficient to cover all the sin of the whole world. What powerful names these are.

            Jesus calls Simon “Peter”, which means “rock.” That kind of sounds like a nick name. Jesus basically says to Simon, “You are a rock.” Simon the rock. Now that name can be taken a few ways, right? Maybe Jesus is calling Simon a block head. Nah. I can’t imagine Jesus making fun of anyone. Although he can be salty. More than once he called people a brood of vipers. Descriptive or not, there was some heat behind that name. But I don’t think Jesus is making fun of Simon. Surely, he was not implying that Simon is as dumb as a rock. That can’t be it. Maybe he called him a rock because he was strong and sturdy, like a rock. Jesus was acknowledging his physical appearance. Perhaps. But it seems likely that the reason Jesus called Simon a rock is because Jesus had insight into the role that Simon would play in the foundation of the church. Our minds carry us to that occasion when Jesus was asking his disciples what people are calling him. They say that some people are calling him John the Baptist. Others are calling him Elijah. Others are calling him the prophet. And then Jesus asks them who they say he is. It is Simon who says, “You are the messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus looks at Simon and says, “You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church.” From the moment Jesus laid eyes on Simon he knew that Simon would get it, that he would confess the truth about who Jesus is, a confession upon which to build a church. Jesus gave Simon a name that pointed to his divinely appointed purpose. By the way, Simon is Hebrew for “hearken” or “listen intently.”

            If God were to give you a nick name, what would it be? What would you want it to be? Maybe God’s nick name for you is Faith, or Grace, or Mercy, or Gentle, or Hope, or Generous. Later today, as you are looking up what your name means, I invite you to also sit with that question and reflect for a few minutes. If God were to give you a nick name, what would it be?

            We are called a lot of names through the years. Some names are mean. Some are in good fun. Some are the names given to us by our parents. Some we take on through marriage or even, if we choose, we can legally change our names, particularly if someone transitions from one gender to another.  We are called by different names: father, mother, brother, sister, doctor, teacher, businessman, senator. We get called sweetie and hun, dude and sometimes, “hey you.”

            Of all the names we are called all throughout our lives, it is good to know that people do know our names. We are known. We are called by name. It is the teacher reading off the names on the role to take attendance. Or it is the reading of your name when you walk across the stage to get your high school diploma. Or it is mom calling your name for supper. Watch out if she calls you by your first and second name! Or it is a friend who sees you across the street that yells out your name to get your attention. It is good to be known by name.

            God knows your name. God calls you by name. Perhaps God even had an influence on the name you were given at birth. God may have a name for you that you don’t even know about yet, but will discover someday. In Revelation 2:17 we read, “To everyone who conquers …I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it.” Whatever your names are, God knows them. God knows all the names throughout the entire universe, something impossible for us to fully comprehend and appreciate. We all know how frustrating it is to forget someone’s name. But God never forgets a name. For as we hear in Isaiah 43:1, “Do not be afraid, for I have saved you; I have called you by name. You are mine.”

Remember You are Baptized

Based on Matthew 3:13-17
First delivered Jan. 12, 2020
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            If you had to tell your life story, what would you include and what would you leave out? That can be a tough assignment, especially if you have lived a long and eventful life. One way to do this would be to think back over your life and make a list of the big events, those moments that were turning points: your birth, of course, places you lived, where you went to school, your first job, starting a family, the death of your parents, etc. I bet if we all took the time to sit down and list the big events that have happened in our lives, me may be surprised how many there are.

            Recently, at the Golden Globe Awards, Ellen DeGeneres received the Carol Burnett award. In her acceptance speech, she cracked a few jokes. She then told the audience that if they don’t mind she would share a little about her life, how she got to this point to receive this prestigious award. She promised us it wouldn’t take long. Then she said, “I was born January 26, 1958…” which made everyone start laughing. She went on and on for a couple minutes drawing out the details about her birth. And then she said, “Then, I got my own comedy show on T.V.” She skipped a lot!

            As far as we know, Jesus never wrote anything, much less his life story. We are left with the accounts of the gospel writers. They each tell the life story of Jesus, hitting many of the same big events but with some slight changes in detail. Some include events that others leave out. They each made their choices about which events in Jesus’ life to include and which to leave out. One of the events that they all include is the baptism of Jesus.

            Why was the baptism of Jesus such a big deal? It may have to do with at what point in Jesus’ life it took place. The gospel of John is a little bit of an exception, but with the other gospel writers Jesus is baptized by John before he starts his public ministry. In fact, the stages are in this way: Jesus is baptized by John, the Spirit drives him into the wilderness where he is tempted by Satan, and then he begins his public ministry of proclaiming the good news and healing people. I think we can say that for Jesus, his baptism is a big deal because it marked the beginning of something. After Jesus was baptized, in a way, his life story really begins.

            For example, look at how Matthew lines out Jesus’ story. Prior to his baptism, the last mention of Jesus in Matthew’s gospel was when he, along with Mary and Joseph, settled in Nazareth in Galilee after returning from their time as refugees in Egypt to avoid Jesus being assassinated by Herod. I choose that word carefully. Matthew makes it clear that Herod saw Jesus as a political threat, having been told by the magi that this child was the king of Israel, which threatened the power of Herod and his family. Anyway, after noting that Jesus moved to Nazareth as a child, the next time we hear of Jesus is when he showed up to be baptized by John. That was a major gap, perhaps twenty-five years or so. Luke gave us some info about Jesus going to the temple when he was a boy to argue and discuss with the religious teachers, but other than that we don’t know hardly anything about Jesus’ childhood or young adult years. We basically fast-forward to when Jesus is believed to have been around 30 when he asks John to baptize him.

            Why did Jesus need to be baptized? And why from John? John wanted to know. He thought Jesus should baptize him instead. We know that John’s baptism was done as a part of a ritual of repentance. People would come to him with penitent hearts and mark their confession with the cleansing waters of a repentance baptism. What did Jesus need to repent from? If anything, it would be John that would need to receive baptism from the more pure and holy Jesus. But Jesus says that it is the righteous thing to do for John to baptize him. Even though it didn’t seem right to John, the one who he knew to be the messiah, the son of God, was telling him to baptize him in the Jordan, so John did it.

            Why did Jesus need to be baptized? We may never know for sure except to state that it was what God wanted him to do. Whatever the Father told him to do, Jesus did. So, the Father must have instructed him to be baptized by John. Doing so would fulfill all righteousness, that is, fulfill God’s intention for Jesus. John, being a righteous person, was willing to cooperate with Jesus in the fulfillment of God’s intentions. Maybe God wanted Jesus to get baptized in order to set an example for us. If Jesus was baptized, so should we. Maybe the baptism was meant by God to symbolize the turning point for when Jesus came out, if you will, into his public ministry. It wasn’t enough for Jesus to suddenly appear to proclaim his message and heal people. There needed to be some public, ritual expression of this major turn in Jesus’ life. Maybe there are other reasons. We are left to ponder.

            Whatever the reasons were, we learn that after Jesus was baptized, he saw the sky crack open, and saw the Spirit descend on him in the appearance of a dove and alight on him, and he heard a voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” What an amazing experience! It was an experience brimming with empowerment and affirmation. You know how when people receive their diplomas from college, they are handed the certificate and shake the hand of the president of the school and told, “Good job. Congratulations.” The graduate now has the credential to go out into the world to do what they have been trained to do. But the experience of Jesus’ baptism is ten times more intense. This is no receiving of a certificate and a pat on the back from God. This is a powerful spiritual experience that surely is meant to give the impression that something has fundamentally shifted in how Jesus will interact with the world going forward. That is the impression I get of his baptism, what it meant for him.

            What about you? For those of you who have experienced baptism, was your experience as profound as the one Jesus had? Probably not. For those of us who were baptized as babies I imagine it had no impact on us at all that we can remember. Maybe some of us cried when our parent handed us over to someone else and then had water splashed on our heads. Other than that, there was no sky cracking open, doves landing on us or voices booming from above. In comparison to the baptism of Jesus, ours was likely pretty mundane. Perhaps some of us were baptized as young people or adults. Maybe it was in a river or pond, or a baptistry or even a swimming pool. We have more memories. I suspect that the moment of baptism has left a mark on you, that it was a high point of your life. Jesus level? Maybe not. But still, when someone asks you to remember your baptism you at least have an image that you can come to in your mind.

            Whether baptized as a baby or an older person, what does baptism mean to you? As Jesus was baptized before he started his public ministry, our baptism marks a beginning of some kind. As babies perhaps it marks the beginning of your life being raised up in the church. As an adult, perhaps your baptism marked the beginning of your public commitment to serve Jesus in the world. Baptism marks a beginning point, or better a turning point. It certainly impacts our identity. We once were not baptized and now we are and always will be. There are no take backs when it comes to baptism. So, baptism can be understood as a mark of one’s identity as well as a mark of one’s beginning in the journey of living out the Christian faith.

            This leads to my last point: how might we remember our baptism? This is a particularly difficult question for those of us who were baptized as babies. We have no memory of the experience. We can only remember that our parents told us we were baptized. Those who have a memory of the experience seem to have a leg up on the task of remembering our baptism. But can remembering our baptism mean more than conjuring up an image of the experience or remembering what our parents told us about the experience, if they told us anything at all about it?

            Perhaps remembering your baptism is about more than remembering the event. Instead, to remember your baptism is to remember that you are baptized. This has to do with remembering who you are, a matter of identity. As United Methodists, we believe that at baptism you receive the Holy Spirit and you are claimed by God as one of God’s children. We get this by reflecting back on Jesus’ baptism, when the Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove and he heard a voice from heaven claiming him as God’s beloved son with whom God is well pleased. Jesus’ baptism is a pattern of our own. This is what we are invited to remember: that we have been baptized, that we have been given the Holy Spirit, that we are claimed as God’s beloved sons and daughters. These are aspects of identity, a significant part of who you are. And just as Jesus walked in the world differently after his baptism, proclaiming the message he was sent to give and backing that message up with working healings and miracles, so we can walk in the world differently, as those who possess the Spirit and who are beloved of God. This makes a difference in how we live.

            I want to share with you a story shared by our D.S., Tim Bias, who is sharing it from Fred Craddock. It goes like this: Fred Craddock tells of a conversation he had with a man in a restaurant in the Great Smoky Mountains. The man said, “I grew up in these mountains. My mother was not married, and the whole community knew it. I was called an “illegitimate” child. In those days that was a shame, and I was ashamed. The reproach that fell on her, fell on me. When I went into town with her, I could see people staring at me, making guesses as to who my father was. At school the children said ugly things to me. So, I stayed to myself during recess and I ate my lunch alone.”

            He said, “In my early teens I began to attend a little church back in the mountains. It had a minister who was both attractive and frightening. He had a chiseled face, a heavy beard, and a deep voice. I went to hear him preach. I don’t know exactly why, but it did something for me. But when I would go, I was afraid I would not be welcome. So, I would go just in time for the sermon, and when it was over, I would leave because I was afraid that someone would say, ‘What’s a boy like you doing in church’.”

            “One Sunday some people moved into the aisle before I could get out, and I was trapped. Before I could make my way through the group, I felt a heavy hand on my shoulder. It was that minister. I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I caught a glimpse of his beard and his chin. I trembled in fear.” 

            “He turned his face around so he could see mine. I knew what he was doing. He was going to make a guess as to who my father was. A moment later he said, “Well, son, you are a child of…” and he paused there. And I knew what was coming. I knew I would have my feelings hurt. I knew I would not go back again. 

            He said, ‘Son, you are a child of God. I see a striking resemblance.’ Then he said, ‘Now you go claim your inheritance.’”

            The man said, “I left that church building a different person. In fact, that was really the beginning of my life.”

            This morning, we are going to experience together an opportunity to remember our baptism. You will be invited to come forward to touch the baptismal waters and be reminded that you are baptized. Or, in the words of that old preacher, “You are a child of God. Now you go claim your inheritance.” If you have not been baptized, don’t let that prevent you from coming forward. Please come down anyway and touch the waters in anticipation of that experience. Following worship, speak with me. I will be happy to share with you more about what baptism means and then we can plan for an opportunity some time in the future for you to experience this powerful sacrament.

            As we begin this new year, this new decade, let us begin anew with the memory that we are baptized, empowered, and affirmed by God.

What Gift Will You Bring?

Based on Matthew 2:1-12
First delivered Jan. 5, 2020
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            Often, when we think of Jesus, we think of all that Jesus gives us and makes possible for us. Especially during the Christmas season, we remember and celebrate that God became flesh, became one of us, so that we could be saved. Christmas is when we celebrate that God gave God’s son to us, to bring peace on earth, to close the gap between us and God, to be Emmanuel, God with us.

            Think of all that Jesus gives us. Because of Jesus, we have the promise of resurrection. Jesus has conquered death, which, in a few short months, we will celebrate in a big way when Easter comes around. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross we have the forgiveness of our sins. Jesus has made things right between us and God by the shedding of his blood on the cross. We are forgiven. We have the promise of eternal life. And Jesus has given us an example of how to live. Through his teachings, Jesus has given us instruction on how to live our best selves, how to be fully human. Jesus has given us direction on how to live a life of love. In so many ways, Jesus has given us all we need to live. We can never compensate Jesus for all that Jesus has given us.

            We should certainly receive these gifts with gratitude. Is that not the bare minimum of our response to all that God has done for us through Jesus, to simply say “thank you?” Someone once said that there are really only three prayers that a Christian needs to know: “I’m sorry”, “help”, and “thank you.” There is much that we have to be thankful for when we consider all the ways God provides for us. This is perhaps the primary reason we gather for worship every Sunday, so that together we can lift up our voices in praise to God, to thank God for God’s mercy and providence, for God’s forgiveness and promises.

            I have just now hinted at where I am going with this. In response to what God has given us, we give back to God our praise and gratitude. We give back to God our thanks, our devotion, our commitment to live our lives in ways that give honor to God. After all, it is just plain rude to receive gift upon gift and never so much as offer a thank you or express any kind of gratitude. Most of us have known people who just take and take and take but never give back in any way. There is no reciprocity. Those kinds of relationships quickly become a burden. They are draining. It doesn’t take long before we feel like we are simply the means to someone else’s ends. We are being used for the benefit of others. We all have the capacity to do that for awhile. But, eventually, we reach our breaking point. We have nothing left to give. Our own self-respect prompts us to end a relationship where we only give and never receive. One-way relationships are no relationship at all.

            In the same way, if we want a healthy relationship with God, then we can’t take God’s grace and mercy for granted. We can’t always be receiving the blessings of God without offering something in return. Of course, God’s love and grace have no limits. That’s one way God is God and we are not. As the scriptures say, God makes it rain on the wicked and the righteous. But it just seems right, doesn’t it, to make sure our relationship with God is reciprocal? We want to give back to God in response for all that God has given us. Of course, the question then becomes, “what can we give God?” For the one who truly has everything, what does God need that we can provide?

            Today, we hear the story of the magi who came to Jesus bearing gifts. There are three gifts that traditionally have been interpreted to signify certain things. The first gift is gold. This gift signifies the royalty of Jesus, the one whom we identify as the king of kings and Lord of lords. The second gift is frankincense. This is a resin used by the priests, burned as incense for ritual use, symbolizing the offering of prayers and intentions lifted up by the people to God. This gift signifies the priestly role of Jesus, who offered himself as a sacrifice sufficient to cover all the sin of the world for all time, a perfect sacrifice. The third gift is myrrh, which is an ointment used in the process of burial. Before the body is wrapped in cloths and placed in a tomb, the body is anointed with myrrh and other spices. This gift signifies the death that Jesus will die. Surely it was this myrrh that the women brought with them to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ body after it had hastily been placed in a tomb, only to discover that the body was gone. Gold, frankincense, and myrrh, three gifts that signified who Jesus was as a king and a priest who would one day experience death. Little did the wise men know how Jesus’ experience of death would go.

            I invite you to consider three gifts that you can bring to Jesus. With gratitude, consider bringing to Jesus as we begin this third decade of the 21^st century the gifts of an open mind, open hands, and an open heart.

            First, an open mind. In Jesus’ teachings, he often pushed people to reconsider deeply held views. There are the “you have heard…but I say to you…” teachings. For example, “You have heard it said, ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,’ but I say to you, ‘turn the other cheek’.” Or, in the story of the good Samaritan, Jesus tells the story in response to the question asked him of who is the neighbor. Because of long-standing animosity, Jews and Samaritans would not consider each other as neighbors. They were enemies. But Jesus turns the question on its head. We don’t know if the Samaritan helped a Jew or not, Jesus doesn’t explicitly say. The hearers have to surmise on their own that it was. And they are forced to rethink their relationship with Samaritans, and Samaritans have to rethink as well. Over and over, Jesus’ teachings challenge the conventional wisdom. So, when we reflect on the teachings of Jesus, will we keep our minds closed, having determined for ourselves already what is the right answer? Or will we allow the teachings to meddle with our preconceived notions and firm opinions? It is a good gift to offer Jesus the teacher by approaching Jesus with an open mind, willing to reconsider and be challenged into new ways of thinking and perceiving.

            Second, open hands. We recall the story of Lazarus and the rich man, in which the rich man closed his fist and would offer nothing of his great excess to provide the barest of necessities for Lazarus. Jesus would socialize with anyone who invited him to dinner, whether it be Pharisees or tax collectors. If you extended a meal invitation to Jesus he would receive it and he would be there. Open hands. Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, do not hinder them, for it is such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.” Open hands. After healing a man who had been unable to walk, Jesus reached down and took him by the hand and helped him up. Open hands. At the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000, Jesus asked the disciples, “What do you have?” They gave what they had, some bread and some fish. Time and again, Jesus champions the open hand instead of the closed fist. It is by giving that we receive. It is a good gift to come to Jesus with open hands, to let go of what needs let go of so that you can receive whatever it is that Jesus wants you to have.

            The third gift is an open heart. This may be the most challenging gift of all. One of the realities of life is that our hearts get broken. We lose our innocence. It is easy to get hardened and cynical. It is really a survival instinct, to close off our hearts to others so that we won’t get hurt again. There is nothing wrong with setting firm boundaries. There are people in this world that you are prudent to keep your heart closed when you are around them. People who are toxic and mean can hurt you. Not everyone can be your friend. No one has the right to enter into the tender recesses of your heart. See, having an open heart is to put yourself in a position of vulnerability. So, you need to guard your heart. At the same time, if your heart is always closed, like an impenetrable fortress, there is no chance for deep, intimate relationships. No one can speak healing into your heart if the door is always closed. For some relationships, opening your heart is necessary for those relationships to be all they are meant to be. For those who have your best interests at heart, who can pour goodness into you, who can heal the wounded places in your heart, you are wise to open your heart to those people.

            Who else but Jesus can you be assured that it is safe to open up your heart? We have all seen the painting of Jesus standing at the door of your heart knocking. There is no door knob for Jesus to turn. It is on the inside. You have to decide to open the door of your heart to Jesus. Regularly inviting Jesus into your heart allows the great healer to tend to the wounds of your heart. It is a good gift, to come to Jesus the healer with an open heart. Open your heart to the one who heals and restores.

            As we come forward this morning to receive communion, I invite you to bring with you your gift. I have suggested three: an open mind, open hands, and an open heart. Maybe there is something else you want to bring before Jesus. Maybe you want to offer Jesus a confession. You have something you need to say to Jesus. Maybe you are carrying a burden that you want to give to Jesus. Jesus has told us that we can cast our burdens on him because he cares for us. Maybe you want to give Jesus your goals, plans and intentions you have set for yourself for this year, and you want to offer them to Jesus to do with them as he wills. Maybe you are just bringing yourself to Jesus. You don’t have anything specific to give him. You are just showing up, bringing who you are with gratitude. Whatever it is, bring that with you and offer it to Jesus as you receive from him his body and blood, this holy food, that nourishes us for the journey ahead of us.

Moving Outside the Lines

Based on Matthew 1:18-25
Revision of a sermon first delivered Dec. 22, 2013
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            What was Joseph to do? Here he is, a righteous Jew, believed by tradition to be an older man, perhaps a widow, who has agreed to take as his wife this young, orphaned girl, so that she will have someone to care for her. He is trying to be helpful. And what happens? Mary is pregnant and Joseph knows he is not the father. What is a righteous Jew to do?

            Now, if he keeps Mary as his wife, it will be a disgrace. He will have to lie and say that he impregnated Mary before they had wed, which would put him to shame. Or he could tell the truth and say that someone else impregnated her, which is adultery and puts her to shame. He is righteous so he would not lie, even if that would protect her honor in the eyes of the public. But his gentleness prevents him from putting Mary to public shame.

            Joseph has two ways to end their betrothal. One option is to go to the city gate and gather together a group of ten men to serve as a court and announce publicly what Mary has done, to get that public ruling so everyone knows what has happened. But there is another option that is much more discreet. All Joseph has to do is have written a note of dismissal, place it in Mary’s hand, and send her out of his house. He chooses to dismiss her quietly so that she does not have to endure public shame. Mary could then go in hiding. Or perhaps Elizabeth, her aunt, may take her in? They could figure something out. That way Mary and Joseph could move on with their lives. Sending Mary off with discretion seemed to Joseph as the most righteous and compassionate choice.

            But this is not what God had in mind. It was God’s intention that Jesus be in the ancestral line of David. For that to happen, Joseph, who is in that line, had to be the father, at least so that the case can arguably be made that this boy is of his line…even though he is the son of God. It’s a complicated situation. So, God intervenes. In a dream, an angel speaks to Joseph, saying to him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife.” The angel goes on to assure Joseph that Mary was not impregnated by another man. This is a holy child, indeed, the very son of God. Mary has conceived by the Holy Spirit. Every conception is a miracle. A number of things can go wrong that prevents conception. But this conception is a miracle of miracles. God is the father. But this child needs an earthly father from the line of David to fulfill the prophecy of the messiah as one who is of the line of David. So, Joseph is told not to be afraid to marry Mary and to adopt the child as his own. God even gives Joseph the responsibility to name the child, to give the child legitimacy in the eyes of society, even though Joseph and Mary know the truth. How the conception happened is to be kept secret, at least for now. The time will come for this miraculous truth to be spoken. For now, God tells Joseph to set aside what the law required. In this unique case, what was required for righteousness was for Joseph to remain with Mary through her pregnancy, to name the child, and to claim him as his own, even though he and Mary knew the truth about who the father is…none other than God.

            Can we just acknowledge that this whole situation is messy? It really put Joseph and Mary in an awkward situation. The easiest and, frankly, the righteous decision was for Joseph to dismiss Mary, to wipe his hands of the whole affair. But this situation had complications. The father is God, but Joseph is needed so the child will have legitimacy. Joseph doing what the law required would have messed up the divine plan. What righteousness required in this case required moving outside of the law that God had established. What a dilemma.

            I wonder if sometimes the plan God has for us, the dilemmas we find ourselves in, require us to do things outside of the lines. I’m not saying that God ever calls us to do things that are immoral. What I am saying is that sometimes what is required of us pushes us outside the constraints of written regulations or what has traditionally been believed about what is right. For the situation that Mary and Joseph found themselves in, there were written regulations, established by God, that were to be followed. Except in this case God was asking them to act outside those regulations. God placed them in a moral dilemma. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was in on a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, reflected on how sometimes what God requires means using deception and taking a life. What righteousness requires isn’t always clear cut. It can be messy. For Joseph to make the right choice, rather than default to what the law demanded, God had to make an intervention, to speak to Joseph in a dream, asking him to do something that was morally complicated.

            After Joseph receives God’s message through the dream, Joseph changes his mind and consents to God’s will. This is a point not to be missed. Joseph, with good intentions, was going to go in a way that put a kink in God’s plans. God intervenes, to persuade Joseph to choose another way. He did not compel Joseph to change his mind. He gave Joseph the freedom to decide, to consent, to say yes to God’s will, even if that meant moving outside the lines. What great freedom and power we have, to reject or accept God’s will for us. We are never forced to do what God wants for us. We get to choose.

            Life is full of dilemmas. What is the right thing to do isn’t always clear in real life. Life gets messy. Rev. Frank Schaefer found himself in a dilemma. His son asked him to preside over his marriage to another man, a same-gendered marriage that our Book of Discipline forbids clergy to perform. Perhaps the easy way out, the most righteous, at least according to the tradition, would have been to handle this discreetly, to work out some creative way to honor his son’s request without actually performing the marriage. But how would that affect his relationship with his son and the rest of his family? What harm would be done? Rev. Schaffer presided over his son’s wedding, sacrificing his own ordination due to a process that held the line on the written laws but missed the discernment that Frank came to of what God called him to do.

            This dilemma of honoring the ordination of all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender expression, and the celebration of same-gender weddings, is a dilemma that we have struggled with as a church for as long as the United Methodist Church has existed. The question that drives so much of our struggle is over what is the righteous thing to do. What is God’s intention? It appears increasingly likely that as we move to General Conference in only five months, our church will determine to dismiss each other. Will it be public and loud or will it be quiet and discreet? Who knows? But the division, which in many ways has already happened, will likely be finalized. It is a dilemma that is pushing our church apart. But is that God’s will for us? Or is God trying to persuade us that there is a way to remain together that requires moving outside the lines?

            Our nation is caught in a dilemma, with a president who generates such sharp reactions positive and negative and a party spirit between Democrats and Republicans that have become even more polarizing. It does seem at times that the political divisions in our nation are so great that in some ways we are experiencing a schism of some kind. Each side on the divide are convinced of their own righteousness. Are we meant to dismiss each other? Will the ties that bind our nation together hold? I wonder if the gulf that divides our nation requires finding a way to stay together that may require us to move outside the lines, to get out of our political camps and find some way to reason together without demonizing each other. I feel that is what God’s intentions are for us as a nation. But where is this happening? Do we have the courage to do this?

            What we do know is that God has a plan. God has intentions. God’s intentions are for salvation, for the mending of creation that is broken, fractured into a million pieces. God’s intentions are to make all things new, to restore, to reconcile, to establish order out of chaos, to establish righteousness, peace, harmony, and joy. God’s intention is to generate a community of all creation that sings God’s praises.

            In this world of brokenness, sin, confusion, God has intervened. The issues were different but the world was as broken and confused 2,000 years ago as it is now. But 2,000 years ago God became one of us, being born of Mary and adopted by Joseph as his own son. And now, 2,000 years later, the Church remains as a community through which God’s presence endures. God dwells in our midst. God is with us. God will never leave us, nor forsake us, in this broken, dilemma filled world in which we live.

            This is what we celebrate this time of year. In our time of dilemmas, in our time of uncertainty about which way is best, which way is righteous, we believe that God is with us all along the way. Today, let us pray for the church, for the United Methodist Church, and for our nation, where there is so much division and the open question if we are to dismiss each other. We need divine intervention. We need to hear a word from God to help us know how we are to find a way to stay together, even if that means moving outside the lines. Let us be open to God’s leading and consent to what we hear, no matter the cost, so that God’s will can be done, so that the brokenness of the world can be mended.

Go and Tell What You See and Hear

Based on Matthew 11:2-11
Revision of a sermon first delivered Dec. 15, 2013
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” That’s the question John had in his mind as he sat in jail. Here is John, who last week was proclaiming a coming messiah with an ax in one hand, a winnowing fork in the other, and a bag of unquenchable fire in his back pocket. The messiah was coming, who would purge all the wicked and redeem the righteous, clean house, make everything right. The righteous would be gathered together like wheat in the barn while the wicked would be like chaff thrown in the fire.

            But as John sits in prison, he gets word somehow that Jesus was out there, doing his thing, but there was no judging going on. The wicked powers that be were still in charge. Those who struggled to be righteous were still facing all kinds of hardships. John himself is a perfect example. He was sitting in prison because he made the mistake of speaking truth to power. He called out Herod for his illicit affair with his brother’s wife. Little does John know that before long he will have his head cut off as a consequence of the drunken foolishness of Herod and the heartless scheming of Herodias. So much for the expectation that the messiah was coming with judgment to gather in the righteous and destroy the wicked.

            John appears to be having some doubts about Jesus. And who would blame him? In those days there were great expectations that the messiah was coming to fix things, to bring down the foreign occupation, to throw Caesar off his throne and cast the Roman empire into the abyss and restore the rightful place of the House of David as the royal nation to which all the other nations will be drawn toward. That’s the kind of messiah that John was expecting. And when this wild and noble prophet of the wilderness was presented with the responsibility to baptize Jesus he resisted, saying that he ought to be the one to be baptized. He thought he knew who Jesus was…the long-expected messiah, of the line of David, who would reestablish that line and make Israel great again.

            And yet, John sits in prison. John’s imprisonment is a perfect example of what was so wrong in the world he lived in. Here is the great forerunner, the one whom Jesus declares is the greatest of all prophets, the one whose righteousness drew people out into the wilderness to see, to receive a baptism of repentance, a great and holy man. Yet he is in prison while the wicked Herod and the even more dastardly Caesar remains in charge. The messiah is here yet nothing is changing. Something is wrong. John finds himself needing some reassurance from Jesus that he is the one, or if they are to wait for another to make things right.

            So, John’s disciples go to Jesus to ask him the question. Jesus gives them an answer, but, as is typical with Jesus, he doesn’t give them a straight answer. It would have been nice if Jesus had flat out said, “Yes, I am the messiah.” Instead, Jesus gives John’s disciples a ministry report. He lists for them all the ways that he demonstrates that he is the messiah. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have good news brought to them. No judgment? No casting the bad people into the fires of hell? No separating the wheat from the chaff? No winnowing fork? No axe lying at the root of the trees? No unquenchable fire? No. None of that. The messiah that John described in the wilderness is not the messiah that Jesus is demonstrating.

            Now it is up to John and his disciples to decide for themselves if Jesus is the messiah or not. He’s not using an axe or a winnowing fork. He’s not throwing around unquenchable fire. But he is healing people and raising people from the dead. He’s declaring good news to the poor, the downtrodden, the forgotten ones, the marginalized, the nobodies, the deplorables. John was doubting if Jesus was the messiah because Jesus wasn’t acting like John thought a messiah was supposed to act. He doubted because his expectations were wrong. John needed to rethink his preconceived notions of what the messiah was supposed to do.

            We shouldn’t be hasty in judging John’s misconceived expectations, though. In those days, messiah and king were nearly synonymous. Messiah is Hebrew for “anointed one.” Kings are anointed ones as well. When you call someone a messiah you are calling him a king. Jesus is the king of kings and Lord of Lords, as George Frederich Handel reminds us in the Hallelujah Chorus. So, what is King Jesus doing? He is healing people. He is caring for the poor and vulnerable. Jesus was acting like how a king is supposed to act. But that’s not John’s experience of kings. For John, kings are more like tyrants. A tyrant comes in guns blazing, or, in John’s day, with an axe, a winnowing fork and unquenchable fire. The tyrant, like the Caesar, takes over and gathers his chosen elite, the successful, the wealthy, the winners, the sycophants, are all gathered into the tyrant’s palace while the rest are oppressed and forced into servitude. Tyrant kings are comfortable with wielding axes and winnowing forks. When John thought of kings, the images that came to his mind were grounded in his own experience, so he laid those images on Jesus, the true messiah. But this messiah would take his axe and winnowing fork and fire to restore justice, to burn up the wicked and gather in the righteous. But Jesus is not a tyrant. Jesus is a true king. He does not confine himself to palaces. This king is with the people, helping the poor and sick, socializing with sinners, calling out the hardened hearts of the supposed leaders who care more about themselves than the people they are to shepherd. Jesus is acting like how a messiah is supposed to act and John doesn’t recognize this. John did not understand how kings were supposed to act. His experiences of kings had been quite different.

            But there is something else about John’s question that bears mentioning. Maybe the question John asked is the question the world is asking. I have a hunch that if you ask anyone if they think everything is right in the world, that person would say no, things are not right with the world. I bet that response would be at 100%. The examples of how broken the world is are massive. We get new examples every day.

            But are people looking for a messiah to come and fix everything? I’m not sure. We live in a jaded world. Most people don’t believe in messiahs anymore. We don’t have confidence that a single great person, like a superhero, will come to save the day, riding in on his white horse, or coming down his escalator in a building with his name on it, who is going to come in and make everything right in the world, someone who alone can fix it. The assassinations of John Kennedy, of Martin Luther King, of Robert Kennedy, killed the delusion of the single great leader who will turn everything around. The 20^th century as a whole destroyed for many the idea that the world can be made right. The world wars, the Holocaust, nuclear annihilation of cities and the threat of the destruction of the planet during the cold war that is being renewed in these days, the scandals that have brought down so many. It seems the best we can hope for is to muddle along somehow and hope for the best.

            Still, even though we live in a jaded world, there is still a yearning for something better. Every now and then, a great leader does touch a nerve buried deep in the heart of the world that calls forth a better world. Not a better world that the singular leader can bring about on their own, but a better world that we can create together. Martin Luther King did that with his vision of the beloved community. Although some of his luster has worn off, the first few years of the reign of Pope Francis inspired the world to be more compassionate toward the poor and to care for God’s creation. Even though the world is full of cynics, there is still a yearning to be inspired, to be given an example of how the world should be.

            Guess what? Jesus has given us a message to share with the world, a message about how the world should be. Our message is not only that Jesus is the messiah, but that Jesus heals, sets free, brings good news to the poor. Jesus is the real messiah, the true king. The message we have been given to share goes beyond words, however. It is a message that we are to demonstrate. We, the church, are sent out into the world to witness about who Jesus is, both by what we say, and especially by what we do.

            And what is so powerful is that when we are faithful witnesses, both by sharing our experience of Christ and sharing what we have to make lives better for others, those who see and hear can have their own experience of Jesus as their messiah, their king. They receive an experience through our hands, our voices, our presence, that can shape their lives and move them to bear witness themselves.

            I am thinking about those who come to the Breakfast with Santa at the Westside Free Store at Westgate and those who come to the food pantry at Parkview. I am thinking of Jordan’s Crossing and The Refuge, who bring healing and good news to the homeless and addicted. I am thinking of CATCH Court that brings new life to women trapped in the life of prostitution. I am thinking of the hundreds, maybe thousands, of churches throughout central Ohio, big, small and in between, who in big ways and small ways demonstrate a different kind of world, a world in which people are loved, embraced, built up, made well, restored, filled with hope and joy.

            We live in a world that is tired of the mindless consumerism and sappy sentimentality of the “holiday season.” People need to hear about a messiah, an anointed one, a king, who does not singlehandedly come in to dismantle and rearrange the world. We tell a story of a messiah who gives us an example of how we are to live differently in the world, a messiah who leads us to embody, make real, an alternative world. By bearing witness to this alternative story, in which people are healed, people are given new life, people are hearing good news, we give the world an example of who Jesus is, the true messiah, the anointed one, the king.

            Jesus told John’s disciples to go back and tell John what they see and hear. Jesus tells us to go and tell others what we see and hear, the ways that lives are still changed, how love is made real, that there are still moments when joy bursts forth in the darkness. Let us bear witness to the truth of the gospel, that we are created from love for love. Let us demonstrate that there is a messiah, there is one who we serve, one who, little by little, is establishing here and there peace, hope, and joy.

Getting Past John

Based on Matthew 3:1-12
Revision of a sermon delivered Dec. 8, 2013
Rev. Dr. Kevin Orr 

            Christmas is only a few more weeks away. Homes are decorated with beautiful lights and all kinds of creative lawn art, inflatable snowmen, manger scenes, Santa’s sleigh. Television has lots of holiday programming. Christmas cards are filling up our mailboxes. We are gearing up for all the holiday parties and family traditions that mark this special time of the year.

            But before we get to Christmas, we must get past John the Baptist, the one whom Barbara Brown Taylor dubs God’s Doberman Pinscher. We are walking merrily along the way to Christmas, humming Christmas carols as we go, enjoying all the pretty lights, when all of a sudden ROOH-ROOH-ROOH, and we jump back and see this snarling dog barking at us and chasing us away from their house.

            Repent, confess your sins, you brood of vipers, who warned you about the coming wrath, bear fruit worthy of repentance, an ax, a pitchfork, unquenchable fire, all these disturbing and challenging images are thrown at us, when all we want to do this time of year is light our little candles and sing “Silent Night.” Yes, John the Baptist with his clothing of camel hair and diet of locusts and wild honey and jarring message disturbs our move toward Christmas, snapping us out of our sweet musings, candy canes and sugar plum fairies and into some hard truths. Before we can get to the baby Jesus, we have to get past John. We have to hear his call to repent. That’s part of our Advent preparation…to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. And like we talked about last week, when that kingdom comes is unknown to any of us. It could happen at any moment. So, to be ready, we have to repent.

            Repentance must be the first step of our preparations for the coming of the Lord. And that makes sense. Why? Because of grace. Everything about God is bathed in grace. But grace means nothing unless you realize you need it. Grace is only needed if you have messed up first. Grace is getting to work late but not having your pay docked. Grace is a chance to retake your test if you fail the first time. Grace is getting more time to pay back your loan without a penalty. Grace is being told after you have screwed something up that it’s going to be o.k. Grace means nothing, unless we first realize that we need it. That’s what repentance, confessing our screw ups, is all about. Repentance is the key that unlocks the treasure chest of grace. To have the opportunity to repent, to confess our sins, and to hear the words, “I forgive you,” is good news indeed!

            Yet, repentance is so hard for us sometimes. We rationalize, saying to ourselves that what we did wasn’t that bad. Or we deny that we did anything wrong. We become defensive. We have a tendency to blame others for our messes. There was someone I worked with during my seminary days. He was the director of the choir, both at the church I attended and the seminary choir. I served as his secretary, which mainly meant regularly breaking copyright laws by making multiple copies of music for choir members who had a tendency to lose their music every other week. Steve was a passionate man, a real charmer but also temperamental and stubborn. Someone gave him a coffee mug for a gift which fit Steve perfectly. Written on the side of the mug was, “The boss takes full and direct responsibility for assigning blame.” Sometimes we much rather wish to assign blame than take the blame. To admit wrongdoing takes some humility. We don’t always want to admit that we failed, that we were wrong, that we are responsible for the mess up.

            Sometimes we resist repenting, acknowledging our mistakes, because we don’t expect anything better for ourselves. We sometimes think we screw up because we are screw ups. Julie goes from one relationship to the next, leaving a trail of broken hearts all along the way. She knows she is hurting people. She knows she is hurting herself. But she can’t make long term commitments. She remembers how bad her mom and dad got along. She doesn’t want to be stuck in a bad relationship. So, she always finds a way to wreck the relationship. And she doesn’t see things changing for her. It’s just who she is. She will never be able to settle down in a relationship. She will never find her soul mate.

            When the pressure builds, and he’s feeling the stress with the demands of work and family, Carl does what he always does. He escapes into the internet, shutting himself off from his family, from his job, from everything, numbing himself with the mindless diversion of computer games. He’s always been this way. He remembers how his dad would get lost in his books. Carl would have to pry the book out of his dad’s hands to get his attention when he was a boy. His father was distant at times, almost molded into his reading chair. Like his dad, Carl tunes everyone out, except instead of reading books he stares at a computer screen. This is how he is. For Julie and Carl, the idea of repenting, of acknowledging their shortcomings and committing to make a change in how they live, how they relate with others, they just don’t see that happening. They are who they are. They don’t think they can change. So why even bother repenting? There’s no point.

            Sometimes we look around us and the situation we find ourselves in, and we don’t like what we see. Our lives are not what we want them to be. They haven’t been for a long time. We’ve tried to change, but we fall back to old habits and patterns, things don’t change, and despair creeps in. Repent? Change my way of living? Been there, tried that, didn’t work.

            I am sure there were people like that who were coming out to hear John. They had tried and failed over and over. There were times when they felt bad about themselves, like they couldn’t do any better, damaged goods. But there was still a small flicker of hope. They came out to hear John’s message of repentance, to hear him say that we can start over again, that the past doesn’t have to determine our future. The past can’t be changed. What is done is done. But the future is wide open. The future doesn’t have to reflect the past. Change remains possible.

            Not only is change possible, for God change is expected. No matter what has happened to us, no matter how much we have screwed up, hurt others, hurt ourselves, we are not damaged goods. We are precious. That we were even born was a miracle. We are cherished by God. We are formed in the image of God. Because of who we are, as children of God, we are expected to live like that. We can’t use our past as an excuse for not living a holy life. We are made for holiness. When we live right, we are living as we were designed to live. When we mess up, it’s not because we are living as we were designed. That’s a manifestation of sin that distorts our inherent goodness. It is sin that has gotten us off kilter. God expects us to repent because God knows that when we mess up, it’s a failure to be who God has created us to be. We are good trees, not bad trees. God expects good fruit. God knows we can produce it.

            Like those who went out to John, we need to hear that message that repentance is possible. We want to know that today can be a new start. We want to experience the cleansing waters of the baptism of repentance, to wash off our mistakes and hurts, to start over again, and again, and again. That’s what repentance is. Repentance, acknowledging our sin and committing to change for the better, is an act of faith, the faith that God forgives and renews, the faith that God never gives up on us, the faith that change is possible. It is an act of hope, the hope that we can make different choices, that we can start over, that we can live differently.

            So, today, let us respond to the preaching of John who says to us, “Repent!” Let us confess our sins to God. Let us admit our failures to others. Let us face the hard truths about ourselves. Not to beat up on ourselves. Not so that we will feel ashamed or think that we are screw ups. Let us be honest about our shortcomings in the light of God’s mercy, the One who judges us but also graciously forgives us when we repent. God is for us. God is not against us. God believes in us and knows that we can live the life God desires for us because we are designed to live that life of holiness. We are God’s children. Today, we can begin again, and live today the life we are meant to live, as sons and daughters of God. Today, let us hear the plea of John, heed his call, and move past John toward the return of the King.