Rejoice

Preached at St. Mary's Episcopal in Anchorage. Advent 3, 12/13/09


Rejoice!

Luke 3:7-18
Zephaniah 3:14-20 Isaiah 12:2-6 Philippians 4:4-7

Opening Prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be always acceptable to you, our rock and our redeemer.

Introduction: I wish you a Happy Rejoice Sunday! The lesson from Zephaniah urges us to "Rejoice and exult with all your heart." The lesson from Philippians starts off telling us to "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice." Oh, and John the Baptizer sends a message, he said to say 'Hello' to the 'brood of vipers.' He seems to have missed the communication about this Sunday being Rejoice Sunday. Either that, or when the lectionary was put together, they were not paying attention. Or, just maybe, there is a connection between John the Baptizer and the lessons that tell us to rejoice.

John's way of addressing the crowd was not very pastoral, but they responded positively, so he must have known his audience. John knew who he was; was called to be a Prophet, and to prepare the way of the Lord. To do that, he needed to shake people up a bit. There is a person who recently graduated from my Outpatient treatment program; he has a real heart for reaching teens and young adults so that they don't live their life the way he did. He is big, covered in tattoos, and his language has a lot of "colorful sentence enhancers". He has been a great client facilitator in one of the classes I teach. My language usually communicates well with alcoholics, but the addicts don't respond as well to me. When this guy starts confronting one of the young addicts who doesn't think he has a problem, they listen to him. He speaks their language. Not only that, he usually knows them from the streets, so he can confront them on their lies, whereas, I don't have the street knowledge of them. In the same way, when he was in treatment and getting frustrated with what I would tell him; he would go to his case manager, who is a recovering addict, and she would tell him to "take the cotton out of his ears, and stick it in his mouth", except, she would use the "colorful sentence enhancers" as well. What she said would register.

Repentance - The crowds responded by asking John, "What should we do?" To repent means to change direction. It goes beyond saying, "My Bad", or "sorry 'bout that". We cannot earn our way to God, or earn God's love, but if we truly repent, our behavior will change. John told them "produce fruit in keeping with repentance." That is one of the powerful tools of the 12 Step programs. Step 8 says we make a list of those we have harmed and become willing to make amends to them all. In Step 9 we make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

When people came forward to be baptized, often they did not know what they should do, and John gave them direction so they could change direction. He told the crowd, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same." (Remember Peanut Butter!) Tax Collectors also asked, "What should we do?" John told them "Don't collect any more than you are required to." Some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely - be content with your pay."
I have found in my own life that if I am feeling guilty because I did something wrong, (i.e. "screwed up") I will often have a general idea what I need to do to correct it. It could be something like saying something to a staff member that hurts their feelings. I need to go to that person and apologize for what I said, acknowledge that I am aware that I hurt their feelings, and say something positive to that person about what I value about them.

On the other hand, if I am feeling shame ("I screwed up because I am a screw up."), often I don't know how to fix it. That is when it is really important for me to talk about it with someone else in order to sort out what I am responsible for and what I am not responsible for. When I am feeling shame, talking about it is the last thing I want to do, but it is important that I do, otherwise, I will continue to believe the lies that are in my head, and beat myself up. I need to hear the good news that I am made in the image of God, and God does not make junk.

Fortunately, we have a sacrament that addresses both guilt and shame. The formal name is 'Reconciliation of a Penitent', although many of us are used to just referring to it as 'Confession'. It is a private service between priest and penitent. I have experienced it both as a penitent and as a priest, and it is a powerful experience no matter which role I am in. If you want to use this sacrament, St. Mary's is unusually rich in the number of clergy available; there are two full time priests, three adjunct clergy, one full time pastoral minister, and two youth ministers, one of whom is ordained. In addition, sometimes it is easier to talk to someone that you don't know, and are not likely to run into on a regular basis. That is an advantage of living in Anchorage; there are other clergy available.

We can rejoice on this Rejoice Sunday because John the Baptizer is spreading the good news that One more powerful than him is coming, and he will baptize us with the Holy Spirit. As we prepare for Christ's coming, we need to clear out the clutter from our lives, so that we have room for Christ in our hearts. We need to simplify our lives so that we can give priority to Christ. After all, Christ is coming as the baby Jesus, and babies take a lot of time and attention.
Amen.