Sermon 12-7-03
Be Prepared - Luke 3:1-6
(view lectionary notes for this text)
Prepare the way of the Lord! That's the message of the day. Picture John the Baptist, traveling around the region, talking about repentance and sins and forgiveness. John wasn't just a normal guy, a normal religious leader. He wasn't appointed to any congregation. He was part of an obscure religious community. He didn't dress or behave like other, but wore camel's hair and ate wild honey and locusts. How could people take him seriously? He didn't fit into any community. But there he was, preaching, yelling, be prepared - prepare a way for God to come.
Be prepared. This simple phrase brings some images to my mind. Of course, it is the motto of the Boy Scouts - "be prepared." The Boy Scouts teach boys to be ready in any and every situation, ready to face whatever the future - or the present - might hold. I also thought of the dark and foreboding song from the movie, The Lion King. Do you remember it? There's a scene where the 'bad lion', fallen from glory, teams up with the hyenas, the other bad guys. The bad lion, scar, conspires with the hyenas to overthrow the lion king, Mufasa, and his heir, Simba, through whatever available means. "Be prepared for the coup of the century," Scar sings, "be prepared for sensational news. A shining new era is tiptoeing nearer, so listen to teacher."
Be prepared. How do you prepare for a big event? Are you ready for Christmas? When we talk about preparation in the church, preparation for Advent, preparation for the birth of the Christ-child, it turns out that this process of preparing isn't so different from the way we would prepare for the birth of a baby anyway. Think about all the things that you do to get ready for a child. Of course, we might immediately think of the baby showers, the diapers and the cribs and strollers and bibs that need to be purchased. But of course, we know that preparing for a baby involves much more than that. Those are just the surface matters, the material ways that we have to get ready for a baby to live in our midst.
At a deeper level, we have to prepare in other ways for a baby to come. Getting ready for a baby might require a change in lifestyle. If a parent smokes or drinks, these are habits that will probably change for the health of the child. A mother is more careful of what and how she eats, because what she does will affect the baby. The family must make sure that the home is ready for a baby, that the house and rooms are safe for someone who cannot judge for themselves, that there is a space, a room, for the newborn. The mother goes to the doctor to check and see how the baby is growing, if the baby is healthy. The family might outline an emergency plan, so that everything is ready when the moment comes. Parental leave must be arranged from work, child care plans are negotiated, health insurance is calculated. A family expecting a child has to determine how the finance will change once a new person is added to the household. Finally, more attention is given to another human life than is given to one's own life. All of these concerns have to be measured, planned, calculated, determined, well in advance of the actual birth of the child. They don't work out as well when planned last-minute. It's best to be prepared, because the newborn will depend completely and entirely on others for his or her very life.
In the same way, we can prepare for the Christ-child on many levels during this season of Advent. There are the surface things - and they are important, just as the basics of buying baby clothes are important. Our shopping, our parties, our caroling - these things truly are important for Christmas. We feel the community, the fellowship that comes from being together. We certainly don't shop only because we are consumers, but because we truly do love to give to others. These parts of preparing for Christmas aren't to be neglected. But like with a newborn, preparing for Christmas involves deeper levels, deeper life-changes if we are truly to be prepared.
We read in our gospel lesson, "Prepare the way of the Lord, make the paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." When a king or other royal dignitary was visiting a town in ancient times, the people would go to work on the roadways, making sure that holes were filled, that rough parts were repaired, in order for the path into the town or city to be in its best condition for the long-awaited royal figure. In John we have one who is urging us to prepare for the royal birth of Christ the King, not a worldly king, but a child who will rule our hearts and our lives. To be prepared, John tells us, we must make changes in our lives. First, and foremost, we must repent!
We don't like to talk about repentance very much, and we what's more, we don't like to do it very much either. Repentance, to us, implies that we've done something wrong, that we are at fault, that we have to both admit to where and how we've been wrong and commit to changing our behavior and adopting a new way of living. Repentance is a lot of work. And it sounds old fashioned, as old fashioned as it sounds to talk about sinning and sinners. What, after all, do we need to repent for?
Rev. Richard Fairchild compares repentance to asking for directions when we realize we're lost. We don't want to admit we're lost, more than anything we don't want to admit it. But if we don't, we'll never get back on the right course with the right directions. (1) Repentance comes from the Greek word metanoia, which means literally a change of mind. (2) Usually, it has the implication of an "afterthought", a change of heart that comes too late in the game to be any good. But with God, this change of heart comes just in time, because God's grace will still and always be available to us whenever we are ready to repent, to change our minds, to stop and ask for directions.
Repentance is one of the deeper-level ways we must get ready for Christ's coming. I know that I must repent of the ways I fall short of what God has planned for me, and what God has asked of me. Why must you repent? As a denomination, we have formally acted to repent of the sin of racism, apologizing for the ways we supported segregation and other evils in our United Methodist history. As a society, we must repent when we make war instead of peace, when do not act to protect the rights of the weakest and most vulnerable in our societies. As individuals, we must repent when we do not use the gifts that God has given us, when we do not share our gifts with others, when we ignore the one who created us, when we make enemies instead of friends of our neighbors, when we hate instead of love. We are called to repent, we are called to do an about-face, and head in the opposite direction from where we've been going on our own, and let our way be guided by God. When we do, we'll be directed straight to the crib of the Christ-child.
What must you do to be prepared for this Christmas? How will you spend this short time of Advent? The days are passing quickly, and our wreath is already half-lit. Will you be ready? What changes must you make so that you have room for God in your Christmas celebrations? Maybe you have some relationships that need mending. Maybe God has been calling you to act and you've been hesitating. Maybe you need to let go of something that you've been hanging onto for too long. Maybe you have some unhealthy spiritual habits that won't let the Christ-child thrive in your life.
Whatever it is, despite the odds, God says it's not to late for us to repent. It's not too late to start over, to turn around, to try again. The baby is coming. Be prepared. Amen.
(1) Rev. Richard Fairchild, "A Matter of Direction", http://www.spirit-net.ca/sermons/c-ad02smsu.php
(2) I use the Greek-English Lexicon from Liddell and Scott, the "little Liddell" and the Metzger et. al Greek New Testament in my translation work.)
Benediction: Go, and prepare the way of the Lord. Make the paths straight. Fill the valleys. Bring low the mountains. The prince of peace is coming. Amen.