Readings:
Sermon:
There was a great big bully who had an unerring sense of where a person’s weakness was. Day after day this bully savaged the people around them, causing tears and misery. It made them feel good, powerful, untouchable, in control.
Then one day they took a train to the seaside. The tide was out. The sea was calm. In they went and out they swam to a pontoon several hundred yards from the shore. They snoozed in the sun until the clouds came out and suddenly it was cool. The tide was rushing in and they had to get back to shore. So, with a confident run and dive, in they went. Then a rip current got them. The tide was strong. The rip was stronger. They swam and swam to the right. To the left. But still the rip was dragging them out to sea. All they could do was struggle and swim until there was no strength left and they were at the mercy of the sea. As they began to sink, with barely strength to kick, a kindly voice called out, “Here! Grab this! We’ll have you out in a jiffy.”
They felt the strong arms of the Coastguard enfold them and lift them out of the water. They sagged against the Coastguard, weeping, sobbing uncontrolled, weak with relief. There was no chiding, no accusation. Just kindness and welcome, a blanket and a hot, sugary mug of tea.
A different person came in on Monday. Humble, kind, mild.
“Repent, ” John cries out from the margins, “Repent!” Jesus calls from the lakeside. “Repent!” Paul invites from the market place.
What is this repentance? Is it feeling sorry for some mistakes? Feeling sorry for not being kind enough, generous enough, welcoming enough, good enough? Is it try harder to be a better person?
‘Repent’ is a call to turn to God in Jesus Christ. Turn from your guilt towards forgiveness. Turn from your own heroic efforts to the Holy Spirit, the power of God.
When Jesus calls out to you, “Repent!” You look up. You look at Jesus. Attention away from yourself for a moment. You focus on God in Jesus Christ. You see in Jesus love, forgiveness, beauty, authority and you long to be like that. Just like that: loving, forgiving, beautiful.
Repentance is about God looking at us, as God calls us by name, and God longing to mould us like Christ. Repentance is about God breathing the Holy Spirit in us, the power for transformation, breathed into our inmost being changing us, renewing us, transforming us to become the un-encrusted, perfectly formed image of God. Repentance is turning from a lonely road of self-dependence to walking with Jesus in the Holy Spirit, always.
So, now, in this moment, make God’s path straight to you. Make God’s path straight to others, calling them to the repentance you have made, as you look into the eyes of the One who loves you, the One does not chide you, the One who welcomes you with a baptism of water and Spirit, which is all you need to live repentance until Christ comes again to gather us to Him, to reconcile all things in Him. To finish making new.
I wonder what debris you need to clear to make straight God’s path to you this Advent?