Father, Your Kingdom come, and Your will be done. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Prophets of doom are certainly not in short supply these days. Whether they are predicting ecological disaster or economic ruin, the end of the Church of England or of Christianity in the West, a new dark age or the end of the world, these purveyors of gloom and doom do seem to be increasingly vocal. Yet such prophets of doom are nothing new. When I was growing up in Belfast, I remember how this message from the prophet Jeremiah often appeared on sandwich boards or on roadside posters: "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved" (Jeremiah 8: 20 KJV). And the sandwich board man usually had a face to go with the message!
Prophets of doom usually speak of catastrophe and impending disaster. They warn of dire consequences, if we do not change our attitudes or actions. Yet it is not always easy to know whether they are really speaking the truth. False prophets are common. We need the wisdom of God's Spirit to help us to discern what is happening. For example, how are you and I to respond to talk of man-made global warming, and of associated environmental catastrophe? Do we think that the message of Al Gore's documentary film An Inconvenient Truth is true or false? As recent days have shown, not everyone is convinced by warnings concerning climate-change, in spite of what seems to be a widespread scientific consensus. At the start of tomorrow's climate-change summit in Copenhagen, issues of carbon cuts will be part of a wider discussion about the future of this planet, and of our human impact upon it. Whatever the outcome of those talks, of one thing we can be sure: Whatever steps we take - whether as individuals, or as nations - will in no small measure be affected by what we really believe, by our vision and values. For our vision and values will determine our priorities, and these will have an impact on our future, for good or ill.
Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised. After all, hasn't this always been the message of God to His people? A call to hear and receive God's Word of truth - however uncomfortable or inconvenient - and to change our lives in the light of that truth. Down the ages, God's message has been faithfully proclaimed by prophetic figures such as John the Baptist. Here was a voice of one calling out in the wilderness. A voice of warning. A voice of promise. A voice that would not be silent. A voice through which many people believed they had heard the Word of God.
We're told that John the Baptist came from a priestly family, yet was not himself living and working as a temple priest. Instead Luke tells us that John, in response to the Word of God which came to him, "went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins." John seems to have been conscious of standing in the great and risky prophetic tradition. Risky, because those in authority, or with vested interests, tend not to like prophets. Voices that tell uncomfortable or inconvenient truths usually get silenced.
But what was the truth that John was telling? What was the message that was so urgent that he had to convey it, even at the cost of his own life? It was the news that the long night was nearly over, and that day was about to break; that the God who appeared to have abandoned His people was coming back: coming to rule, coming to judge, coming to forgive, coming to save. The voice of John was proclaiming the message of Advent. And the baptism of John - "a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins" - was the sign of Advent preparation, preparation for the coming of the Lord.
For those who gathered to hear John in the country around the Jordan, the symbol of John's baptism would doubtless have reminded them of the Exodus story. The story of how the children of Israel were once brought out of slavery in Egypt, through the waters of the Red Sea, through the Sinai wilderness, through the River Jordan, and into the promised land. Now they found themselves in slavery again - but this time in their own land. Time and again, the prophets had declared that such slavery was the result of Israel's sin, their worship of idols, rather than their wholehearted worship of the one true God. And the prophets had also reminded the people of Israel of the part they had to play to escape this slavery. They had to return to the Lord their God; that is, to repent. A message we heard from the prophet Malachi in the first reading: "I the Lord do not change. … Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts" (Malachi 3: 6,7).
John the Baptist was doing what prophets such as Malachi and Isaiah had said needed to happen - preparing the way for the Lord Himself to return to His people. But the people were not in good shape. Since baptism was part of the ritual Gentiles had to undergo if they wanted to convert to Judaism, John's summoning of Israel to a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins spoke of the need for a renewal of the covenant with God. The Advent message of John the Baptist came as one of challenge, as well as comfort.
Challenge, as well as comfort, continues to remain at the heart of the season of Advent. Like those who first heard the preaching of John the Baptist, you and I also find ourselves in a troubled and divided world. Proud and idolatrous powers are still at work, enslaving and destroying. Events can leave us wondering where on earth God is to be found, in the midst of all the mess and misery. And it is tempting to allow the voices of doom and gloom to leave us paralysed by fear and despair.
Yet the Word of God remains constant: "The crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Advent reminds us that we are called to look forward in hope, and to live in the light of that God-given hope. For Jesus Christ, the Promised One whose first coming in humility we celebrate at Christmas - and to whom John the Baptist later pointed as the Lamb of God - will one day return again in glory. And then all will face the awesome purifying reality of the Last Judgement, from the Lord who is both Saviour and Judge.
In the meanwhile, the Advent challenge remains: "Prepare the way of the Lord" (Luke 3: 4). Like those who first heard John the Baptist, you and I also need to hear the call to repent. The call to turn away from all those things in our lives - whether our destructive words or selfish deeds, our ungracious attitudes or thoughtless actions - which continue to wound God's love, and to mar His image in us. Such turning away is part of the ground clearing, our share in the Advent work of preparing the way for God's glory to be fully and finally revealed when Jesus returns. So may God give us grace to hear afresh the Advent call to prepare the way of the Lord - and to live in its light. Amen.
John Barr
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