Advent 2, Year A
The Rev. Dena Cleaver-Bartholomew
It’s
Nutcracker week. For several years now
my daughter has been in a ballet company which performs the Nutcracker during
the first week of Advent. This means
that my Advent experience is shaped by the overlapping and sometimes sharply
contrasting perspectives of the ballet and the Church as we approach
Christmas. At the ballet it is crunch
time, also known as Theatre Week. The
tension is high, the hours are long, and the immediate focus is on getting
everything whipped into performance shape now.
Or, as I like to say: Welcome to the
The ballet is in many ways a microcosm of life in the larger world. To watch how the company members behave during the stress, tension, and sleep deprivation that come with Theatre Week is like watching a reality show on television. While the performance on opening night on Friday went spectacularly well, the behind the scenes interactions weren’t as pretty. The irony is that the off stage drama begins in earnest on Sunday morning, right after most of the dancers have arrived directly from church. One has to wonder, sadly, why there appears to be so little carryover from one location to the next.
Having been a dancer myself, I can tell you that the dancers are not so different from the rest of us. It is a great challenge to figure out how it is that we are to live out in our lives what we say we believe in worship. If we are honest with ourselves, we know that we all have moments when we behave in ways that are far less than Christ like. The question is not whether we all behave badly at times. The question is what we do with that truth.
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” John the Baptist came to prepare the way for Jesus’ arrival, to give people a chance to do the necessary turning before God stood in our midst. His voice echoes through our reading today not only as the historical voice reminding us that those people needed to repent. He is telling us that we need to change. As surely as Jesus came following John the Baptist, we await Jesus coming again. The return of Jesus is a concept that strikes at both hope and fear. We hope, for in Jesus we long for the reign of God, for the vision of all things and all relationships set right. Yet we fear, for we know that in our own lives all is not right. John’s call is to give us the opportunity to acknowledge this tension and to begin, with God’s help, to set things right.
There is a story about a preacher who gave a children’s sermon. In it he asked:
“If all the good people in the world were red and all the bad people were green, what color would you be?” Little Linda Jean thought mightily for a moment. Then her face brightened and she replied: “Reverend, I’d be streaky!”
Little Linda Jean puts it well indeed. We are all streaky. God knows that. The point of repentance is to begin the process of encouraging the red to grow and to weed out the green. John warns the religious people of his time that religion alone isn’t enough: “Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’.” Just because we intend well, just because we go to church, just because we love Jesus, doesn’t mean we don’t have attitudes to change, habits to break, and work to do. Do we need to tend to a few spiritual weeds here and there, or do we need to do some serious gardening and trot out the weed whacker?
John the Baptist was a very direct person. He completely bypassed any effort at being tactful and went right to the root of things. “Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” He was emphatic about taking the time to examine ourselves honestly and to change in preparation for the coming of God. To change from the roots up is to engage in fundamental, foundational reorientation. John was not the warm up routine for gentle Jesus, meek and mild. He was more like the drill sergeant preparing new recruits for the challenges that lie ahead. Failure to prepare could mean irreversible consequences. This is far more serious than Santa threatening to leave a lump of coal in one’s stocking.
Whether we are off to Nutcracker or Madrigals, Christmas shopping or brunch, work or homework, we need to leave this place changed. There is supposed to be carryover from what we say here to how we live our lives the rest of the week. Worship is meant to be the root system for those who are grounded in God. From that root grows a life that is oriented in and focused on God. If and when we find the weeds getting in the way, we need to turn and refocus. Preparing ourselves is how we are called to “Prepare the way” for the coming of Jesus.
Amen