Tea

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
December 4, 2022

2 Advent A 

Ironically, last Sunday afternoon I opened a package from Leslie, my daughter-in-law, to find nothing other than an Advent calendar with a tea bag behind each little door.  If you were not here last Sunday, I talked about Advent calendars and my two problems with them.  One: they all start on December 1 and Advent rarely starts on that day.  Leslie, good Episcopalian that she is, acknowledged this in the card.  And two: Advent calendars turn Advent into a countdown season for Christmas rather than recognizing Advent as a season of expectation and preparation.

Much to my surprise, I find myself rather excited by my Advent calendar.  Rather than just being a countdown calendar, each morning brings something new on this journey to the manger.  Granted, that new thing is a tea bag, but it starts each day of December off with the reminder to look for what is new, for what new thing God might be doing.  Practicing that every day just might help me see what new thing God is doing in the Christ child on Christmas Eve!

With my Advent calendar in mind, rather than approach John the Baptist the way I usually do on the second Sunday of Advent, which is to get around him as quickly as possible and back on the road to the Christ Child, I find myself wondering what new thing God might be doing through this odd man with the strange clothing and the challenging diet.  Because as much as I prefer not to be called a brood of vipers and be threatened with unquenchable fire, the faithful people of Jerusalem and all Judea flocked to the wilderness to be baptized by John.  So there must be more to John than clothing of camel’s hair, a meal plan of locust and wild honey, and a doomsday message.

          In his own strange way, John the Baptist offers the people of Jerusalem and all Judea, and us, a message of hope.  The difference between hope and wishful thinking is that hope is based in reality.  The reality of the people is that they are oppressed by the secular kingdom.  The words “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven has come near” are a promise that the longed-for Kingdom of God is so close that the people can almost touch it.  While we are not an oppressed people, we, too, long for peace, an end to the constant strife in our country, a solution to gun violence, a cure for so many illnesses and diseases.  We, too, long for a world that sounds a bit more like the world Isaiah describes, where the wolf shall live with the lamb, and no one will hurt or destroy in all God’s creation.  We, too, can rejoice in John’s promise that the Kingdom of heaven has drawn near.  The appropriate preparation for that Kingdom is to repent; to turn from those things that draw us away from God so that we can see the Kingdom in our midst now and when it arrives in all its fullness.  The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.  This is good news.

Secondly, while “brood of vipers” is hardly a compliment, John the Baptist tells the religious leaders of the day to bear fruit worthy of repentance.  Repentance is apparently possible, even for vipers, and, apparently, even vipers can bear fruit.  John the Baptist starts where the Pharisees and Sadducees are, resting in their status as children of Abraham, tells them that this status won’t save them, and points them to the path that will.  John meets us where we are and reminds us that we have some real responsibility in the emerging Kingdom of Heaven.  We are to bear fruit.  Paul shows us in the letter to the Romans what some of that fruit looks like.  Live in harmony with each other.  Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you.  Abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.  If a brood of vipers can repent and bear good fruit, so can we.  This is good news.

Lastly, John the Baptist tells the crowds and us that he doesn’t have the final word.  He baptizes with water for repentance in preparation for the one who is coming after him.  The one coming after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  John doesn’t say who will be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire, or who is wheat and who is chaff.  Perhaps that is because there is wheat and chaff within each of us.   Jesus will gather the wheat and burn away the chaff to make each of us whole, doing for us the work we cannot do for ourselves.  That is good news.

          John the Baptist might not make the top of our guest list for Christmas dinner.  But if we stop and hear what new thing God might be doing through this character of God, if we stop on our journey to the manger and listen to what he has to say, we will arrive at Christmas more ready to see Jesus and hear what he has to say.  We will have done the work of preparation, turning from those things which draw us from God.  We will have heard that such repentance is possible and bear fruit that is both evidence of that repentance and brings the Kingdom of Heaven closer.  And we will have heard the promise once again that the One who is coming can make us whole. 

Amen.