In twelve short days we will be celebrating Christmas Day. Many of us will be with our loved ones and opening our gifts, thinking of turkey and all of its trimmings. In twelve short days the season of Advent will be a memory and the Christmas season upon us.
There is a particular Christmas carol that celebrates the 12 days of Christmas. For those of you who attended the Community sing-a-long last Monday evening or for those of you planning to come to the Summit Singers Christmas Concert this evening you will have or will sing the carol the Twelve days of Christmas. I’d like to share a legend with you about that carol:
From 1558 until 1829, the legend tells that Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for the young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning, the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church.
Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.
1. The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
2. Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
3. Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.
4. The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
5. The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books.
6. The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creating.
7. Seven swans a swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership and Mercy.
8. The eight maids a milking were the eight beatitudes.
9. Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
10. The ten lords a leaping were the Ten Commandments.
11. The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
12. The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in The Apostles Creed.
Today, in the midst of Advent waiting, we have a Sunday of Joy. It may seem a bit odd that we are urged to rejoice in the Lord when what we are waiting for isn't here.
We heard from the prophet Zephaniah that the people should be filled with joy because of what God is doing and what God is about to do. Isaiah also calls us to shout aloud and sing joy…for great in our midst is the Holy One of Israel.
From the letter to the Philippians we heard; “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.
Rejoice, we are told, shout aloud, sing joy, rejoice on this the 3rd Sunday of Advent. Hmmmmm, perhaps we should sing the Twelve days of Christmas and be done with it………except that………. we have this story from the Gospel of Luke about a wild-eyed preacher from the wilderness who doesn't yell just at the powers-that-be, no, John is inclusive of all the sincerely open people who have bothered to come out to the middle of nowhere to listen to his message. And what does he yell at the crowd who has come to be baptized by him; He shouts, “You brood of vipers!” He calls them a bunch of snakes. He tells them that 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. Repent, he tells them, repent.
There is no hidden secret in his message unlike the Christmas carol, John didn’t mince his words he came straight to the point. Straighten up or you will find your self in the eternal fire. It’s hard to connect this message easily with the theme of "Joy" given to this Third Sunday in Advent.
It seems that before we can listen to the wonderful stories of Jesus birth we must first listen to this rough-voiced prophet who tells it like it is.
Right alongside the "merry" of the season that calls us to shop and decorate, cook and celebrate, is this other kind of preparation for the coming of the One promised to us. Week by week we are led slowly and thoughtfully toward the great celebration of the Incarnation, the mystery of God taking on flesh and being among us, with us in the most ordinary of our days, the most overwhelming of our grief’s, our most profound joys, our deepest hopes. This life, our lives and communities and the world as we experience it, right here, is where that long "church-y" word, "Incarnation," happens. It’s a word that we probably don't use in our day-to-day lives, but we experience the Incarnation every moment of our lives in our relationship with Jesus, that "Word made flesh" who dwells among us. Or, as Eugene Peterson translates it, "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood" (John 1:14, The Message), right here, in our midst, day in and day out, and not only at Christmastime. Fred Craddock encourages us to immerse ourselves, then, in this season of preparation, he writes: "If one does not walk the road, the destination is reduced to half its meaning.”
John came preaching a message of challenge and exhortation. In his day, the powers-that-be had arranged a world based on empire, with those at the top grabbing – through force and greed – the lion's share of power and material wealth for themselves. It wasn't just the Roman Empire that experienced his wrath, but the religious institutions as well felt the sting of John's rebuke.
John’s ministry was to bring the people from their sins, and to their Saviour. He came preaching, not a sect or a party, but a profession; the sign or ceremony was washing with water. John preached the necessity of repentance, in order to obtain the remission of sins, and the baptism of water was an outward sign of that inward cleansing and renewal of heart. Which are the effects of true repentance, as well as a profession of it. He calls to the people of his day and to the people of today to prepare.
John knew his audience, his congregation, and he read the signs of the times as well. What strikes me about this preacher, however, is that his rhetoric combines grand anticipation and dramatic warning with a simple instruction that is so down-to-earth, so everyday life, so……….well…………doable. He doesn't tell the people to get back to church, to overthrow the Romans, to transform the world in some sudden, drastic revolution. He tells them the same things that my parents told their children and that we told ours: "Share with one another. Be kind to one another. Don't fight. Be fair. Don't hoard, or lord it over one another."
I don't mean to reduce John's message in any way, but at the heart of it, it seems to me, are that basic justice and goodness that would knock the supports out from under every misaligned, upside-down, oppressive structure and system that we've built. A justice and goodness that would take the power out of every process and habit that we humans have practiced and perfected and with which we have hurt one another, and one another's children.
When the people asked “what then should we do?” John replies with “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” The tax collectors asked: “Teacher, what should we do?” He told them; “collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” The soldiers asked; “and we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
John warns people that there is no way of fleeing from the wrath to come but by repentance; and by the change of our ways the change of our minds must also be shown. It seems to me that the One who chose to come into the world as a little baby in a humble manger, mothered by a young girl perplexed by, but cooperative with, the Spirit at work in her life, calls us to those same basic goodnesses and justices that John exhorts the people to exercise in their everyday lives.
The word "repentance" is one of those “uncomfortable” words, it implies that there is something wrong with us. The Biblical writers make it absolutely clear that until you come to terms, at a deep level, with the experience of repentance there is no possible way that God can give you the wholeness of life you want so very much.
Repentance means primarily a turning or a changing. Something in our life, your life, has to change. We have to turn our life around. Repentance involves more than mere sorrow and regret.
It is not just a matter of admitting the wrongness in our life and loading ourselves up with guilt. It is a matter of turning and changing in the hope that there is a Source of mercy and forgiveness and New Life. We are to do all the good we can, and to be just to all humans. And the same principle which leads us to forego unjust gain, leads you to restore all which is wrongly gained.
There is no either/or here, but a faith that is practiced in the here-and-now world that God loves even as it looks forward to the re-creation and renewal of that world in God's own time.
In the meantime, "What then should we do?" John jars us with his message into looking afresh at our lives, our priorities and preoccupations, our style of living. We don't seem to mind doing that so much in a few weeks, in time for New Year's resolutions, but what if we looked closely right now, here in Advent, as we prepare for the One who is to come, the One to whom John turns our attention? Check out your life in the mirror of how others might see you: ask yourself, "Can anyone tell, by observing my life, that I bear the mark of Christ and am living as his faithful disciple?" Eugene Peterson writes in his version of the Bible titled “The Message”: 'It's your life that must change, not your skin….What counts is your life.'" What then should we do? What needs to be turned "right-side-up" in your own life and relationships? What upside-down things are too much for you to tackle on your own, but wouldn’t be if in conjunction with a life partner or family, or friends?
Some years ago, while studying in Winnipeg, our class took a field trip to Broadway Community Outreach Centre, which is part of Young’s United Church in the downtown area. Every week day afternoon at 1:00 the centre opens its doors to the “neighbourhood people”. Upon entering the people could pick up a bag of day old pastry from the pastry table and then after they signed in could have a sandwich and their choice of coffee, tea or juice. The hall filled up quickly. We were also invited to sign in and chose a sandwich and drink.
Once I had my food I sat at a table with one of the “neighbourhood” couples. After exchanging greetings we entered into one of the most amazing conversations I’ve ever had.
The fellow’s name was James and he told me that he had been living on the streets until he met his present girlfriend. He shared with me that if I wanted to survive out there on the streets the first rule was to stay warm. This particular day in Winnipeg there was a severe snow storm so the gift of wisdom he was about to impart was very timely.
I asked him how I could do that, stay warm. He told me it was important to layer my clothes, he had found an extra pair of jeans plus a pair of rain pants so he would put on both jeans and then the rain pants he would put over top. James shared that he had found an old blanket that he would stash in the bushes during the day, somewhere where no one would find it. He said, “You know people thought I didn’t have a home but I did, I had a box that I kept in a spot along the riverbank and no body could see it.” James shared that at night if it got too cold to sleep at his “home” that just up the street from Broadway Community Outreach Centre was a shelter that had beds. But he said that they would not open their doors until 9:00 pm and then it was a run to see if he could find a bed. James told me that before anyone was allowed to go to bed they first had to listen to somebody preach about God and then promise that they would accept God into their life. James told me that he would only go there if it was really, really cold.
I asked him where to find food, and he shared that if I wanted breakfast there is another place around the corner that hands out tickets but they never ask for them back so I could go in and eat and if I were still hungry I could leave and go back in again. There was another place that I could go to if I wanted supper but it was like the place with the beds, first I would have to listen to a sermon.
James told me that while he was at his “home” along the river bank, every night folks, that were also living there, would go from “home” to “home” and ask if there were any who had two of something and if someone did have then they were asked to share their extra’s with someone who did not have.
As James told his story, his eyes sparkled and danced with the spirit of life. He revealed to me that for him life is an adventure and that while he was homeless for him it was like camping.
James gave to me the “extra” that he had and that was the gift of his knowledge of how to survive on the streets of Winnipeg.
John does not mince his words. All who hear him understand exactly what it is he is trying to get across. “In this season, the prophet’s cry must again become the church’s cry….Just as the birth of John restored the voice of his father, Zachary, so may this season of preparation restore the prophetic voice of the church. This is our work, to go out into the wilderness, to proclaim to a weary world that the hunger, the poverty, the inequity as we know it will not have the final word” (The Christian Century December 1, 2009). That is the good news we preach, the hope that sustains us, the vision toward which we work, and it is no wonder then, or so very difficult to understand why, we live in joy as well.