Turn around when possible

This is an abridged version of a sermon preached at Lyneham Methodist Church on 6th December 2015 - the Second Sunday of Advent.

At this time of the year people often say to me “It must be your busiest time of year?” It is busy, but it is no busier in many ways for me than it is for you. This time of the year seems busy for everyone as we get busy preparing.

Advent is a time of preparation. It should be a time in which we are preparing solely for Jesus Christ and his coming in to the world. But at home people are cleaning, getting out their Christmas decorations, writing Christmas cards, baking, purchasing a tree, hosting parties, attending parties. Then there is shopping. And in the church context there are often extra services to attend and take part in. At times our preparation may seem distracted from the real event.

I’m reminded of the T shirt I saw once “Look busy Jesus is coming”.

We seem to think that if we are busy that is sufficient preparation for Christ coming into the world.

We are so busy doing so much at this time of the year that we don’t want to be interrupted. But every year we are interrupted – by John the Baptist. He features largely in the preparation of Advent. And his appearance means that our plans are interrupted and in fact we have to make preparations of a different kind. For John comes as a reminder of what we really should be preparing for – the coming of Jesus.

John’s arrival on the second Sunday of Advent is a reminder to us that before we can wallow in the joy of Christmas, and bask in the birth of a special baby, we have to examine ourselves and our world.

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.
Luke 3:4

This message from John is a reminder of the work we are called to do as Christians in the wider world. The message reminds us of the preparation we have to do for Christ’s coming. But we mustn’t forget that we need to prepare ourselves too.

When I was a boy, I’d look forward to the times when we’d travel from my home in South Wales to the exotic place that was – Swindon! My mum’s sister and her family moved to Swindon from South Wales in the late 1960s and once every couple of months we’d visit them.

My Uncle Len was great company. He had a great sense of humour. And a standing joke when we’d visit was something like this. “Ooh you can tell we’ve got visitors we don’t normally have corned beef pie.” Or “These are new plates. You’ve bought them because the Grays are here.” Every time there’d be a comment on these lines and every time my Aunty Jenny would fall for it. “Leonard! We had corned beef pie 3 weeks ago!” “Leonard! You know we’ve had these plates for ages!”

But of course whilst this was a family joke, like all good jokes there was an element of truth behind it. For Aunty Jenny would have prepared for the arrival of guests just like most of us would do.

And depending on the guests, and how long they may stay, the preparation may be more than a quick tidy up and a run round with the hoover. When we had some friends from America come to stay with us earlier in the year, I was surprised at the number of odd jobs I was given to do. The wobbly shelf in the bathroom which had been like that for some time now needed to be fixed. The bags of garden rubbish that had been perfectly happy lurking behind the shed now had to go to the dump. And “Please go through the cupboard in the spare bedroom to make some room. There’s things there you’ve not worn for years.”

Preparing for company often causes hosts to look at their home, to examine their surroundings with a whole new perspective. Preparing for guests involves self-examination and a long “to do” list. Preparing for guests involves putting things right, cleaning and decluttering.

Somehow I don’t imagine John the Baptist would have been too concerned about a wonky shelf in the bathroom. Someone who, we are told, lived in the wilderness clothed in the skins of wild animals, would not be too fussed about the finer things in life I suspect. John the Baptist would not have bothered to run the hoover round.

John was much better at understanding another kind of preparation. His message was all about how people should prepare to welcome God into their lives. His preaching called people to examine their lives, to see their lives with fresh eyes. His message called people to clean their lives. To repent. He gave people a “to do” list of the things they needed to do in order to receive the one coming after him.

We all know the kind of preparations we go through at home to celebrate Christmas. But John reminds us that, in the words of the hymn “Joy to the world” we are to receive the king and therefore “let every heart prepare him room.”

John’s challenge is for us all to repent and prepare. I gather that in the Greek, in which the New Testament was originally written, the word we translate as “Repentance” was “metanoia”. This can also be translated as changing your mind, or turning around or to reorientate ourselves. If we think of it in this way, what we are being asked to do is to face towards God and turn away from sin. To ask for God’s forgiveness. And then having done this John calls us to prepare the way for the Lord.

Repentance is not just changing our minds, or feeling sorry for something that we have done, or even making bold resolves that we will never participate in certain conduct again. Instead, repentance means to turn around and go in another direction. To walk away from sin and walk to Christ. What John the Baptist wanted his audience to hear was: Turn your life toward this one called Messiah.

My Sat Nav says "Turn around when possible" when I have take the wrong direction. That is what John is calling us to do.

Several years ago I had someone tell me after a sermon during Advent: The problem with John the Baptist is that he takes all of the fun out of Christmas. He couldn't have been further from the truth. It is this weird eccentric called John the Baptist who puts the joy back into Christmas. For John is the one who calls us not to Christmas the way it is, but to Christmas the way it is meant to be.

“Joy to the world the Lord is come!”