\u201cYou brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come!\u2026. 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,\u201d proclaims John the Baptist in today\u2019s gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And \u201cRejoice in the Lord always: again I will say rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near, don\u2019t worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your heart and your minds in Christ Jesus.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is this, a mixed message festival? In the gospel John the Baptist says: Vipers, bear fruit, and repent or fry! and the second reading from Philippians tells us, and by the way: Don\u2019t worry, be happy, the Lord is near!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Huh?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Advent is a time of preparing for the Lord\u2019s coming. The two readings from Luke and Philippians seem to have contradictory advice as to how we are to prepare for the Lord\u2019s arrival. One seemingly tells to prepare for the Lord\u2019s coming by straightening up, flying right and getting our acts together or else!, the other seem to say, throw some shrimp on the barbie, kick back and relax. Well, which is it? What are we supposed to do? We all want to get ready for the Lord\u2019s coming, but how?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One way to bridge these two seemingly contradictory preparation plans is to remember that the gospel, if it is truly the gospel, is always a two-edged sword that cuts both ways. In other words, the gospel can simultaneously \u201ccomfort the afflicted\u201d and \u201cafflict the comfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are times in our walk with God that we need be shaken out of our complacency and receive a good kick in our religious rears. There are other times when the weight of life has beaten us down and we desperately need to put away our anxiety and worry and trust that the Lord is near. The texts for today speak to both of those realities in our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the gospel, John the Baptist is furious with the people because he say through their religious charade. He looked over the crowd that had come to be baptized and realized that many who came had motives that were far from pure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some in the baptismal crowd were there, not out of sincerity, but to try and cover their rears. They wanted baptism as a salvation insurance policy that called for no premiums, no righteousness, and no real faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To those looking for religious cover, the gospel, the good news came as a harsh word. They were told to stop being hypocrites, and \u201cbear fruits worthy of repentance.\u201d Being children of Abraham could not cover them, for God could turn stones into children of Abraham.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only authentic way for them to prepare for the Lord\u2019s coming was for them to have a changed heart. They were told not only to \u201ctalk the talk\u201d of faith but to \u201cwalk the walk\u201d of faith as well. Those with two coats were to share one with some one else\u2026 Those who had food were to divide it with others\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The text from Philippians speaks to those were religious, but more often than not their religion was more a burden to bear than a joy to share. To those people, preparing for the Lord\u2019s coming was a daunting task. A matter of dotting all I\u2019s and crossing all the T\u2019s of life, as if salvation were a matter of self justifying spiritual precision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The author of Philippians knew that folk, no matter how good and righteous, no matter how vigilant and faithful, were not capable of working their way to heaven, but that salvation and the joy in believing that goes with it, comes as a free gift of grace, and not of works, lest anyone should boast. To those who were worried about being perfect enough for the Lord\u2019s coming the message was to rejoice, for the Lord is near.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nothing much has changed in the last 2,000 years. When it comes for preparation for the Lord\u2019s coming, God\u2019s people are still prone to extremes. Some of us fret about religion to the extent that joy is lost. Others of us can slide into believing that religion is a game to be played with skill and that grace comes cheap. Most of us experience both poles, at one time being fearful and at other times being naive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is gospel, it is good news that God\u2019s word is a two-edged sword that cannot be escaped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is Advent. It is the time to prepare the Lord\u2019s way. It is time to bear the fruits worthy of repentance and to amend our lives and our ways. We cannot begin to say to ourselves \u201cwe are children of Abraham.\u201d For God can create children of Abraham faster than we can blink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is Advent, and we must prepare, for the Lord who is coming and is powerful. His sandals we are not worthy to untie. He will come to baptize us with fire and the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is advent, so let us rejoice in the Lord always, for he is near. \u201cDon\u2019t worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be known to God.\u201d And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cYou brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come!\u2026. 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,\u201d proclaims John the Baptist in today\u2019s gospel. And \u201cRejoice in the Lord…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":201212,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_tec_requires_first_save":true,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_tribe_blocks_recurrence_rules":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_description":"","_tribe_blocks_recurrence_exclusions":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[10,43,52,3],"tags":[182],"class_list":["post-511662","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-advent","category-sermons","category-sermons-that-work","category-worship-and-prayer-menu","tag-advent-3c"],"acf":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":10,"label":"Advent"},{"value":43,"label":"Sermons"},{"value":52,"label":"Sermons That Work"},{"value":3,"label":"worship_and_prayer_menu"}],"post_tag":[{"value":182,"label":"Advent 3C"}]},"featured_image_src_large":false,"author_info":[],"comment_info":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sermon"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511662\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":949118,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sermon\/511662\/revisions\/949118"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.episcopalchurch.org\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}