see Luke 3:7-18
O come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant. O come ye … Our Christmas Carol calls out for us to come again, each year, and worship the new born king, our Christ. And we come. We hum this tune in our hearts but do not yet sing the carol for it is only the beginning of Advent. We wait a little longer. Around us though, our world has moved right along and the Christmas market started soon after Halloween.
Are we bad Christians, if we give in to holiday cheer? Should we separate ourselves from holiday cheer, the world’s Christmas? I don’t think so. It is okay to hear and respond to the joyful and triumphant call of Christ’s birth. But to be faithful to the truest, deepest, holiest moment in the birth of Jesus, we also need to hear another call; we need to hear the call from the desert. John the Baptist’s call is more strident; it strikes cords deeper than simple joys. His was a prophet’s voice of personal transformation and societal justice, "A voice of one calling in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him. Every valley shall be filled in, every mountain and hill made low. The crooked roads shall become straight, the rough ways smooth. And all {people} will see God's salvation.”
John called for the want-a-be faithful people to come to repentance. The crowd asked, “What shall we do?” The Tax collectors asked, “What shall we do?” The mercenaries asked, “What shall we do?” John answered with the wise words of God’s Spirit, “Love thy neighbor by sharing - crowd, “quit cheating the people - tax collectors”, “stop your extortion and power mongering – public servants.” John answered, “People – as you love your neighbors all our lives are saved and made better.”
John the Baptist was not preaching a separatist sermon, that the faithful must separate themselves from the world. He preached an old guarantee; God wants you to live for others. Life is better for all of us when you live for others.
What shall we do friends? In the quiet of Advent, if we hear God’s judgment, God’s disappointment that we don’t care enough, we don’t love enough, what shall we do? In a world with ethics scandals revolving around public servants, with consumables produced in ways that extort from God’s children who have the least, what shall we do? They listened on that Advent day as John helped them prepare. The Christmas cord was so powerfully plucked within them that they thought John might be the Messiah. But “no” he said “I’m not he.” He pointed to Jesus promising the Christ was near. Christ is near and he whispers and acclaims for us all the answers we need to mercifully change our world.
O Come all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, O come ye of come ye to Bethlehem. Come enjoy the power of Christmas more deeply by listening for God’s loving calls for holy transformation. Prepare. Christ is coming. Alleluia.