Advent 2 A So, What Are We Looking For?

 Advent 2 A So, What Are We Looking For?

December 4, 2016

By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell

John the Baptist was NOT “main line” religion! I don’t know how the news of his presence would have been communicated, but whatever was said about him caused people to be interested. Interested enough to get out of the city and take a look for themselves.

John’s message was simple and direct. REPENT! Bear good fruit, the Kingdom of heaven is near!

This is what he preached: As a sign that you are serious about changing your self-serving ways, you can begin the process of “cleaning up your act” by cleansing your body and your way of thinking…here, in the river Jordan.

Repentance was not a new concept to the Jews. Every year, on the Day of Atonement, a goat was sacrificed for their sins on the alter. Then they “theoretically” transferred their sins to a different goat, the “Scape Goat.” Then the Scape Goat was driven out of town and their sins went with him.

The only problem with the Day of Atonement, and cleansing yourself in the Jordan River was that it didn’t work. The Scape Goat wandered back into town, and the experience of ducking under the waters of the Jordan, lost its focus. Not unlike what happens after a number of our own baptisms.

John the Baptist knew that it wouldn’t work. Why can I say that? Because John himself said there is someone coming after me who will give you the power to make your repentance secure and steadfast. That is what a relationship with Jesus Christ and his church is all about. A new steadfast way of life that is committed to God’s expectations. But, does it work?

Over the years, I can say that now…. from experience, and with feeling…. over the 63 years I have served as a Priest of the church, that I have observed many different approaches to serving God’s expectations (Yes, I think I could write a book).

The Chruch’s service of baptism is not magic -- It is what we make of it! I was baptized as an infant in the Roman Catholic Church. But I did not enter a church building again until I was a vested choir boy in the Episcopal Church at age nine! If anyone had asked me about God or Jesus Christ or being a Christian, I would not have had a clue.

If anyone were to ask me how well infant baptisms work, I would have to say, “It depends.” If the parents of the newly baptized don’t participate in the church, I would have to say…. not very well. Even participating is no guarantee that lives will be changed. 

In today’s Gospel, the Pharisees and the Sadducees come to check out John (the wild weird one), and we have to wonder why they bothered. They had all the religious credentials required by Jewish standards. They were card-carrying Jews in good standing. So why would they be interested in this rough, disheveled preacher? Perhaps they were just curious. What do these crowds of people see in this guy? What were they looking for?

Don’t we all have a natural interest in success? We all remember the Billy Grahm campaigns that attracted thousands, filling huge stadiums. Why did people go out of their way to hear what Billy Graham had to say? Some I’m sure were interested in the “secret” of his success. 

There was a period of time in this country when there was a keen interest in “speaking in tongues.” It got a lot of attention. Some on the “far edge” of that experience went so far as to say that if you haven’t had the experience of speaking in tongues, you were not an authentic Christian. That misunderstanding, and bad teaching, made speaking in tongues shamefully divisive. For some it was a mark of success -- a religious one-up-man-ship (if you will). Instead of “Holy, Holy, Holy,” it felt like the childhood taunt of “neener, neener, neener” you can’t speak in tongues. The church gained some members, and understandably the church lost some members.

Over the years it would seem that every “mark of success” has the power to draw an audience. I remember members of St. Paul’s wishing that our youth group could be as successful as the Presbyterian’s youth group. We sent a committee to scope them out. The committee returned with this observation: They have a pop machine!

I call it – The Silly Search for What Works Now Using as Little Effort as Possible. 

Here’s what a lot of people don’t know about the Billy Graham campaigns. He promoted his big city visits, years in advance and worked through lots of local churches. Follow up counselors were recruited and trained. If anyone in the stadium was moved to go forward, there was a trained counselor at their side when they arrived on the field. They were then connected to one of the local churches. A Billy Graham campaign was definitely…more than met the eye. I read that after the Seattle campaign a reporter made a “year later” follow-up investigation. (These figures are not accurate, but they give a sense of what I read.) In Seattle, 10,000 people went forward. One year later, the reporter could only find a thousand (1,000) people that were still active in the church they expressed an interest in joining.

“What about those numbers?” the reporter asked Mr. Graham?

Billy Graham’s response was, “Not bad for a week’s work.”

Do you know what I believe people are looking for? They are looking for a place or a group that will accept them, and for a place where they know that they truly belong.

In the bible, Romans put it like this: “Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, how can I help?”

When you hear someone say, “How can I help?” That is when you know you belong. Advent’s call is…. wake up, you are not without hope!

I think the question that John the Baptist was asking the “religious” leaders that came to hear him would be the same question we might ask ourselves: What good is your religion if it doesn’t change the way you share your life? Has there been any movement from a selfish heart to a more generous heart? I’m talking about generosity with HEART. In other words, I share the gifts that I have been given with those in need, not because of some law, not because people are watching, not because I will see my name on some plaque, but because it is a natural response to the gifts I have received. I serve and give, not because I have to, but because I want to.

That, I believe, fits my definition of “true religion.” That is what we look for in others who call themselves religious, and that’s what we hope others will see in us.

To practice “true religion” is an ongoing process. Believe this: Christ was born from the heart of God, and we are born through our baptism from the heart of Christ.

As we allow ourselves to be submerged in Christ’s ways, we pray to God that our selfish ways will unsurprisingly lose their influence.

That is the success I believe the whole world is hoping to find. Repentance powered by the joy of acceptance and the reassurance of belonging. This is one of the best and most beautiful things we have to share. 

Advent – wake up – we are not without hope!