"repentance"

“Repentance”

Luke 3:1-6

On the last day of Preschool, before Christmas Break, a group of young parents stood waiting to claim their kids.

As the children ran from their classrooms, they each carried in their hands a “surprise,” the brightly wrapped package which contained what they had been working on for the past week.

One small boy, trying to run, put on his coat and wave to his parents—all at the same time—slipped and fell.

The “surprise” flew from his hands, landed on the floor and broke with an obvious ceramic crash.

The poor kid started to cry.

His father, trying to downplay the incident and comfort his boy, patted him head and said, “That’s alright son. It doesn’t matter. It really doesn’t matter at all.”

But, the boy’s mother, was a bit wiser in this situation.

She swept her son into her arms and said, “Oh, but it does matter.

“It matters a whole lot.”

And she wept with her son.

As the Church, our Advent practices matter a lot…a whole awful lot.

Advent, in the Church, stands in tension with our culture.

And that is because our consumer society has displaced the Church Year or Calendar.

For many in the world, getting ready for Christmas has been reduced to hanging twinkling Christmas lights, listening to holiday music, and looking at the super-abundance of material things for the buying, all of which we hope will create in us a sense of magical, childlike wonder and goodwill.

I’m not trying to say this is bad, but it is very different from the kind of preparation John the Baptist calls us to.

The promises of God that are coming to fulfillment in Jesus Christ should compel us to confess our sins and repent.

John asks us to examine ourselves, rather than just bask in holiday wonder.

We should prepare our hearts rather than worry about material things to get or give.

You’ve got to love John the Baptist.

He’s almost like a comical figure, dressed in camel’s hair and eating locusts and wild honey…

…but his message is not comical; it is hard-hitting— “The time has come. The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!”

What does it mean to repent?

Does it mean feeling sorry for our mistakes?

Is it a matter of trying to be a better person?

Is repentance something that we even need to do, if our lives are now hidden in Christ, our Savior?

True repentance means literally, to change one’s mind, turn around, reorient oneself.

John calls all people to turn to God and from sin, to seek God’s forgiveness, and thus, prepare and open our hearts for the coming of Jesus.

It’s a decision.

But, it’s not something we can achieve on our own.

It’s something God does in us through the power of His Holy Spirit.

It is God realigning us or aligning us to Christ.

It’s about God’s power to transform us into Christ’s image.

It’s about God giving us the desire for this transformation and the power to see it through.

And it takes a lifetime.

And so, yes, it does mean to feel sorry for our sins and mistakes.

It does mean wanting to be better persons.

And it does apply, even to those who are already Christians.

“For all have sinned and fallen short…”

And, “If we claim to be without sin we make God out to be a liar.”

What is going on in your life that needs to be thrown into the fire and burned?

What sin do you have that is keeping you from following Christ, or fully following Christ the way you know you should…

…or as God’s Spirit living in you desires?

Is it a judgmental spirit?

Is it a lack of empathy for those who are without—the homeless, the poor, the hungry?

Is it something you have done which has hurt your brother, your sister, your neighbor, God Himself?

Is it something you have not done…

…something God is calling you to do but you are holding out?

What is it?

We all have these things in our lives.

And it matters. It matters a whole lot!

Because sin keeps us locked up in its cell.

It holds us captive.

It keeps us from being all that we can be.

Anger, hatred, greed keep us from loving God and our neighbor as ourselves.

Sin stunts our growth in Christ.

It wastes the precious time God has given us to do the good works or live the kinds of lives God created in advance for us to live.

There is nothing wrong with crying over our sin--like the boy in that story cried over his broken gift…

…It is an important piece of the puzzle.

For it brings us to repentance, which brings us to Christ—Who gives us new life and a fresh start.