Loving God, you remind us again today of your coming – not only in the past, but also in the present and in the future.  Enfold us today in your Spirit, that we might not only be aware of your presence and power, but also grow in our relationship with you; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    Throughout each of the readings that we heard this morning, the theme seems to be the same: God is coming, and there are preparations that need to be made.  It makes me think of those roadside signs that you see in some places that say, “Prepare to meet your God!”  Yet, do we experience the same urgency today as people did in Isaiah’s time, or in John the Baptist’s time, or in Peter’s time?  The message was the same for each of them, hundreds of years apart.  However, before your eyes start to glaze over thinking that all of this is just history, consider that we also might want to put things right before the coming of our God.

    In Isaiah’s day, God was coming to rescue the people of Israel from their exile in Babylon.  In John the Baptist’s day, God was coming in the person of Jesus of Nazareth to save his people from their sins.  In Peter’s latter days, Jesus was going to come again, bringing about the final judgment as well as a new heavens and a new earth.  In each case, the people were admonished to prepare for the coming of their God.  And so, how does one prepare for the coming of the Lord?

    The number one thing that shows up in today’s Scripture readings is that you’ve got to deal with sin and get rid of it.  Forgiveness is announced through Isaiah, and through the Psalm and through John the Baptist.  In each case, it is God who acts in order to forgive, and then righteousness and holiness and godliness follow.  The Psalm proclaims, “Righteousness shall go before the Lord and shall prepare for God a pathway” (Ps. 85:13).

    And so, to prepare for God’s coming, do what is right.  Make sure that those who are downtrodden and outcast and the lowest of the low get lifted up, and make sure that those who are prideful and self-sufficient and arrogant get brought down.  Make sure that justice is done, and act with honesty and integrity.  Keep yourselves holy, and don’t do anything that would get in the way of your relationship with God.  Act with patience and love and generosity.  Worship God with reverence and awe.

    So... how are you doing with your preparations?  Are you focused on salvation and purity without letting anything else get in the way?  Are you living a holy and righteous life that rejects all sin?  Are you able to do so?  (Not on your own)

    The technical term for many of the things that I have just mentioned is the Law.  The Law makes us aware of our frailties and failings.  The Law tells us that we are sinful human beings in the presence of a holy God.  The Law continually makes us feel guilty because we are not living as the people whom we ought to be.

    However, in Jesus Christ, the Law is superceded by the Gospel, which means “good news.”  And today, we heard the very beginning of the Gospel: “The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (Mk. 1:1).  And so, we need to move into another phase of preparing to meet our God.

    We already mentioned removing sin, and God’s forgiveness, and righteous and holy living as the kind of preparations that are throughout the Old Testament and even into the New.  However, today’s gospel also focuses on baptism.  In the case of John the Baptist, it was “a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mk. 1:4).  This was how John encouraged the people to get ready to meet Jesus, who would be their Saviour.  It was also (as we discover later in the New Testament) different from Christian baptism (cf. Acts 19:1-7).

    And so, here’s a question to consider: Do any of you know what the word “baptism” actually means? ... It’s one of those English words that comes from the Greek, as baptizo is the Greek verb, “to baptize.”  However, when you look up baptizo and the other related Greek words, it gets interesting.  The literal meaning of baptizo is to dip repeatedly, or to submerge, or to immerse in water.  Baptismos, a related word, means a washing or purification effected by means of water.

    And so, in the case of John the Baptist, baptism means going into the Jordan river, acknowledging your own sinfulness, and being immersed in the water and purified.  However, consider then what it means when John announces that the one to come after him will baptize with the Holy Spirit!  Can you imagine being immersed in the Holy Spirit?  Can you imagine being dipped repeatedly in the Holy Spirit?  Can you imagine the Holy Spirit, not only within us but all around us?

    The good news is that this is exactly what is available to us as those who have been baptized into Christ.  God has announced to us that we are forgiven.  God has adopted us through water and the Word.  God has poured out the Holy Spirit upon us.  In doing this, God has put us into a right relationship with himself through Jesus Christ, and ever after, we are free to live our lives out of that relationship with God.

    The trick is for us to actually learn how to nurture that relationship.  God is here, ready to be in partnership with us, but are we nurturing our spiritual lives and thus responding to that relationship?  Our national bishop has actually been writing about this for quite some time now, and has boiled down our spiritual lives into seven words: Pray, read, worship, study, serve, give, tell.

    To expand on that just a little bit: Pray.  Read the Scriptures.  Worship – don’t just go to church, but worship!  Study the Bible and the Christian faith.  Serve others, especially those in need.  Give generously to God’s work.  And tell others about the love of Jesus.  All of these things are essential parts of living in a right relationship with God.

    Now, as you may have discovered, there will still be times even within that relationship when we slip into sin.  For those who believe in Jesus, it is never intentionally, but it can still happen.  We are, after all, both saints and sinners.  And so, when sin does creep in (and it will), we confess it, turn in a new direction and receive God’s forgiveness.  Then, we continue to grow in our relationship with God by the power of the Holy Spirit.

    As for being prepared to meet our God, when we are living out of a right relationship with God, we are always prepared and have nothing to fear.  After all, it is God who has initiated this relationship with us – first through Jesus Christ, and then through the waters of baptism.  It is also God who has immersed us in the Holy Spirit, who continues to give life in all its fulness until the day of Jesus Christ.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Advent 2 (B)                                    Mark 1:1-8
December 4, 2011                                Isaiah 40:1-11
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church                        Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
Pastor Lynne Hutchison                            2 Peter 3:8-15a

© 2011 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved