Advent challenge

May the words of my mouth and the thoughts of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight now and for evermore O Lord our strength and our redeemer. AMEN 

The readings from Isaiah (40:1-11) and Mark (1:1-8) today are my favourite for the advent period. The prophet Isaiah writing, ‘In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill will be made low, the uneven ground shall become level, and the rough places a plain…’

And then John the Baptist, hundreds of years later echoes that cry as he prepares the way for Jesus. And those words must surely be our advent call as well. Today Churches, here and everywhere, are given some very simple commands by Jesus – love one another, love God, and share the good news of a salvation won for all by Jesus. 

They’re not complicated commands, and advent is a good time to reflect on how well we are achieving those things. Some time ago I went to an event with the Archbishop of Walescalled an advent conversation – amongst the questions discussed were whether Wales today was actually looking for a Messiah of any sort, what the kingdom of God would actually be like, as well as what more we can do to make the kingdom more apparent here and now. 

There’s too much detail to think of the answers to those things completely, but we can think of some very brief thoughts along those lines. As we consider these readings, this cry from God to prepare the way of the Lord, what should we be doing ? 

Firstly we must think about the relationship of the Church, and us as individuals, with others – the biggest bench mark applied to Christianity today is not belief in Jesus, it’s not what he did on earth, what he taught, the fact that he rose from the dead, or anything like that - it is how we, as Christians behave day by day… 

Some time ago there was a list compiled as a joke of 10 things you never hear in Church. Amongst the list were things like, ‘It’s my turn to sit in the front pew this week’, ‘I was so enthralled by your sermon that I didn’t even notice it went on for 25 minutes’, ‘You can have my seat, I don’t mind sitting somewhere different this week’, ‘I do like it when we sing new hymns’, or ‘I really like it when new people start doing more things in the Church’.

These things are funny because when put down in a list like that we realise how petty they really are for people to bother about, and yet, I can assure you that time after time complaints are made such as ‘I didn’t like the hymns, someone sat in my seat, my seat was uncomfortable, it was a bit cold today in Church, the readings went on a bit long, why did we change the “whatever it was we changed”…’ The list can go on and on…

Perhaps our tendency to worry about the petty shows how easy it is to worship in this country today, and it reveals to people outside too often a desire, not to prepare the way of the Lord, but to make our lives more comfortable. I once watched a programme about Canon Andrew White. He is known as the Vicar of Baghdad. He is English and worked out there for more than 10 years. Currently he’s not in Iraq, but when he is there he deals with people of all faiths, he deals with politicians, and even either directly or indirectly, speaks to terrorists, all in the aim of bringing peace and reconciliation to the country. 

He has paid a high price for it – he is escorted everywhere by armed guards. He lives in a portakabin on a secure compound. His wife and children are left at home in England, and couldn’t be filmed, because of the risk of them being targeted. 

Our occasional pettiness was put into some sort of context when he talked of walking to Church one day during the Saddam Hussein government era, and he walked past 60 bodies hung up on the lampposts. It was a measure of how much pain and suffering he has seen that he was able to remark so simply, ‘It wasn’t easy to do Church after that…’

Preparing the way of the Lord must surely mean trying to make the kingdom more apparent in the world today – and that is what Canon Andrew White is doing in Baghdad – he is trying to show Jesus, who was and is a man of peace and love, a man of reconciliation and understanding, a man absolutely always committed to the needs of individuals… 

The kingdom of God is something books can be written about at great length, but most simply perhaps the kingdom of God is where all people are completely reconciled to each other and to God, and, as Christians that is surely what we must be seeking. 

So the call to prepare the way of the Lord is one that is still very real to us today, and it is a call to put aside pettiness, to end old arguments and bitterness, to put away divisions between Churches as well as individuals, and to show what Jesus is really like. 

And, you know, for all of the negatives in the Church today, there are so many morepositives that we can also point to, and which we must point to ! The fellowship, the support, both spiritually and practically, the enjoyment of worship… I’m pleased to say that many people don’t moan about things that are wrong with the Church, but talk about some of the positives. 

Throughout our Churches in this country so many good things happen, often quietly and behind the scenes… so many people enjoy fellowship and being part of a family that spans the world, so many are cared for, charities are supported, prayers offered, help given, and so on – these things go on week by week, and are done by lots of different people… 

We can’t brag about these things or we could rightly be accused of doing them for the wrong reasons, but we must show these things to people, because they are showing something of the kingdom of God. And we show these things by making them such a part of our everyday make up that people simply can’t miss them. A loving, caring, open and welcoming Church that is making a difference not just to its members but to many others as well, is an attractive Church… A church that people want to be part of – a church where people want to invite their friends... 

Too often churches are perceived as worrying more about the petty things, the buildings, the clothes we wear, the need to maintain things as we like them regardless of what others may think – we are again reminded and challenged by the words of William Temple, a former Archbishop of Canterbury who said that the church is the only organisation that exists for the benefit of its non-members ! 

And so we need to be excited about a gospel message of love and peace, of hope and salvation, of reconciliation, of joy…

When we hear in the gospel of John (1:41,42), of Andrew meeting Jesus, the first thing he did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah”. And he brought him to Jesus. The excitement of finding Jesus was infectious. Andrew had followed Jesus, but he could not keep this amazing news to himself, he wanted everyone to know about it.

Infectious Christianity is quite a popular title today, and it’s not a bad title – it’s about making Jesus so clear to others in the way we behave, that they cannot fail to be interested. 

During this advent season, we think of Jesus’ promised return to judge the world, we think of his birth, and we think of his life, a life we are called to follow, not in word alone, but in our deeds as well. 

However much we may try to complicate things, as I said earlier the message of Jesus is very simple – love God, love others, (whoever they may be !) and tell and show others they are loved as well by us, and even more importantly by a God who sent his Son to die for them… 

Every one of us today is called to be a sort of John the Baptist character – not necessarily dressed in clothing of camel’s hair, though I’m sure it may suit some ! Not eating locusts and wild honey, but thinking about what is really important in life, and how we tell others about it – every year we can say the same thing, that Jesus is the reason for Christmas, but many people will miss him completely. 

Let us pray and hope and work to ensure that this year, and every year, the number who miss him will be reduced, and that all will know him and his love for them and will share in his glorious kingdom of love and peace. AMEN