This is the Pastor’s Blog for the Service on Sunday June 14th. This week the message is titled “The TIME is NOW”. Included here is the primary Scripture of this message and the Pastor’s notes.
Scripture: Mark 1:1-8
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in the Prophets:
“Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before You.”
3 “The voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord;
Make His paths straight.’ ”
4 John came baptizing in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 5 Then all the land of Judea, and those from Jerusalem, went out to him and were all baptized by him in the Jordan River, confessing their sins.
6 Now John was clothed with camel’s hair and with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “There comes One after me who is mightier than I, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to stoop down and loose. 8 I indeed baptized you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
Pastor’s Message;
We’re going to have a little summer fun and join our kids in their VBS stories for the next few weeks. The VBS theme is called “Wild Life,” which uses the amazing diversity of wildlife to show us how God helps animals grow and thrive – which includes us humans, too.
Let’s stop and consider for just a few moments how crazy and wild it is that the Creator of everything – sun, moon, stars, oceans, rivers, forests, glass frogs, aardvarks, eagles, spiders and humans, just to name a few – not only loves creation, but wants to be in relationship with creation, and with humanity. Throughout scripture, we have stories of God reaching out to humanity over and over again – through prophets, messengers, dreams. To use the language in the VBS curriculum, it’s wild that God reaches out through others to help us tell our story, discover and use our gifts, to learn to be in relationship with God and with others.
We usually hear this story of John the Baptist during Advent, which has always felt awkward to me. During December we’re getting ready for the birth of the Christ Child and preparing our hearts and homes for that birth. But on the second Sunday of Advent here comes John, with his hellfire and brimstone, calling people to repent.
Hearing the story of John, and how John prepares the way for Jesus and calls us to repent is somehow suitable for summertime. It calls to mind old-timey camp meetings and revivals, with lemonade and ice cream afterward.
John is such an odd character with his itchy camel’s hair clothing and strange eating habits. As he baptizes repentant people who have come to the Jordan River, he tells them about one who is coming who will be greater, who will baptize them all with the Holy Spirit.
John’s role here is an important one: he is the preparer, the one who directs attention to what God is doing next in Jesus of Nazareth. John is in a long line of messengers who take note of how God is reaching out to humanity, and who direct people’s attention to what God is doing.
John urges the people to see that now is the time to repent – not some time later. There is an urgency here, but it’s not the urgency of chronological time. John is calling people away from linear time into God’s time – Kairos.
Consider the concerns of chronos – the time of the ticking clock. When you take a look at your watch or the time on your cellphone, what comes to mind? Upcoming appointments? Project deadlines? How much longer until lunch? The concerns of linear time tend to be list-driven, maybe tinged with anxiety or stress.
John is pointing to God’s time – Kairos – which is about something much deeper. The repentance that John calls us to is about metanoia, a Greek word that literally means “to change one’s mind.” This is about much more than a change of opinion. Metanoia is what John is directing the people’s attention to – a total turning from one way of existence to another; a transformation of heart, mind and spirit that attunes us to what God is up to. This is repentance that changes everything.
One of my teachers in seminary described repentance this way. Say you have a weekend planned with a friend in Houston. You pack up your car and head out. After about an hour, you realize you’re headed north toward Tulsa, not south toward Houston. What do you do? Do you pull over, cry over your mistake, blow your nose, berate yourself for your mistake and continue in the same direction? Or do you buck up, take the next exit and turn around? True repentance is an actual turning, a change in direction that produces a transforming change in mind and behavior.
Some of us have experienced big transformative moments in which God’s presence becomes so real, even if only for a few seconds. But there are often lots of little moments of repentance – when we catch glimmers that soften our hearts and brighten our minds.
Rachel Naomi Remen is a physician who works with other physicians who are dealing with terminal illness. She’s written a book called “Kitchen Table Wisdom” which is full of little stories from her practice over the years. In it, she says this:
“’Human being’ is more a verb than a noun. Each of us is unfinished, a work in progress. Perhaps it would be most accurate to add the word “yet” to all our assessments of ourselves and each other. [I have] not learned compassion . . . yet. I have not developed courage . . . yet. It changes everything. I have seen the “yet” become real even at the very edge of life. If life is process, all judgments are provisional. We can’t judge something until it is finished.”
At the River Jorden, John the Baptist calls us to repent, and to look for the One who is coming, who will baptize us with the Holy Spirit. This One – the rabbi from Galilee – will forgive over and over. He will offer mercy, compassion and grace so that we can become people of mercy, compassion, and grace who offer mercy, compassion and grace to others.
This is the message John the Baptist prepares us for and points us toward. God is reaching out again, asking us us to take note and change. May we have eyes to see, ears to hear, and hearts to understand.
Closing prayer
