We're in the Season of Advent and the message is: "Repent and sin no more."Each year at this time, a popular preacher of the twenties and thirties trotted out his favorite "Advent joke":A house painter was widely suspected of cheating his customers by diluting his paint. In spite of hisreputation, he managed to get a job painting a Church steeple. True to form, he began painting thesteeple with watered down paint. But, as he was just about finished with the job, a sudden heavyrainstorm washed away his work. And he heard a voice from above saying, "REPAINT AND THINNO MORE!"
Having tortured his congregation with that groaner, that same old preacher would then trot out his favorite Advent story: A woman boarded a train for the first time in her life. She walked up and down the aisle several times, trying to decide which of the many empty seats to occupy. After finally selecting one, she fussed over her baggage until she was satisfied that it was placed exactly right in the rack overhead. She began fumbling with the window to be sure that exactly the right amount of air would flow in. She pulled the window shade up and down until she was satisfied that the light was exactly right. She tinkered with the linen cloth on the head-rest until it was positioned exactly in the middle of the seat. Finally, after taking off her hat and agonizing over the exact spot to place it so that it wouldn't get crushed, the conductor announced that the train was pulling into her destination. And as she got off the train, she said to herself, "If I had know the trip was so short, I wouldn't have spent the whole time fussing over such trivial details."
A simple story, but a good one for today because it neatly sums up the Advent Message. "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," says John the Baptist in today's Gospel. John was telling his followers to turn their lives around, to stop fussing over trivial things, to start paying strict attention to the most important thing in life: Pay attention now! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The Messiah has come. The Savior is in our midst. Pay attention now! He has come to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He has come to change your way of living. He has come to introduce you to a whole new way of life. He has come to show you the way toward becoming the uniquely beautiful person God made you to be.
At the dinner table, a father asked his junior high school son, "How was school today?" "It was awful," the son replied. "The computer broke down and we all had to think."
The Advent Message is directing us to turn off the computers, turn off the television, tune out the trivia, and program some serious quiet-time in which to think about what changes we need to make in our lifestyle in order to focus on what is really important.
"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." More easily said than done, it seems. We compare the ideal with the reality and we see a gap: We envision one thing, and we do another. We want the good, and we do the bad. We speak of love, and we go on hating. Where there is light, we put darkness. Where there is joy, we sow sorrow. How disastrous the building of the earthly city!
Having said that, we must admit that what God proposes to us is the simplest thing we can imagine:
While waiting for the Kingdom, build the Kingdom; While waiting for justice and peace, practice justice and peace; You want a paradise of love? -- make your earthly home a paradise. You want to be forgiven? -- Forgive!
Down through the Ages, men and women have dropped reverently to their knees when confronted with the awesome Christmas reality. They lived in awe and wonder at the beauty of the Mystery: the power and the glory of our God who became one of us to tell us how much He loves us. And their lives never were the same again. The beauty and the wonder of this vision kept them in a 24-hour-a-day state of awe and wonder. In other words, God was at the center of their lives. We call them "saints"!
We must "Be constantly on the watch!", Jesus tells us. It will profit us nothing to taste everything else life can offer if we miss our God-given glimpse of that vision. There is a place in our lives for TV, job, money, sex, leisure, food, fashions and all the rest. But that place is not at the center of our lives. We'll miss our glimpse of what life is really all about if we allow these things to crowd God out of the center.
We cannot serve two masters. We cannot be in awe of money and things and at the same time be able to experience the wonder of God's infinite love for us. Jesus has made it possible for you to know yourself and to know all others in a new way. Jesus has made it possible for you to know how extravagantly beautiful and important you are, and all your brothers and sisters too. Get in touch with this Reality. A whole new way of life is now open to you who are in touch with Jesus, the Messiah, the Pearl of Great Price, the Treasure you have been groping and longing and searching for. Get in touch with this Reality and see all the usual things in a miraculous new light -- in their true light. Get in touch with this Reality and discover that every child of God is extravagantly beautiful and extravagantly important. Get in touch with this Reality and behold the truth of Christ's assurance that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of the Father in heaven. Get in touch with this Reality and discover, perhaps, that... You had slept and dreamed that life was duty, But waked to find that life was beauty!
"The reason I came into the world is to testify to the Truth," Jesus said. We are in this world to testify to the Truth. On the question of what is wrong with Modern Society, our testimony is needed. On the great political and social questions of the times our testimony is needed. On questions of family relationships and work relationships, our testimony is needed. Jesus spoke to us decisively on all these matters when He said: "This is My command, that you love one another as I have loved you!"
Make that one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn! Love one another with a Godlike love --relentlessly...faithfully... magnanimously...forgivingly! Think about it now! There's no time to lose! Now is the time to repent -- the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
A simple story, but a good one for today because it neatly sums up the Advent Message. "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand," says John the Baptist in today's Gospel. John was telling his followers to turn their lives around, to stop fussing over trivial things, to start paying strict attention to the most important thing in life: Pay attention now! The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. The Messiah has come. The Savior is in our midst. Pay attention now! He has come to baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. He has come to change your way of living. He has come to introduce you to a whole new way of life. He has come to show you the way toward becoming the uniquely beautiful person God made you to be.
At the dinner table, a father asked his junior high school son, "How was school today?" "It was awful," the son replied. "The computer broke down and we all had to think."
The Advent Message is directing us to turn off the computers, turn off the television, tune out the trivia, and program some serious quiet-time in which to think about what changes we need to make in our lifestyle in order to focus on what is really important.
"Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." More easily said than done, it seems. We compare the ideal with the reality and we see a gap: We envision one thing, and we do another. We want the good, and we do the bad. We speak of love, and we go on hating. Where there is light, we put darkness. Where there is joy, we sow sorrow. How disastrous the building of the earthly city!
Having said that, we must admit that what God proposes to us is the simplest thing we can imagine:
While waiting for the Kingdom, build the Kingdom; While waiting for justice and peace, practice justice and peace; You want a paradise of love? -- make your earthly home a paradise. You want to be forgiven? -- Forgive!
Down through the Ages, men and women have dropped reverently to their knees when confronted with the awesome Christmas reality. They lived in awe and wonder at the beauty of the Mystery: the power and the glory of our God who became one of us to tell us how much He loves us. And their lives never were the same again. The beauty and the wonder of this vision kept them in a 24-hour-a-day state of awe and wonder. In other words, God was at the center of their lives. We call them "saints"!
We must "Be constantly on the watch!", Jesus tells us. It will profit us nothing to taste everything else life can offer if we miss our God-given glimpse of that vision. There is a place in our lives for TV, job, money, sex, leisure, food, fashions and all the rest. But that place is not at the center of our lives. We'll miss our glimpse of what life is really all about if we allow these things to crowd God out of the center.
We cannot serve two masters. We cannot be in awe of money and things and at the same time be able to experience the wonder of God's infinite love for us. Jesus has made it possible for you to know yourself and to know all others in a new way. Jesus has made it possible for you to know how extravagantly beautiful and important you are, and all your brothers and sisters too. Get in touch with this Reality. A whole new way of life is now open to you who are in touch with Jesus, the Messiah, the Pearl of Great Price, the Treasure you have been groping and longing and searching for. Get in touch with this Reality and see all the usual things in a miraculous new light -- in their true light. Get in touch with this Reality and discover that every child of God is extravagantly beautiful and extravagantly important. Get in touch with this Reality and behold the truth of Christ's assurance that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without the knowledge of the Father in heaven. Get in touch with this Reality and discover, perhaps, that... You had slept and dreamed that life was duty, But waked to find that life was beauty!
"The reason I came into the world is to testify to the Truth," Jesus said. We are in this world to testify to the Truth. On the question of what is wrong with Modern Society, our testimony is needed. On the great political and social questions of the times our testimony is needed. On questions of family relationships and work relationships, our testimony is needed. Jesus spoke to us decisively on all these matters when He said: "This is My command, that you love one another as I have loved you!"
Make that one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn! Love one another with a Godlike love --relentlessly...faithfully... magnanimously...forgivingly! Think about it now! There's no time to lose! Now is the time to repent -- the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.
