Luke 3:7-18
What Should We Do? – Ethical U-Turns
James Sledge December
13, 2015 – Advent 3
Who
invited John the Baptist to the Christmas party? The big day is less than two
weeks away. If your house isn’t yet decorated, what are you waiting for? Trees
are up, presents are already wrapped and under many. Most everyone is starting
to get into the Christmas spirit. Congregations are starting to sing Christmas
carols. And into the midst of the joy and cheer of the season comes John the
Baptist.
I
once tried to find a Christmas featuring John. I couldn’t, but leave it to the
internet to correct such an omission. This one says, “Merry Christmas, you
brood of vipers! Now repent!”
Of
course Advent always has a big dose of John. We may be in a Christmas spirit,
thinking about angels, a baby, and shepherds, but John screams, "You
brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits
worthy of repentance.” He speaks of an ax poised at the tree, of
judgment and unquenchable fire.
Yet
in our Scripture reading, people have sought out John. They seem to think he
has good news in the midst of their troubled world. They do not run off when he
calls them snakes and demands fruits of repentance. They simply ask, “What
then should we do?”
What
should we do? The question has been asked countless times. Three years ago, in
my first December as pastor here, the Sandy Hook school shootings occurred just
days before the third Sunday in Advent. Questions about what to do were
everywhere. But little was done.
I
had several church members ask me the question again right after the Charleston
church shootings this year. A few suggestions came up, some online resources
were shared, but then…
Charleston
seems a long time ago. Cruel terror attacks have continued regularly around the
world without us much noticing, but the Paris attacks jarred us, in the middle
of a modern, Western democracy. Then came the Planned Parenthood shooting and then
San Bernardino. And the question echoes over and over. What should we do?
For
many Christians, our first response it to pray. That is certainly appropriate.
To pray, to lift up those in San Bernardino or Paris or Beirut or Charleston; to
hold them in the only embrace we can offer at that moment, is the closest thing
to a hug we can give. Progressive Christians sometimes underestimate or even
dismiss the power of prayer. Still, “thoughts and prayers” can feel like
something to do without doing anything.
A
colleague posted this on her Facebook page the day after the San Bernardino
shootings.
Prayers
are ringing hollow. Arguments on how to solve what seems to be an
"American" problem go round and round with nothing changing. Many of
us are weary, numb, and feel helpless to put a stop the madness. I'm afraid we
have simply rolled over and accepted that murder is a given part of our
national landscape. Oh well. We aren't the only culture ever to have done so.
Power and violence are not the same thing, but too often they go hand in hand.
Collective outrage doesn't seem to be doing a damn thing!
Blame whoever or whatever you want to blame. What
scares me the most is that it really doesn't matter. Pray. Get angry. Write a
letter. Send a check. It won't really matter until... until what? That's what
I'd like to know.[1]
The
troubles of John the Baptist’s day were much different from ours, but John also
lived in troubled times. That is why people went out into the wilderness to see
this strange man. They hoped he had some sort of answers. “What then should we do?”
Curiously,
John does not spell out specific plans to fix the problems of his day. Instead
he gives answers tailored to those who ask, giving each a way to bear fruits
worthy of repentance, to make what one writer calls “an ethical U-turn.” [2]
Both
John and Jesus call, but in the nearly 2000 years since, the word “repent” has
picked up some unsavory religious connotations. Yet at its core the word is
about making a turn. It means changing your mind, doing things differently,
going in a new direction. And the U-turn John calls people to make says, “Do
whatever you can to enact justice and fairness and kindness and mercy. Organize
your life around concern for the other.”
“Share
your coat or food,” says John. “Don’t abuse your power.” But will sharing my
coat or refusing to use privilege to take advantage of others eliminate gun
violence or end terror? Perhaps not, but these are Christian alternatives to the
angry, fearful responses of those who issue blanket indictments of Islam or urge
people to have guns cocked and ready.
There
is much in our world that is scary and frightening. The world has more than its
share of darkness, and it can be tempting to let fear dictate our lives. But
John’s call for an ethical U-turn, and Jesus’ call to follow him, are about
responding to a hurting and broken world as God does, with love and mercy and
kindness.
That
is what our church Session is trying to do in its statement rejecting
fearmongering and condemning persecution and discrimination. That’s why the
Session invites you to join together for a picture following worship under the
banner, “We Choose Welcome.” These responses may not fix our world’s problems,
but any time our concern for those who are vulnerable motivates us to work
against violence, terror, or hate, we are doing God’s work.
As
Christians, we are called to such work. John the Baptist says that the Christ
who comes will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire to empower his followers
for ministry. And we have received that baptism. Diane alludes to that when she
ends her sermons with an ascription of praise taken from Ephesians that says in
part, Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish
abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine…
Far
too often the American church has forgotten that the power of the Spirit is
with us when we answer Christ’s call. When we forget, we cease to be the body
of Christ. We’re nice people who may or may not believe certain things, but we
are not the Spirit filled body of Christ that can risk itself for the sake of
the other, for the sake of the world, for the sake of God’s new day.
But when we hear John call to repent, to
make ethical U-turns and bear fruit that proclaims God’s new day, something
happens. When, in the face of the violence, terror, and hate of our broken
world, we cry out to John and Jesus, “What then should we do?” we may just
open the door for the Spirit to transform us.
____________________________________________________________________________
Some
of you are likely familiar with this quote from Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. He was speaking
of how to help children deal with tragedy and said, "When I was a boy and
I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the
helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially
in times of ‘disaster,’ I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted
by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in
this world." [3]
I think John the Baptist says that part
of our getting ready in Advent is to take Mr. Roger’s advice one step further.
Not only should we look for the helpers and the caring people, we should be
them. We must be them.
___________________________________________________________________________
What then should we do? What is your
answer to that question? More importantly, what is our answer together as a
congregation, as a community of faith, as the body of Christ? How are we called
to bear fruit that helps turn the world toward the joy and hope of God that we
celebrate at Christmas?
Now to the one who by the power at work within us is
able to accomplish abundantly far more than we can ask or imagine, to God be
glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.
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