The Second Sunday of Advent - December 7, 2025

Summary

Mother Suzanne reflects on the second Sunday of Advent and the candle of peace, acknowledging how difficult it can be to slow down during this busy season. She focuses on John the Baptist's call to "bear fruits worthy of repentance," explaining that this means doing what we're already doing in our daily lives, but doing it better - with more love, honesty, and service to others. Through our ordinary actions empowered by the waters of baptism, we participate in God's work of cosmic renewal and help announce the good news to the world.

THE GOSPEL                                                                                                                                              Matthew 3:1-12

In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: 
 ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, 
 make his paths straight.’”

Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. Then the people of Jerusalem and all Judea were going out to him, and all the region along the Jordan, and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.

But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit worthy of repentance. Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

“I baptize you with water for repentance, but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

Transcript

Mother Suzanne:

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace. In the name of the triune, Godfather, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. Please be seated. What has your waiting been like this week? Have you given any thoughts to what God might be inviting you into this advent? Perhaps it's simply more of an awareness of slowing down, or maybe you've made a deliberate decision to make this season more meaningful by choosing a practice which makes you slow down and wait and think and contemplate about the coming of our Savior's birth. Or as I said last week, this time can be like a mini lent. Have you decided to give something up?

Or perhaps it hasn't quite settled in yet? Maybe you are already feeling like you don't have enough hours in the day to get everything done for Christmas. I know there are those in this room who feel that way. I certainly do. And this, if I am truthful, is how my first week of advent was. I wish I could stand before you and say my first week was, well, slow, thoughtful and contemplative, but it was the exact opposite. In fact, on Friday night, I fell asleep watching Rudolph, my favorite, because I was exhausted. Show of hands. How many in this space are with your priest in that? Okay. There's a lot of us who are that way.

So on this second Sunday of Advent, guess what candle we get to light or that is lit already? It is the candle of peace. Peace. And if anything, my hope is that we would all be able to invite a little bit more peace into our lives this week. But for those who have a love for liturgy and want to geek out just a little bit, every second Sunday in Advent is also where we meet. John the Baptist. He is the locust and wild honey eating. My acolyte said, "Ew," when they heard that this morning when I told them that. He also liked to wear camel hair clothing. This is our prophet, John the Baptist, who makes an appearance every second Sunday in Advent. He is the forerunner. He is the proclaimer of the one who is coming. And he is also the one who prepares us and sits with us in this waiting in our time of preparation.

So John not only announces that there is one more powerful than he that is coming, he also has a unique manner in which he shares this good new good news because to all gathered he says this, "Bear good fruits worthy of repentance." Okay, that's great, Mother Suzanne. What does that mean for me? Well, in other words, let us all do good. John doesn't tell the crowd to try and do grand and mighty things, but he does stress that in one's daily life, and this is where this passage makes sense for us now. In our daily life, in the space and corner of the world we inhabit, do what you've been doing, but do it better.

I don't mean to add more things to your life, but this is what our prophet is saying. Whatever it is in your life, do it more honestly. Do it as an act of service to others. Do it with love in your heart. Share what you have. Be honest and above board in your work. Be faithful to whatever tasks is yours to perform in your life. Because in so many ways, John is foretelling exactly the ways and manners of Jesus. And if we are being formed as disciples, we have to do as he did. John is the one who has come and shed light on many of the things Jesus will also embody. He will teach those things to us even before Jesus goes about his tasks and his ministry.

But Jesus, he also lived a very ordinary life. He was extraordinary, but man, he was really ordinary too. Just like you, just like me. He worked, he taught, he ate, he slept, he was human. And in this moment, I think John speaks to our humanity and reminds us that it is only through our humanity are we able to help and meet the needs of others. John knew that Jesus was coming to change the whole world, to turn things upside down and inside out and to offer that which we could never do or earn on our own.

So that is why John doesn't ask the crowd to change the world on their own. He knew Jesus was coming to do that. What John asks of the crowd and which filters down to this morning is do what you have been doing all along. Just do it better. Knowing that when we all do it just a little bit better, with a little bit more love and care in our hearts, we take part in the grander work of cosmic renewal, that which is much bigger and more profound than what we could ever possibly hope for or even imagine we get to step into just because we are intentional about the way we approach things and choose to take part in them.

And in this way, we are perpetually living in a season of Advent, always in a state of preparing, hoping and longing. So often we don't realize that everything we do reflects the God we serve and love. What we do every day at work, at school, at home, cooking dinner for our family, cleaning the house, all those mundane activities that take so much time, all of it matters. It's profoundly spiritual and profoundly important. John preached and Jesus showed that the waters of baptism change us, our hearts, our minds, and spirits. It changes our perspective and we realize we get to participate in making this world better because we are always in the process of imaging our lives after the one who our hearts make room for.

We don't have to set out to change the world in big and mighty ways. Some of us get to do that. Most of us live simple lives, but it is the spirit which empowers us to do what God has asked us to do. It is the same spirit that empowered John, that was with Jesus at his baptism, and it is the same spirit which is in us that allows us to do that which God has given us to do. That is why what we do matters. Everything we say matters because we have been changed by the waters of baptism so that everything can make a difference, so we can participate in the good news of changing our world, one person, one life at a time, doing those things that no one expects because we can't help but want to do it because we have been so changed.

What John is preparing for us to do in this world is he wants it to be called to order. We are part of doing this because we are now the ones to announce the good news. And so whatever little corner of the world may your life, may your words reflect this good news. And so make it better. Love what you have been given a bit more purely. And when you know you haven't done that, repent. Turn around. Say you're sorry. I'm sorry. I really am. I messed up and I'll try to do better. We can trust that the waters of baptism are what allow us to do this, to do things we don't think we can do, but we can do it faithfully and with virtue in our heart because we don't really have another choice, do we?

Because we get to be a part of God renewing our world, of reconciling us to himself. And this is good news. And every way we can do this, every way we can say this, we should with earnestness in our hearts. So again, do those things that no one expects. Pray for your enemy. Love those who are hard to love. Love them. Make amends. Ask God to change your heart if there is bitterness inside of it. Ask him. Serve in a way that leaves others saying, "Wow, my life is better because you're in it. " Open up space and slow the heck down this week. Slow down. John reminds us, bear fruits worthy of repentance. Dear people of grace, learn to love that which God loves. And so what he loves becomes your pleasures, your pursuit. This is good news. And thanks be to God for the courage of our friend, John the Baptist.

Amen.