WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:07.280 Well, friends, uh kind of a fun thing in this season to think about. 00:00:08.320 --> 00:00:14.000 And a lot of this stuff we can't ever know for sure, 2,000 years ago and stuff like that. 00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:20.000 But it's fun to think about and to uh put our heads on. 00:00:20.160 --> 00:00:24.160 I'm wondering, you've got Joseph, you've got Mary. 00:00:24.559 --> 00:00:31.120 They're taking this long trip, this trip that uh leads them to Bethlehem. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:46.159 And when they finish the trip, presumably, like any other group of folks that have taken a long, long journey, they're stopping at the Bethlehem Starbucks, and they're asking, right, you know, gonna get their order in. 00:00:46.240 --> 00:00:48.079 I'm sure they're famished. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:54.000 I'm sure they're eager for some sort of coffee, you know, something, right? 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:55.200 So I'm curious. 00:00:55.359 --> 00:00:58.560 This is what's fun to think about, because again, we can't ever know. 00:00:58.799 --> 00:01:01.280 What do you think their order would have been? 00:01:02.880 --> 00:01:04.640 Any any suggestions? 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:06.079 I put it on Facebook. 00:01:06.159 --> 00:01:06.560 I don't know. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:08.879 I didn't check this morning to see if y'all entered. 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:12.079 Although Wayne said he's got, yeah, yell it out, Wayne. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:13.760 Holy water fratay. 00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:15.040 There you go. 00:01:15.680 --> 00:01:17.200 Holy water frat pay. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:19.439 Did say it again? 00:01:19.760 --> 00:01:20.799 Frankincense latte. 00:01:21.120 --> 00:01:22.480 Frankincense latte. 00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:23.359 All right. 00:01:23.599 --> 00:01:25.439 Can you drink frankincense? 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:27.680 I don't know who's to know. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:35.840 Any other I I figure Joseph, he, you know, I got this idea, take a long trip. 00:01:36.560 --> 00:01:38.879 It's gotta be the Vente Americano. 00:01:39.040 --> 00:01:39.840 Am I right? 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:43.280 Or is that the one he had before he left? 00:01:43.519 --> 00:01:43.760 Right? 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:49.920 And now that he's in Bethlehem, he figures he's gonna go and get into the hotel and then, you know, get a good nap. 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:52.319 Don't want a lot of coffee at that point. 00:01:52.719 --> 00:01:56.560 Although, well, he didn't really get into the hotel, did he? 00:01:56.799 --> 00:01:58.079 He ends up in the barn. 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:00.799 Well, some of us know the story, I guess. 00:02:02.560 --> 00:02:13.599 But, you know, if he shows up at the inn and he's got a mocha frap, does the innkeeper maybe find a room somewhere to share? 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:19.120 You know, you know, sometimes you just gotta give a little gift and then you get special treatment. 00:02:19.439 --> 00:02:20.080 I don't know. 00:02:20.240 --> 00:02:22.800 I'm just joking around, I guess, at this point. 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:26.319 I've lost you a little bit, but that is okay. 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:27.840 It is Christmas. 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:38.400 And as you can tell by our scripture this morning, we're talking about repenting here at Christmas, as we often do at Christmas. 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:46.240 Uh like last week, there are harsher scriptures, and I'll remind you, uh, we're working in the lectionary, right? 00:02:46.319 --> 00:03:13.360 That schedule of scriptures that was developed by church leaders in the 60s and been a little bit adapted, but but again, it's a schedule of scriptures that are kind of handed to us and that forces us to ask how we end up with these kinds of scriptures leading us to Christmas, because they don't really fit the season in the way that the season's kind of understood anymore in these days, right? 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:31.840 And probably what was going on with those folks in the 60s was uh they're finding these passages talking about Jesus' coming that that help us to uh prepare ourselves maybe for Jesus coming a second time. 00:03:32.319 --> 00:03:38.400 And so they were trying to sort of spark us up a little bit by giving us these kinds of scriptures. 00:03:38.560 --> 00:03:43.360 Get ready for Christmas so that you're ready for Christ to actually be here. 00:03:43.680 --> 00:03:47.439 Um and the the idea to kind of sharpen up our response. 00:03:47.680 --> 00:04:00.080 But John the Baptist being the speaker here, another interesting model for faith for us, because he comes off pretty angry in this one, it seems to me. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:01.039 Right? 00:04:01.520 --> 00:04:10.240 These folks, especially those Pharisees and Sadducees, remember, those would have been the church leaders of the time, uh to put it simply. 00:04:10.479 --> 00:04:13.120 He seems to have a bone to pick with those guys. 00:04:13.360 --> 00:04:15.520 I think that is fair to say. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:25.680 But what's even more interesting is these Pharisees and these Sadducees, well, they're they're in line to get baptized, right? 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:34.399 They're not necessarily there to spy, which is what we we tend to be used to when Pharisees and Sadducees show up. 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:42.000 You know, they show up and they're looking and they're trying to make sure that nobody's saying anything against what the church has held to be true. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:47.600 You know, they're looking in to see if John the Baptist is saying something wrong or Jesus is saying something wrong. 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:51.040 In this case, they're in line to get baptized. 00:04:51.120 --> 00:04:55.839 They're they're, you know, in a sense, joining the movement, they're converting. 00:04:56.160 --> 00:05:01.199 So John's words to me come off a little bit rough, right? 00:05:01.600 --> 00:05:07.680 We might have thought he would say something like, Hey, I'm glad you're seeing the light. 00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.800 Good to have you here, Pharisees, Sadducees. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:12.560 Welcome to the movement. 00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:14.639 You know, Merry Christmas. 00:05:15.279 --> 00:05:15.759 Right? 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:18.079 You know, he's gonna say something pleasant. 00:05:18.240 --> 00:05:28.160 Instead, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruit worthy of repentance. 00:05:29.519 --> 00:05:31.759 Like rough, rough words. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:36.160 It makes me want to say, hey, hey, John, John, you won. 00:05:37.120 --> 00:05:39.600 They're here in line getting baptized. 00:05:39.680 --> 00:05:43.680 Why are you still angry with them? 00:05:45.600 --> 00:05:54.079 What we come to realize is that this baptism for John the Baptist means something just a little bit more. 00:05:55.759 --> 00:06:08.000 It's important as a statement of faith, a statement in confidence in in God's presence, in the importance of Christ's birth and presence amongst us. 00:06:09.519 --> 00:06:16.240 But if it's not supported by behaviors, well, that's a problem. 00:06:17.680 --> 00:06:17.839 Right? 00:06:18.000 --> 00:06:23.839 John the Baptist, he sees these church leaders are still behaving in the old way. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:30.160 And for JTB, that's for those of us who are close to him, John the Baptist. 00:06:30.399 --> 00:06:34.000 JTB, this is significant, right? 00:06:34.160 --> 00:06:36.560 These are stakes, these are high stakes. 00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:40.959 Jesus is coming, and not everybody's gonna meet the mark. 00:06:41.920 --> 00:06:44.000 So it's important to John the Baptist. 00:06:44.079 --> 00:06:53.519 So he wants to point out to these Pharisees, these Sadducees, you may not be doing enough just to show up here and get baptized. 00:06:54.639 --> 00:07:05.519 So it leaves us in this space at a season like Advent, wondering what we do, what we do with this passage, and more importantly, what do we do with it here during Advent? 00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:13.120 You know, our theme over Advent, as always with Advent, is you know, how do we wait? 00:07:13.279 --> 00:07:15.600 The whole world waiting. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:18.959 What do we do about this waiting? 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:20.639 How do we do them? 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:43.519 Last week, a first thing we recognize about how we might wait is that we begin to get ourselves ready to see the signs, to be in a position where we see the signs of when God is doing things, when we seize the signs of Christ's presence, love's presence amongst us. 00:07:43.680 --> 00:07:49.279 That's what we talked about a bit last week, getting ourselves ready so we see it when it comes. 00:07:49.439 --> 00:08:02.000 But a second thing to remember is that it's in a story that we have come to know all that Jesus wants us to know. 00:08:04.160 --> 00:08:08.160 And it's one thing to believe that story. 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:19.519 It's one thing to show up on the shore and to get baptized, but it's another thing to make that our story. 00:08:21.519 --> 00:08:28.800 As we wait, maybe we can ask ourselves this question what would it mean for me to make that story mine? 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:47.840 How might my outlook change on life if I were to believe in the presence of love amongst us, evidence of God's love for us in the physical life of Jesus, birth and life in Jesus? 00:08:48.080 --> 00:09:04.559 How might my actions change were I to take Jesus' modeling of a life more seriously, seriously enough that it shows my faith, shows my confidence. 00:09:04.799 --> 00:09:15.840 How might my life change were I to let myself be the story and not just to believe in it? 00:09:16.639 --> 00:09:36.960 I think our invitation as we walk this season of Advent, the season of waiting and preparing for Christ's living presence among us, is to remember that we are to look for those signs, that evidence of Christ's presence amongst us. 00:09:38.480 --> 00:09:45.200 But it is also that we are also a sign for others. 00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:46.799 Right? 00:09:47.039 --> 00:10:08.960 This life that Christ brought to us, this life that Christ modeled for us, it's a way to bless ourselves, to bless our own lives, to live that life that Jesus modeled for us, but it's also a way to become part of the story for others. 00:10:10.240 --> 00:10:25.039 When we live that out, when we live that reality out, that belief out, when we trust that it is true and that presence is real, we become part of the story ourselves for others. 00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:46.480 When our belief and our trust in that presence is backed with behaviors and actions, when we are patient, when we trust, when we have humility, when we have love, even in situations where love is difficult and challenging, we become the story. 00:10:46.639 --> 00:10:48.559 We become part of the story. 00:10:48.799 --> 00:10:53.120 We are the sign, we are the evidence for others. 00:10:54.080 --> 00:10:56.639 To me, that's the invitation from this passage. 00:10:56.720 --> 00:11:01.519 It's our invitation, this Advent, and it comes with a question. 00:11:02.559 --> 00:11:23.360 As we seek the transformation we hope for on Christmas Eve, that it will be meaningful, that it will be deep, that we will feel a deepening of our relationship with Christ, a deepening of our faith, a deepening of our faith, a deepening of our sense of peace inside ourselves and in our lives. 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:34.240 As we seek that transformation this Christmas Eve, the question becomes will that hope be fulfilled in us? 00:11:36.799 --> 00:11:43.039 And will that hope be fulfilled in others because of us? 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:48.480 That is the challenge we get from John the Baptist, JTB. 00:11:50.240 --> 00:11:52.960 That is the challenge we get from Christ. 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:57.679 That is the challenge God gives us in this season of Advent. 00:11:58.720 --> 00:11:59.360 Amen.