Pastor Darren: Well, friends, uh kind of a fun thing in this season to think about.
Pastor Darren: And a lot of this stuff we can't ever know for sure, 2,000 years ago and stuff like that.
Pastor Darren: But it's fun to think about and to uh put our heads on.
Pastor Darren: I'm wondering, you've got Joseph, you've got Mary.
Pastor Darren: They're taking this long trip, this trip that uh leads them to Bethlehem.
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: I'm sure they're famished.
Pastor Darren: I'm sure they're eager for some sort of coffee, you know, something, right?
Pastor Darren: So I'm curious.
Pastor Darren: This is what's fun to think about, because again, we can't ever know.
Pastor Darren: What do you think their order would have been?
Pastor Darren: Any any suggestions?
Pastor Darren: I put it on Facebook.
Pastor Darren: I don't know.
Pastor Darren: I didn't check this morning to see if y'all entered.
Pastor Darren: Although Wayne said he's got, yeah, yell it out, Wayne.
unknown: Holy water fratay.
Pastor Darren: There you go.
Pastor Darren: Holy water frat pay.
Pastor Darren: Did say it again?
unknown: Frankincense latte.
Pastor Darren: Frankincense latte.
Pastor Darren: All right.
Pastor Darren: Can you drink frankincense?
Pastor Darren: I don't know who's to know.
Pastor Darren: Any other I I figure Joseph, he, you know, I got this idea, take a long trip.
Pastor Darren: It's gotta be the Vente Americano.
Pastor Darren: Am I right?
Pastor Darren: Or is that the one he had before he left?
Pastor Darren: Right?
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: Don't want a lot of coffee at that point.
Pastor Darren: Although, well, he didn't really get into the hotel, did he?
Pastor Darren: He ends up in the barn.
Pastor Darren: Well, some of us know the story, I guess.
Pastor Darren: 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?
Pastor Darren: You know, you know, sometimes you just gotta give a little gift and then you get special treatment.
Pastor Darren: I don't know.
Pastor Darren: I'm just joking around, I guess, at this point.
Pastor Darren: I've lost you a little bit, but that is okay.
Pastor Darren: It is Christmas.
Pastor Darren: And as you can tell by our scripture this morning, we're talking about repenting here at Christmas, as we often do at Christmas.
Pastor Darren: Uh like last week, there are harsher scriptures, and I'll remind you, uh, we're working in the lectionary, right?
Pastor Darren: 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?
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: And so they were trying to sort of spark us up a little bit by giving us these kinds of scriptures.
Pastor Darren: Get ready for Christmas so that you're ready for Christ to actually be here.
Pastor Darren: Um and the the idea to kind of sharpen up our response.
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: Right?
Pastor Darren: These folks, especially those Pharisees and Sadducees, remember, those would have been the church leaders of the time, uh to put it simply.
Pastor Darren: He seems to have a bone to pick with those guys.
Pastor Darren: I think that is fair to say.
Pastor Darren: But what's even more interesting is these Pharisees and these Sadducees, well, they're they're in line to get baptized, right?
Pastor Darren: They're not necessarily there to spy, which is what we we tend to be used to when Pharisees and Sadducees show up.
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: You know, they're looking in to see if John the Baptist is saying something wrong or Jesus is saying something wrong.
Pastor Darren: In this case, they're in line to get baptized.
Pastor Darren: They're they're, you know, in a sense, joining the movement, they're converting.
Pastor Darren: So John's words to me come off a little bit rough, right?
Pastor Darren: We might have thought he would say something like, Hey, I'm glad you're seeing the light.
Pastor Darren: Good to have you here, Pharisees, Sadducees.
Pastor Darren: Welcome to the movement.
Pastor Darren: You know, Merry Christmas.
Pastor Darren: Right?
Pastor Darren: You know, he's gonna say something pleasant.
Pastor Darren: Instead, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come, bear fruit worthy of repentance.
Pastor Darren: Like rough, rough words.
Pastor Darren: It makes me want to say, hey, hey, John, John, you won.
Pastor Darren: They're here in line getting baptized.
Pastor Darren: Why are you still angry with them?
Pastor Darren: What we come to realize is that this baptism for John the Baptist means something just a little bit more.
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: But if it's not supported by behaviors, well, that's a problem.
unknown: Right?
Pastor Darren: John the Baptist, he sees these church leaders are still behaving in the old way.
Pastor Darren: And for JTB, that's for those of us who are close to him, John the Baptist.
Pastor Darren: JTB, this is significant, right?
Pastor Darren: These are stakes, these are high stakes.
Pastor Darren: Jesus is coming, and not everybody's gonna meet the mark.
Pastor Darren: So it's important to John the Baptist.
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: 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?
Pastor Darren: You know, our theme over Advent, as always with Advent, is you know, how do we wait?
Pastor Darren: The whole world waiting.
Pastor Darren: What do we do about this waiting?
Pastor Darren: How do we do them?
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: That's what we talked about a bit last week, getting ourselves ready so we see it when it comes.
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: And it's one thing to believe that story.
Pastor Darren: It's one thing to show up on the shore and to get baptized, but it's another thing to make that our story.
Pastor Darren: As we wait, maybe we can ask ourselves this question what would it mean for me to make that story mine?
Pastor Darren: 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?
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: How might my life change were I to let myself be the story and not just to believe in it?
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: But it is also that we are also a sign for others.
Pastor Darren: Right?
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: We become part of the story.
Pastor Darren: We are the sign, we are the evidence for others.
Pastor Darren: To me, that's the invitation from this passage.
Pastor Darren: It's our invitation, this Advent, and it comes with a question.
Pastor Darren: 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.
Pastor Darren: As we seek that transformation this Christmas Eve, the question becomes will that hope be fulfilled in us?
Pastor Darren: And will that hope be fulfilled in others because of us?
Pastor Darren: That is the challenge we get from John the Baptist, JTB.
Pastor Darren: That is the challenge we get from Christ.
Pastor Darren: That is the challenge God gives us in this season of Advent.
Pastor Darren: Amen.