December 5, 2004 - Second Sunday of Advent - Father Fred Myers

FIRST READING: Isaiah 11: 12
PSALM: 72: 1-7; 18-19
SECOND READING: Romans 15: 4-13
GOSPEL: Matthew 3: 1-12

And so, in this Advent season, we light one more candle to bring more light into our understanding of what has transpired and what will transpire - our Lord Jesus will come.

The first candle signifies, for me, the candle of hope - the message of hope. It is our hope and our vision of what God has promised us through the Prophets, and we can hold that vision before us and walk in that knowledge that God holds this hope before us - the hope of peace, the hope of justice, the hope of mercy.

Today, we light the second candle, and I like to think of this candle as the candle of peace. We hear the words of Isaiah, the Prophet, and we hear the words of John the Baptist, the Prophet, coming into the land where they lived and talking to the people whom they know and whom they associate with - talking with those people and saying, "Prepare the Way! Prepare the Way!" God is going to come into His world. God is going to come into the world to bring peace, to bring justice, to bring mercy. Isaiah says that even the lion and the lamb will lie down together - it will be that kind of peace. There will be no more war. There will be no fear. You don't have to be afraid. God's peace and God's love is there and will reign throughout the world. John the Baptist comes into the Jewish community at the time of Jesus and says, "Prepare yourselves! Prepare yourselves! One is coming who is greater than I - I can't even untie His shoes, He is so great - and He is bringing the promise of God. He is bringing the promise of peace".

Now, it is interesting that John uses a word that we often associate with something negative. He uses the word, repent - repent - and whenever we hear that word, that is always connected somehow with confession and having to do something. But I like to think of the way that John uses it as a positive thing. Repent - repent can mean turn away from, but, more especially, it can mean turn toward. Turn toward. After all, if I turn toward the altar, I turn away from you, right? And, if I turn toward you, I turn away from the altar. So, it is all of the same coin. Turning toward.

One of the commentaries I read on today's lesson likened what John the Baptist was doing to cleaning house - cleaning our houses, our spiritual houses. He said it was like when you are expecting company, and many of us will be expecting company during this season. When you are expecting company, you clean up the house a little bit, don't you? Well, if you are like me, you do it a lot - everything gets cleaned, and all the corners get dusted at that time. At other times, maybe not, but, at this time, when I have people coming, the corners get dusted. And John is calling the people to dust the corners of their houses. Look at where you are. Look at where you are. What is going on with you? Where is all that anger that is in you coming from? Where is all that hate and all that greed coming from? And I could go right down the list of the seven sins - all that pride - where is it coming from? Advent is a time when we prepare for the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ - the King of Kings, the one who gave His life that we might have life eternal. And this is the time in our lives, as we light the candles of Advent, as we look at that vision that is ahead of us - that world of peace, that world of mercy, that world of hope - that we can give thanks to God and look within our own houses, within our own selves.

How can I be positive? How can I repent positively? I can remember those people with whom I have had disagreements and give them a call and say, "You know, we have been separated for some time now, and there is something that is going on between us. Maybe we have even forgotten what the something was. I just wanted to call and say hello. I just wanted you to know I am thinking about you." Or, at this time of year, we usually send out Christmas cards, so let's do it more thoughtfully. Think of those people to whom we are sending the Christmas cards and maybe write them a little note saying, "I am thinking of you today, and I am praying for you". Maybe we need to look at how we spend our time and our treasure. Maybe we need to look at that and say, "Oh, I need to do something about that. I am really not doing that correctly. I am not upholding God's Kingdom. I am not doing what I need to do", and make some adjustment on that. We need to recognize what the stuff is that we are carrying around - the baggage - what is it that we are carrying around that we need to get rid of? John tells us, and later Jesus, too, tells us that, once we get rid of that baggage and accept God's love for us, our relationship with God will seem like peace. Our relationship with one another will be peaceful. Now, we don't live in a perfect world, and it won't come probably tomorrow, or the next day, or even after we repent, but we can take steps to make that happen. We can take steps to make the peace around us happen - the peace of God which passes all understanding - and if you are in Rite I, it is the peace of God that "passeth" all understanding. But it's true. The peace of God is available, but we need to prepare the way in our hearts that that might happen - to prepare the way of the Lord - to make the rough places plain, fill in the valleys in our lives, and chop down those mountains and fences that we have built around us. That is what repentance means in my vocabulary, and it means that I can find the peace of God - the peace of God which passes all understanding.

St. Paul, in the reading we have today, says, "May the God of hope (the first candle) fill you with joy and peace (the second candle) in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit".

And that is my wish for you this day.

AMEN