Some of you may be familiar with the website DaySpring.com, which is a Christian e-card company.  Dayspring.com gets its name from the Gospel of Luke.  I quote from its website: “DaySpring is a name given in Scripture to Jesus Christ.  Luke records the prophetic song of Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist, on the occasion of John’s birth.  The Holy Spirit… showed Zechariah that ‘the dayspring from on high’ [Luke 1:78 KJV] was to come and ‘give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace’ [Luke 1:79].  Our intent at DaySpring Cards is to spread the light from that sunrise by creating products that honor and reflect His name, His character, His nature, His kindness, and His love.”

 

I have been the surprised and delighted recipient of Dayspring e-cards, some of them sent by people in this congregation, and I have also sent some myself.  The other night, I went on the Dayspring website to see if I could perhaps find an Advent or Christmas card featuring John the Baptist.  I figured that since he is mentioned in the mission statement of the company, maybe they would offer at least one card that, if not featured him, then at least made reference to him.  After all, the website offers cards with other prominent figures in the Christmas story – the baby Jesus, of course, and Mary and Joseph, and the angels, and the wise men.  And even though it is a Christian greeting card website, Dayspring.com also offers cards with secular images of the season: Santa, and reindeer, and snowmen.  But there was no John the Baptist. 

 

In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Christmas card with John the Baptist!  Maybe that’s because he is a crazy-looking guy who wears clothes made of camel’s hair; or maybe it’s because of his strange diet of locusts and honey.  Or maybe it’s because that during this season, when we want to focus on the sweet image of the baby lying in a manger, John the Baptist comes along bellowing about sin and selfishness, calling us to repent, and warning us that we must do some serious self-examination in order to be ready for the coming of Christ. 

 

In all honesty, we don’t really want to see John the Baptist during our preparations for Christmas, but he comes every Advent, knocking on our door like a salesperson trying to sell us something we know we need but don’t necessarily want.  He intrudes into our lives, and insists that getting ready for Christmas is not about baking and buying and decorating, but it’s about looking deep into our hearts in order so that we can get ready to receive Christ.  Although John’s message seems too strident, too confrontational for this season of love and good will, the fact of the matter is, we can’t have Christmas without him.

 

John comes to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah [40:3-5]: to "prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight, every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways be made smooth."  Mark lifts Isaiah’s mountains and valleys and crooked and rough places from the very real physical geography of Jerusalem and places them in the spiritual geography of the human soul.  John the Baptist calls not for a clearing of roads, but of hearts; the Judean wilderness is a place unfit for a king, and so is the human heart when it is untouched by repentance. 

 

Mark begins his gospel with the words, “The beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”  But Mark does not begin with a baby in a manger.  In fact, he doesn’t write one word about the birth of Jesus.  According to Mark, the Good News begins with a voice in the wilderness, calling us to repentance. 

 

In Greek, the original language of the New Testament, the word for repentance is metanoia, which means literally “to turn around.”  And the reason we need to repent, says John, is because of sin.  Oooh, we don’t like that word, do we?  But the Scriptures tell us that “we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” [Romans 3:21]. 

 

Sin is separation – separation from God, from God’s people, from God’s creation, and from God’s purpose for our lives.  To repent is to have a change of heart.  If sin is turning away from God, then repentance is turning back toward God.  The words “conversion” or “being born again” are often used to describe the kind of transformation that takes place when one repents.  But for many of us, this kind of salvation talk is uncomfortable because it conjures up images of bible-toting, scripture-quoting fanatics demanding to know, “Are you saved?”  But as uncomfortable as we are talking about sin and repentance, especially this time of year when all we want to do is get to the manger, the gospel clearly calls us to allow God to transform our lives.  And the first step in answering that call is repentance.

 

When we hear the word “conversion,” we often think of a moment of sudden enlightenment or awakening.  And while that may be the case for some, I suspect that for most of us sitting here this morning, conversion is more of a lifetime process, a lifetime of growing in understanding and growing in relationship with God through Christ.  I know that my growth as a Christian has been less about “mountaintop moments” and “aha!” experiences and more about quiet realizations and growing awareness of how God has worked in my life.

 

I think our biggest fear about “conversion” or “transformation” or “repentance” – use the word that is most comfortable for you – our biggest fear is that it requires us to change.  And yes, it will change you.  But being converted is not about becoming a new and strange person; rather, it is about opening up a new dimension of ourselves; it is about having the abundant, joy-filled life God intends for us.

 

Listen to this translation of the beginning of Mark by Eugene Peterson in The Message – “⁴John the Baptizer appeared in the wild, preaching a baptism of life-change that leads to forgiveness of sins. ⁵People thronged to him from Judea and Jerusalem and, as they confessed their sins, were baptized by him in the Jordan River into a changed life…  ⁷As he preached he said, "The real action comes next: The star in this drama, to whom I'm a mere stagehand, will change your life. ⁸I'm baptizing you here in the river, turning your old life in for a kingdom life.  His baptism--a holy baptism by the Holy Spirit--will change you from the inside out."

 

John begins with this message of repentance because he knows we all need a clean slate, a fresh start; that's why Jesus came.  That's what this season is all about -- forgiveness and new life.  And so, over these next few weeks leading up to Christmas, let us get ready for the coming of Christ by repenting and turning back to God.  Let us prepare the way by leveling the hills of our hearts, by filling in the valleys of our failings, by smoothing the rough places of our regret, by making a highway in the desert of our divisions.  There is no mountain so high nor valley so low that it cannot be overcome by God’s grace.  There is no path so crooked or rough that we cannot cross it with God at our side.

 

Let us prepare the way so that this Christmas, Jesus may come to us, enter our hearts and our souls, and transform our lives.  Amen.