Turn Around

Romans 15: 4-13
Matthew 3:1-12
Turn Around
“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near” – Matthew 3:2
2nd Sunday of Advent
Year A


The bible is full of tales of wandering in the wilderness. The bible says that the isrealites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before entering into the promised land. Just before jesus entered into his public ministry he spent some time being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. And then there is the story of John the Baptist. John the Baptist called people to come away from the world and come into the wilderness to be baptized.
The wilderness plays an important part in our spiritual journey. It is a chance to get away from it all and to just hear the voice of God. If you are listening, if not to just be lost. Or to wait for something different.
I can relate to a spiritual time in the wilderness. That’s where I feel that I am right now. Not necessarily because there is something wrong in my life, or that I am extra sad, or depressed or grieving about anything. But because I am waiting. Waiting for that great moment in life. And I realized that I have not had one in a while. That great moment when everything changes. When all of my struggles in life start to make sense, and I feel that I am moving ahead like never before.
Being in the wilderness is a time when you look back at life and realize that you cant really go back to the past, no matter how great things were, things have changed and the past no longer fits you anymore – but on the other hand the future has not been created, and you are not ready to move into it.
You have to realize that what might be, is on the same level as what will never happen. Both as equally possible. You just don’t know what will happen.
Advent is a time of being in the wilderness, of waiting for that change, of waiting for that big moment.
An adult brother and sister were talking. The brother had jus t come from the hospital visiting a friend who had been in a car accident. The brother’s lesson for the day was to always wear his seatbelt. The sister asked – didn’t you know that you were supposed to wear a seatbelt before today- yeah, but seeing my friend reminded me of an old lesson, in a new way, for a new reason. I understand well enough to listen and pay attention.
Advent is our time to renew our lives, our thoughts our attitudes, our intentions. And to live our old life in a new way.
And in every advent there is just one voice that cries out in the wilderness. There is one person who reminds us of the reason for the season. One character, who is the image of advent – do you know who that is?
We would be tempted to say that Jesus us the reason for the season. But you are wrong. Jesus is the center of Christmas season. Jesus us the hope that we are waiting for, the one who will bring about the change in life. But Jesus is not the man of advent.
But we have to remember that we are not in the Christmas season – we are in advent. And the voice of advent is not Jesus. But John the Baptist. Every year, John the Baptist comes to us out of the wilderness. Dressed in his camel cloth clothes, yelling at us at the top of his voice – repent you brood of vipers, for the kingdom of god is at hand. You need to repent. Repent – metanoia – to turn around. Don’t just say that you are sorry for what you are done, but make a commitment to change and be different.
The message of John is to earn, learn, burn and turn! Say it with me – earn, learn, burn and turn. Earn the right to be called a child of God. Stand up for what you know to be right. Take the time to learn the ways of God – read the bible, listen to the word of God, study with others, and most importantly take the time to pray. Burn means not to destroy yourself, but to destroy everything in your life that is not of God. If it stands in the way of your relationship with God then get rid of it. And burn with the spirit of Christ in your soul. The logo of the united Methodist church is not just the cross, but the flame. – the holy spirit which ignites us all. The final lesson is to turn – to repent. Repentance is not just for sinners – it is for all of us. All of us have something that we need to give up in our lives in order for us to be the persons God is calling us to be. We have to turn to God to know what it is. Earn, learn, burn and turn.
John is not Jesus – but every year he stands before us and reminds us that if you want to get to Jesus – you have to go through John. Remember your baptism and repent of your sins. Even if we don’t like to admit what our sins our, this is a good time to get them out and look at them. Because your sins are your ticket to see jesus. It is your opportunity for salvation. There are your chance for the change that you have been hoping for. It is your sins that have been holding you back in the wilderness. If you give them up, give them over to god, turn around – how far could you really go in life?
Advent is the season of hope – hope is a belief that something good is up ahead – In order to be ready for the good to come, you have to face the way things are, and be ready to sacrifice the bad, in order to face the good that is coming.
Electricity did not come to everyone in the nation at the same time. There were some areas in the country, who didn’t get power line for years. All they had to rely on for power was the lightning. Dallas Willard is from Southern Missouri, around where my hometown is. He talks about how in his senior year in high school his town finally got power lines. And his whole world changed drastically. With electricity there was a tremendous difference between light and darkness, day and night, chores and free time. That was the moment that he was waiting for, but didn’t know was coming.
Repent for electiricity is coming to your life – you older people can relate to this, more than the younger ones can. repent from kerosene lamps,ice boxes, scrub boards, batteries that run out and hand powered sewing machines. God has bought us something new.
I remember the say I got my first computer and realized al of the things I could do with it. My first year of ministry I typed my sermons on the typewriter – what a miserable things in comparison to the the computer. When I got my computer, I could store all of my financial records on it, and when I discovered internet – my life has not been the same.
The comparison is a little crude – but it makes the point. Jesus is the power source beyond anything that we could imagine. And it is a source that is eternal, all powerful, and will never run out. But you cant fully realize the power that Christ has in your life,until you come to terms to what you life is like without him. Without him all that you have is your sin, your darkness, your old way of things – with jesus everything changes. All you have to do is turn around – repent. Earn, learn, burn and turn.