Scripture: Luke 2:41-51
 
            It was a beautiful Spring Saturday in 2014.  At this time Connor was four and was enjoying the weather playing outside.  It was my job to keep an eye on him while also doing some Spring Cleaning.  In doing so, I left the backyard to take something or another to the front yard, and when I came back he was gone.  I had just been in the exterior garage and the door was open, so I checked that.  He was not there.   Assuming he had went inside, I went to check and did not see him.  Abigail confirmed he was not inside.  At this point I started to get a little panicked.  I went back outside and checked the alley, no there.   My heart really began to race.  I ran around the block calling his name.  True panic was setting in and I began to jump to all of the worst case scenarios. We lived in a parsonage that was right next to the church.  It was Saturday, and no events were happening so it should have been locked up.  However, completely out of options I check inside the church and that is where I found him.  It turns out that in the time I had went to the front yard, his Sunday school teacher had walked to the back kitchen door, Connor saw her and followed her in.  All told he was missing for less than three minutes, but those were some of the scariest moments of my life.  I tell this story, because I can in some small measure begin to appreciate how Mary and Joseph must have felt.  However, my experience only barely compares to the one in this morning scripture.  My child was missing for three minutes not three days and I did not have to search an entire city to find him. 

            On Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but after that event the bible skips ahead.  In all four gospels we only get two or three stories of Jesus before he is a full grown man.  There is a story just after Jesus is born and presented at the temple.   Some point when Jesus is a toddler, the Magi visit him in the gospel of Matthew and then we get this story of the age of twelve.   The bible is quick to celebrate baby Jesus but then moves on to Jesus the rabbi.  Within the entire scope of the gospel narrative the birth of Jesus is not that big of an event. 
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            This is different than some of the cultural messages that surround Christmas.  A strong and pervasive cultural Christmas message is this idea of keeping the spirit of Christmas year round.  This message is repeated in various ways in a variety of Christmas specials but perhaps none state it so clearly as the Sesame Street Christmas special which ends with a song where Big Bird and friends sing, “the goodness of loving; the gladness of living these are Christmas too; So, keep Christmas with you all through the year.”

            While the goodness of loving and gladness in life are important, I would argue they are not the true spirit of Christmas.  The true spirit of Christmas is the incarnation, it is the reality that God is with us, and is a light shining into the darkness.  The bible does not dwell much on Jesus as a child but this story we do have I think points exactly how we can keep Christmas with us all through the year. 

            The story in this morning’s scripture can cause us to have some questions.  I think the first and biggest one is how did Mary and Joseph lose Jesus for a whole day?   I do think the context can help fill in the details.   This event happened at the end of the Passover festival.   Passover was and is to this day a big deal in Jewish worship, and it is likely that many of the towns and villages of Galilee emptied out as those who were able made the journey to Jerusalem for the festival.  If everyone is going to the same place by the same way, it makes a lot of sense to travel together.  There is safety in numbers, there is immediate help if needed, and resources can be pooled and shared.  It is likely that every year Mary, Joseph, and Jesus made the same trip, with the same people.   They were not journeying with strangers, they were traveling with a large caravan of family, friends, and close acquaintances.   Given that, it begins to make more sense how they lost track of Jesus.  They were with people they felt safe with, and they had made this journey for several years.  They were probably used to a young Jesus running to be with friends as they walked the journey.  There had probably been other years where they made the journey and from the time they started in the morning, to the time they made camp, never saw Jesus as he was somewhere else within the group.   I can imagine that first night, probably somewhere around Jericho, when everything began to settle and Jesus did not come and find Mary and Joseph.  I can imagine how the initial uneasiness, turned into panic, which blossomed into full hysteria as they began to imagine the worst case scenarios.  

            The other head scratching thing about this story, is how Jesus spent three days without parents in the temple courts.  After all, that is the same amount of time that Kevin Mcallister is Home Alone and apparently everyone seems to be fine with a lone child hanging out in the temple courts.  Again, in the context this begins to make a bit more sense.  First, Jerusalem still would have had excess people.  Passover was the biggest of the three annual Jewish celebrations, and it is likely that those who had to travel far may have planned a longer stay in the city.   Second, the temple courts was the “third place” of the city.  It was the place people congregated and went to.   There were always traveling rabbis, teachers of the law, and other people present to engage with, learn from, or debate with.   Given all of that activity, a single boy would not have garnered that much attention initially.   It was not even that odd for a twelve year old boy to engage with the teachers of the law.   The book of Jewish tradition, the Talmud, records oral traditions that date back to before the first century.  One of the things it contains is the “age of majority”, at what age a boy is to fully engage in Jewish religious life.  The Talmud sets the age of majority at 13, but does state if a child is ready before then, they should be included before then.  At twelve, the teachers of the law would have seen Jesus as a boy moving into the age of majority.  Jesus was at an age where he was supposed to begin carrying and engaging fully with the Jewish religious practices, and likely the Jewish religious teachers were thrilled when the young Jesus first showed so much interest.   That initial impression likely developed into absolute awe as Jesus began to show how much he knew and understood.

The response that Jesus gives to Mary and Joseph when they finally find him point us to how we find the Christmas Spirit year round.  Jesus said to them, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?”   Jesus was compelled to be where God was.  The Jewish belief at the time is the temple was a sacred location.  Inside the temple there was the “holy of holies”.  This physical place was understood to be the single spot on earth where the presence of God was greatest.   It was the understanding of the time that it was only in the temple that one could truly encounter the actual presence of God.   From the first century Jewish perspective, Jesus was saying that he would naturally be as close to God as possible, that he would be where God was going to be.  

            This means that we too, should seek to be where God is.  From our modern, Christian perspective, we believe that the presence of God is more than just in the temple.  We believe that because of Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, God is with us.   We believe that we can encounter God anywhere in the world, but in the gospels we can find at least two specific instances of where we can encounter Christ.   First, Jesus said “wherever two or more are gathered in my name, I am among them.”   When followers of Christ gather together, we can and we should encounter the divine.  If we take Jesus at his word, then that means whenever we gather together it should be possible to experience and know the grace, love, and peace that can only come from God.   We often refer to the sanctuary as “God’s house”, and that is because we build our buildings dedicated to God and as a place to gather to worship and encounter God.  However, it is not the building that brings God’s presence here.  God is here in this place because whenever two or more gathered in his name, then God is with us.   We keep the Spirit of Christmas year round when we regularly seek to encounter God and the most reliable way to do that is when we gather with our brothers and sisters in Christ in our Father’s house. 
    
        However, gathering with other believers to worship is not the only way we can encounter God.  If we could only encounter God inside church walls, then that would not be much different than the temple system.  Jesus also made it clear that we encounter him outside our buildings because Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did for me.”  We encounter God when we go to where God is.  The bible is consistent from book to book that God is where the people need God the most.  We find God among the lost, the hurting, the marginalized, and those in need of hope.  When we leave our sanctuary and go out into the world to serve those most in need then we encounter God.  When we give of our time and resources to serve those who have the least then we work side by side with our Creator.  When we have compassion and mercy on those that others past judgement upon, then God is with us.   When we serve in love and in the name of Christ then we do find the Spirit of Christmas is with us year round.    
            Over the next week our holiday celebrations will wind down, decorations will be put back into boxes, and we will settle back into normal routines for a new year.  May we not stop celebrating and marveling over the true reason for Christmas, the incarnational truth that God is with us.   May we continue to seek this true Spirit of Christmas by committing to worshipping God in fellowship with one another and may we celebrate that God is with us by living our faith out and serving the people God cares for.  For it is only in doing these things that we find the true spirit of Christmas and keep it  with us throughout the year. 
 

Scripture:  Luke 1: 39-45

I do not remember my exact age at the time, but I remember being a child in the basement at Milan UMC for children’s church one Sunday.  It was around this time of the year, and the teachers had decided for this particular Sunday we were going to sing Christmas Carols.  We had just finished singing one song and the next song requested was “Jingle Bells”.  I immediately responded “Hey! That’s not a Christmas song.” 

Elementary school me, was both right and wrong about that.  The song really has nothing at all to do with Christmas.   However, years of tradition have paired the song with Christmas so even if the lyrics have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus or the celebration of the holiday it is still considered a Christmas song.  There are several songs that are considered Christmas music that actually are not about Christmas.  Like Jingle Bells a lot of these are winter themed songs such as Winter Wonderland and Let it Snow.  However, there is one Christmas song that has nothing to do with Christmas but most of us do not even realize it.   That song is “Do You Hear What I Hear? 

If you quickly run through the lyrics, it sounds like it fits this time of the year.  It has a star, it has shepherds, and it has a baby shivering in the cold.  However, if the song was referring to the birth of Jesus it would be at best a very stylized and loose retelling that was taking a lot of liberties with the story found in the bible.  It is close, but it does not quite fit.  That is because the song was not originally written as a Christmas song. Do You Hear What I Hear was written in 1962.  The song writer, Noel Regney, was known for a poetic, avant-garde style.   The song was written during the height of the Cuban Missile crisis, and the song is a plea for peace during that time.   Given the context some of the lines become chilling.  Consider the verse: Said the night wind to the little lamb, Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky little lamb, Do you see what I see?  A star, a star dancing in the night With a tail as big as a kite.  

That is not a reference to the star the Magi followed.  It is about a nuclear missile. The song is not some artistic rendition of the Christmas story it is a plea for peace in the light of potential nuclear holocaust.  This is not just me reading into the song, the song’s author has explicitly stated this as well.   It is a bit ironic that the song is called “Do You Hear what I Hear?” because most people when they listen to it do not actually hear what the song’s author intended them to hear.   I think there is a faith lesson for us as well.  Much like we miss the meaning of the song, we can miss the work and wonders of God all around us. God can be at work in the world, inviting us to join and we do not see and we do not hear what God is up to.    This morning’s scripture from Luke gives a great example of how not to miss God at work. 

To place this morning’s scripture in full context, it takes place in the gospel right after the angel appeared to Mary and announced that she would bear God’s son.   From a practical standpoint it makes sense that Mary left her small hometown of Nazareth and headed to visit her relatives.  She was unmarried and pregnant.  Nazareth was a small town, so you people would have been talking.  It made a lot of sense to lay low someplace else for a while.  The scripture states that Elizabeth lived in the Judean hill country.  This would have been days of travel away from Nazareth.  The relationship between Elizabeth and Mary is not clear.   It is likely that Elizabeth was Mary’s cousin or Aunt. Like a lot of the people we meet in the Bible, we do not get a full snapshot of Elizabeth.  We must read between the lines to get a fuller picture of who Elizabeth is. 

 From the gospel of Luke, other than a relation to Mary, we know Elizabeth was married to a man named Zechariah.  Zechariah was a Levite, which means he spent part of the year serving at the temple.   We also know that before the birth of John the Baptist, Elizabeth was childless.  We do not know how old Elizabeth was, but Luke 1:36 references Elizabeth’s old age.  It was likely she and Zechariah had been unable to conceive for quite some time.  It needs to be mentioned in the culture of this time, when a couple had difficulty conceiving it was always viewed as the woman’s fault.  It was seen as a divine judgement against her and it would have been a source of great shame.    I imagine for Elizabeth it felt deeply unfair as others began to have children but she could not.  As the years went on, she could have gotten bitter and blamed God.   Being childless was a mark of shame and hurt in the lives of Elizabeth and Zechariah, but all indication is despite that they remained faithful to God

The fact that Elizabeth was with child was a miracle.  It was so unlikely that even Zechariah did not believe it was possible.  In the gospel of Luke it is recorded that while Zechariah was at the temple serving the Angel Gabriel came to tell him that Elizabeth would conceive the boy who would grow to be John the Baptist.  In response to this angelic message, Zechariah questions how this is even possible because of his and Elizabeth’s age.   Elizabeth’s response was much different though in Luke 1:25 it is recorded, “The Lord has done this for me,” she said.  “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.” 

Elizabeth had experienced the miraculous nature of God, she had experienced God’s favor.  She knew God was willing and capable of doing good things.  Elizabeth had experienced God’s favor so she was more attuned to what looks like.  When Mary came to visit Elizabeth, Elizabeth was herself six months pregnant.  It is not uncommon in the sixth month of pregnancy for the baby to be kicking and moving quite a bit.  Yet she was able to discern that this was not an ordinary kick.

The scripture does give us a bit of a clue as to what is happening here.  Verse 41 states “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”  Upon the greeting of Mary, the baby kicked as if to ask “Do you hear what I hear?” and thanks to the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth did indeed.  The scripture tells us that the Holy Spirit is what helped Elizabeth discern what was happening.  However, Elizabeth was able to recognize Mary and the child that she was carrying for what they were because she was in a place where she could hear the leading of the Holy Spirit. 

Elizabeth had ears to hear and eyes to see enough to know this was not just an ordinary kick.   She was receptive to the possibility of God being at work in the world, and she was open to the leading of the Holy Spirit which brought her to the truth:   The Messiah was coming, God was moving, and soon it would come to pass that God is with us.   Considering God’s goodness, Elizabeth responded in the most appropriate way:  with uncontainable joy!   Elizabeth did not miss what God was doing in the world.  Thirty years before Peter would be the first disciple to declare Jesus was the Messiah, Elizabeth was already stating as such in this morning’s scripture.   Her heart soul could loudly hear what God was communicating.   She absolutely did not miss it.  As we consider this morning’s scripture, there are a couple of pointers we can get from Elizabeth about how we can better hear and see the movements of God. 

First, Elizabeth recognized God’s provision.  Perhaps this might have been a little easier for her.  She had spent years feeling like she was cursed, only to have God show that God had a special plan.  Perhaps because Elizabeth had experienced God’s provision in her own life she was more likely to be looking to see where God is going to show up next.   This is what allowed her to recognize that the kick was more than kick and it is why she was open to the Spirit’s leading to the revelation that Mary carried the Savior of the world.   Perhaps because Elizabeth had experienced God’s provision in her own life, she was more likely to be looking to see where God is going to show up next. 

Our personal experiences with God providing for us may not be as dramatic as Elizabeth’s but we all have stories about God’s provision.  One of the things I appreciate about our United Methodist tradition is that we believe God’s grace is previenent in our lives.   This is a fancy way of saying that God’s love, God’s grace, and God’s provision is always present in our lives.   We believe it does not matter how far someone is away from God, God’s love does not give up on them and God continues to provide.   This means that when that unexpected blessing comes, that means when a series of seemingly coincidences aligns just so, that means when exactly what we need seems to fall right in our lap, it is God.   It is not Karma, it is not fate, it is not the result of good vibes, or a reward for doing good work.   The book of James states “Don’t be deceived my dear brothers and sisters, every good and perfect gift is from above.”   God provides, and we are the proof.  We could probably sit here all afternoons sharing stories of how God has answered prayers, how God worked in our lives, and how God gave us exactly what we needed when we needed it.

Because God has proven God’s self to us time and time again, then like Elizabeth we should be expecting and looking for what God is going to do next.   When we are looking for God at work in the world, then we will find God at work because God is a loving God who provides out of God’s goodness.  When we expect God to show up then like Elizabeth, we will hear the leading of the Holy Spirit and we will be the ones asking those around us, do you hear what I hear? 

The second pointer we can get from Elizabeth is how she reacted to what God was doing.   She reacted with joy.   When we consider how good God has been to us, how perfect the works of God are, joy is truly the most appropriate response.  And yet, I realize that there are times when joy seems far away.   I realize there are times when the weight of all that we are going through can be so crushing and suffocating that it takes all the wind out of sails.  I know some of us have gone through some rough patches over the course of the past year, but even in the valleys and hard spots of life we can still find reasons for joy, because God is still at work, and God’s care is still there for us.   God is good-all the time.   This is true even when things are not going quite like we want them to go.   

A simple exercise can help us see how true this is.  In this season of gift giving, consider taking a few moments to list out all the ways that God has provided for you over the past year.  Focus on the good, on all the reasons you have to be thankful.  I have confidence we will be amazed when we do this.  As we begin to consider the ways God was there for us we will likely become aware of God’s goodness and provision in ways we were not previously aware of.  Being aware of God’s provision makes us more likely to hear, to see, and to notice just how truly good God is.   When we become more aware of how God provides when we catch glimpses of God’s goodness, then our reaction should be like that of Elizabeth’s:  She proclaimed in a loud voice a mixture of surprise and joy.

​So may you have ears to hear and eyes to see how good our Great God is.  May you know that God has and God will continue to provide for you.   May you remember that every good and perfect gift comes from God.   May that fill you with joy.    May you be able to exclaim in a loud voice, God is good, all the time.   And all the time, God is good.  
 
           
 
 
 

Scripture:  Luke 3:7-18

  Every holiday season there seems to be some sort of hot toy that a lot of kids want and that sells out everywhere.  This year one of those toys is a remote-controlled Minecraft creeper that explodes.   I realize that some of you have no context to understand what I just said, but I am sure you kids or grandchildren can help explain it to you.   Every now and then though a toy comes along that leaves most parents at a complete loss as to why it is so popular and unable to understand why kids would ever want it.   As I look over a list of popular toys from the past, one that really rises to the top in my mind as a real head scratcher is the pet rock.  The pet rock only had one year of breakout popularity in 1975, but during that time it sold more than a million units at $4 each, which equates to over $20 today.  The pet rock was literally a rock in a box.  That is it.  The pet rock was before my time, so I am missing whatever it was that made the joke appeal to a million people 49 years ago.  A lot of things that get inexplicably popular are like that.  Either you had to be there for it or you just have to kind of get it, because from the outside looking in or from the present looking back it can be hard to see what the appeal was. 

This morning’s scripture gives me the impression that John the Baptist might have been the same way.   The gospels mention that John garnered quite a lot of popularity.  In fact the gospel of Mark quite hyperbolically states, “The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him.”   While it probably was not the whole countryside, John managed to draw a crowd.  He managed to do this despite being based in an isolated area and despite insulting his audience by calling them a brood of vipers.  Despite these obstacles, John was inexplicably popular during his time.  While what worked for John, would very much not get over today, we can still learn from the message of John the Baptist today.  If we take that message to heart, I think we can find it is a gift that keeps on giving and can fuel our faith all year round. 

 When we consider the ancient context that John lived in, his popularity and ability to draw a crowd is even more remarkable.  The traditional baptism site that John operated at was along the Jordan River outside of Jericho.  From Jerusalem to Jordan would have been a day journey both ways.   John the Baptist was not some sort of roadside attraction that people stopped at because they happened to be passing by.   It required real effort and intentionality to get to him.  Plus, it is not like John the Baptist had a marketing campaign and mass media advertisements to get the word out.   Some people came out to see him for the specactle of it all or because they were curious if the rumors were true.  As verse 15 of this morning’s scripture states, “The people were waiting expectantly  and were all wondering their hearts if John might possibly be the messiah.   However, those with curious expectation could not have been the entirety of the crowds.  There were those who were drawn to the wilderness for John’s message and what he was offering.  As we read last week, John’s message was a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 

For the people of John’s day, the idea of baptism would not have been a new one.   The idea of immersing one’s self in water for ritual cleanliness was a common Jewish practice.  In the Jewish law there are several things that can make someone ceremonially unclean.  Immersion was a physical act to symbolically show cleanliness.   In ancient Judaism this was done through a ritual bath called a mikveh.  In Jerusalem, outside of the ancient temple steps, there are the remains of several of these mikvehs.  When the Israelites would go to the temple, they would first bathe in one of these as an act of worship to present themselves clean and unblemished before God.  A mikveh has steps that lead down into the bath, and there is a clear division on the steps indicating two sides.   A person would walk down on one side, unclean, immerse themselves in the waters and come up the other side clean.  The ritual bath of the Mikveh was to wash away the imperfections that made someone unclean, John’s tweak to this formula was repentance.   

The baptism that John was offering out in the wilderness would have felt like what the people were used to, but at the same time a baptism for the repentance for the forgiveness of sins was something new.   To repent is more than just to be made ceremonially clean.  As my endless piles of laundry and dishes attest to, being clean is only a temporary status.  That which has been washed can get dirty again. Repentance is meant to be more. Repentance means to turn around completely, it is a true 180.   John’s message was an invitation to re-focus on God because God’s kingdom was coming.   Those that came to John the Baptist wanted a fresh start, they came too baptized to acknowledge their need for repentance, and their desire to start over. 

In this morning’s scripture we get a glimpse at some of the types of people that this message was highly appealing towards.  Verse 12 and 14 specifically mention tax collectors and soldiers.   These are people who probably would have been interested in second chances.  Tax collectors and soldiers had a reputation, likely somewhat deserved, of using their authority to take advantage of others for personal gain.  Socially they would have been considered traitors with how they served the Roman empire and spiritually they would have been considered unclean because of their association with non-Jews.  However, John makes the point that it is not just the soldiers, the tax collectors, and the known sinners that need to repent.  That is the point that John is making in verse 8.  Here John refutes a theoretical argument by saying “And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘we have Abraham as our father,’”.  John is trying to cut off anyone from saying they do not need to repent because of their background or who they are.  One of the major points being made by John the Baptist in this morning’s scripture is that all needed to repent and turn away from their sins.  

 John offered a baptism that was a symbolic action to represent an act of repentance and a turning from a life of sin, but as John himself said there was one to come who was more powerful, who is the real messiah.  Jesus offers real forgiveness of sins and grace that fully reconciles us with God.   Because of Jesus when the day of judgement comes, we can be confident that we are gathered with the wheat because the penalty of our sins has already been erased and by his righteousness we are fully redeemed.  This is possible for all who earnestly repent of their sins and seek forgiveness.  There is a good chance that if you are here today, you know this and you have experienced this saving grace in your life.  
The problem is that even after we have been saved by grace and forgiven we still struggle with the “go and sin no more part.”  We find ourselves falling into the same habits we thought we escaped.  Even though we are forgiven, we still find ourselves turning back to the same unhelpful things we repented and turned away from in the first place.  Now thankfully, grace is not a one and done proposition.  Nor is it even a three strikes and your out situation.  The grace and love of God is greater than we can fathom, and we can have an assurance that when we fall short, God will forgive us again. 

I am thankful that God’s grace and patience does not run out, but I also would like not to need it so regularly.  I cannot speak for you, but I want to be able to repent and mean it.  I want to turn away from that which I know I should not do, that which I know is not right, and that which I know is not best for me and stay that way.  As followers of Christ, I hope we all want to be more like Jesus in our everyday life, and that means we go and sin no more.  It means that when we repent and we turn away from the sins we committed, me are able to stay away.    It can be a struggle, and I am thankful that when I stumble God’s grace is there, but I do think the words of John the Baptist can be helpful to us here. 

In this morning’s scripture John urges the crowd to repent, but he urges them to do more than repent.  He states, “produce fruits in keeping with repentance.”  He then gives several examples:  Share with those who are without, he tells the tax collectors to act with integrity, and the soldiers to be content with what they have.  John’s message is more than just repent, it is more than just stopping doing the things you know wrong, but it is stop doing them and replace those actions with something better.  That is what it means to produce fruits in keeping with repentance.  It means that we make the mindful choice to do something that brings us closer to God and more Christ like instead of taking actions that move us away from God.  

When I think about this works practically in our lives, I am reminded of the time I spent at Edinburgh UMC.   That church had a gym, and the teens would play basketball every Sunday night before youth group. And since I wanted to be involved with the youth ministry, that meant I played basketball every Sunday night.  I am not very good at basketball, I am too short, and I was never that great at handling the ball.   At the beginning my goal was not to embarrass myself too much.  After doing this for five and a half years I was still not a great basketball player.  But I was much better than I was when I started.  While I had not got any taller every other skill needed for basketball, especially shooting, was notably better than it was before I started playing basketball once a week.  It is a simple truth about human nature, the more we do something the better we get at it.  The same is true for repentance. 

We can tend to treat faith development in our lives as a checklist.   Once we accomplish a task, such as reading a book of the bible, we mentally cross it off the list and consider the job done.   We often treat repentance in the same way.  When we become convicted of our sin and seek forgiveness.  We treat it as a one and done thing, where we said the prayer and now we hope this time is sticks.  That’s now how repentance is supposed to work though.  It is a process.  It is a commitment to turn away from set of behaviors and instead embrace a better set of behaviors.   Repentance is like showing up to play basketball once a week.   There are going to be a lot of mis-steps, missed shots, and questionable plays but eventually all of that practice and experience will add up and there will be noticeable improvements.  If we consistently seek to say no to that which pulls us away from God and say yes to that which makes us more Christ like then there is only one possible outcome.  We become more like Jesus and our lives bear the fruit of repentance. 

John the Baptist found popularity, because his message of repentance connected with a lot of people.   Perhaps, that is a message that connect with you today.  Perhaps, there are behaviors or choices you keep making that you know deep down are not what is best for you.  If you feel that in your soul today, then may you repent.   May you turn away from that which is wrong for you and turn towards God.   May we not treat repentance like a single moment in time, but may we commit to the process.  May we trust that God’s grace is there for us when we fall short and may we consistently strive to be the righteous person we know we can be.  Wherever we are in our walk with God, may we all seek to live righteously may we all be committed to repenting of our sins and not turning back to them, and may we find that the provision and strength that God gives us to do that is the gift that keeps in giving.