Taking it Home: Some people say that if we didn't already have a season like Christmas we would probably invent it just the same. Why would we do that? We would do it because we need a means of escape; escape from the dreariness and the darkness, escape from the realities of a life that we would rather not have to face. We use Christmas as a way to delude ourselves by allowing us the opprortunity to get caught up in the hype, the fantasy and the dazzle that is Christmas as a way to avoid the seriousness of the challenges of life. This is ot a bad thing. Life does have its challenges and it is good to set them aside for one brief moment so that we can pretend that everything is okay; that our world is rosier than we imagined and that the hurts and disappointments we suffered in life are only illusions. And when we do this we are allowed to feel good about ourselves even though we put on a mask of our true selves to make this happen.
   But is Christmas really about a fantasy, a time for just wishful thinking instead of living in the true hope that grounds the season? In the midst of our desire to escape, to allow the dazzle of the season to engross us, this weekend we instead get another dose of Advent; and this time Advent wakes us up to something quite contrary to fantasy. This time Advent confronts us with the reality of John the Baptist and the talk of repentance; to let go of all that is illusory and to prepare our hearts for the reality that is the kingdom. Perhaps I hear faint whispers that fantasy is just fine, thank you. We certainly do not want to have to do any heavy concentrating at a time when fantasy will do. But how about we explore what this idea of repentance is all about?
   We hear the word repent and immediately we think of sin and all those things we know we shouldn't do, like tell lies, get upset with our children, our spouses and our neighbors. And wouldn't you know, just when we want to escape, the Church would want to talk about sin because that is what the Church does, right? But repentance has to do with more than just sin. It has to do with change. The Greek word we use for repentance is "metanoia." Metanoia literally means to change one's mind, to turn around. Essentially, metanoia has to do with changing one's mind about God and God's offer to love us. You see Jesus didn't come to change God's mind about us, but to change our minds about God; because this offer of love is God's invitation to us to accept who we are, children of God. It is also God's offer to become what God created us to be, God's creatures who are created in the image and likeness of God. But accepting this offer and turning around toward God may be harder than we think. Turning around will mean facing some things that we would rather not like to admit, like pretending that if we live a fantasy life the world cannot hurt us. But life will hurt us at some point that is the nature of living in a world where things are messy, where people will occasionally say things and do things that will be sipteful, hurtful and mean; where sorrow and suffering do exist. But trusting in God's love and trusting in the goodness of God's creation means that we have the power with the help of the Spirit, to see beyond the hurt and to see our way to that kingdom in which God wants us to share.
   Christmas is not about a fantasy, but a reality, the reality that God is a God who saves and is faithful to what God promises. In the incarnate Jesus, who is really what Christmas is about, we see the visible image of the invisible God. This is the God who loves us so dearly that this God took our very image, first to raise up our fallen and hurtful humanity and second to show us what our humanity can become, creatures living in the image of God. Despite our sinful nature, despite a world that is full of hurts and despite the many ways that we try to avoid being who we truly are, Christmas does remind us of who we are meant to be. But before we can get to that Christmas expression, we need the season of Advent and the preaching of a John the Baptist to remind us of what we need to shed from ourselves our false sense of self, our anxieties and fears, our hurts and our hardheartedness - in order to live in the true hope that grounds us. This hope is not just wishful thinking, but is a hope that comes from a Christ who envisions us and this world as living totally in God's love and making that love just a real for all our sisters and brothers.                     

                                                                                                      Deacon John