43 New Lives For Old

"New Lives For Old"

"When it was the right time, John the Baptizer began telling
people a message from God" - so says our Scripture lesson today.
John the Baptist (as we call him) is obviously known for baptizing people.
Actually, he should be remembered for his message - he should be "John
the Preacher" not "John the Baptizer" because it was his direct,
confrontational preaching that made people remember him. It was his
preaching mouth that got him in trouble, not his baptizing hands. His
message? Repent! He told Herod, the ruler of Galilee to repent for
taking his brother's wife, Herodias, as his own. Herodius plotted with her
dancing daughter to have John's head - literally - killed as if he were an
annoying gnat flying about in the royal box.
But Jesus said, "The truth is that John the Baptizer" is greater
than anyone who has ever come into this world."...(John 11:11)
"Before John came, the law of Moses and all the prophets told
about the things that would happen. And if you believe what they
said, then John is Elijah. He is the one they said would come. You
people who hear me, listen!" (John 11:14)
It was the right time for his message of repentance. Before we
can get new lives, we have to dump a lot of junk out of the old life. That's
a two step process - being sorry for what you have done and asking God
to forgive you for all of it.
There's a time of repentance built into every communion service,
where when we confess our sin, "God is faithful and just to forgive us
of our sin and cleanse us from ALL unrighteousness."
No wonder John's message was also a welcome one - many people
wanted to hear it, and to hear it that had to expend a good deal of effort.
John planted himself in the middle of nowhere. He set up shop in the
wilderness and anyone who wanted to hear what he had to say had to go
to a lot of trouble to get there - borrowing the neighbor's donkey perhaps
or setting off on foot with enough water for the journey, and going down
lonely trails infested with bandits.
To hear John preach you had to trek way off into the blazing hot
desert, traverse relentless hills of thick sand and make you way down to
the Jordan River, far away from any city.
He was particularly hard on people in organized religion, the
Pharisees and Sadducees. They didn't go there to hear him except to
hear enough so they could find a way to do him in - after all, if he became
too popular their temples would be empty of people - worse yet their
offering plates would be empty.
"You bunch of snakes!" John said, "slithering down here to
the river. Do you think that a little water on your snake skins is
going to make any difference. It's your life that got to change, not
your skin! If your life is changed, people will be able to tell. You'll
bear fruit. And don't think you can pull rank because you are a
descendant of Abraham. Descendants of Abraham are a dime a
dozen. God can take these rocks and make them into descendants
of Abraham. What matters is your life. Is your life green? Is it
bearing fruit? Because if it is dead wood then it goes into the fire.
Repent! The Kingdom of Heaven is near!"
My advise to you is, "Live your life understanding that only
what's done for Christ will last."
What are these things? Acts of kindness, Works of charity, Visiting
the sick, comforting they who mourn, being more concerned about the
welfare of your wife or husband or significant other than your own.
Carrying about with you a spirit of good will and acceptance. Not being
judgemental, Not complaining.
At our last minister's meeting, one of the ministers came with a
band on his wrist. Each time you complain about something, you have to
move the band to the other wrist. The goal is to see how long you can go
without having to do that. How about YOU? Could you last only an
hour - a day - a week? The program's goal is to go 21 days. Are all of
your branches green - or just a few of them. (A Complaint Free World
by Will Bowen.)
I have a senna polifida tree that isn't doing well at all. I have five
of them in a row. They have exuberant, plentiful yellow blossoms. A few
weeks ago, they all began to bloom - well not all - the one at the end
looked sick - and I thought it was dying. I checked it for any pests that
might be destroying it, but nothing was to be seen. I hate to tell you this,
but I am one of those persons who believe that one species can talk to
another - should talk to each other. I spoke to the tree. I moved its
branches. I showered it with a little more water than the others. Now, it
is in bloom! - not riotously like the others, but a nice grouping of blossoms
on the branches that were not dead after all. Those that are - the
deadwood, I assume I will have to trim off.
This is then the place in the sermon where you need to decide
what deadwood you need to get rid of - repent of. Anything that keeps
you from your goal of Christlikeness has to go. Repent! "He will burn
the useless part with a fire that cannot be stopped."
God is speaking to us today - moving OUR branches, nourishing
us with His love - the God who can make our branches bloom with good
works. "He will separate the good grain from the straw, and he ill
put the good part into his barn."
All you have to do is make a conscious decision to give priority to
those things that will grow your spirit.
The Network of Spiritual Progressive is committed to fostering a
new consciousness so that we allow ourselves to know that the most
significant and rewarding part of our lives comes through:
*Acts of love and generosity
*Kindness to humans and animals
*Caring for and giving to other without expectation of reward or
a "return on the investment of our time and energy.
*Work that is fulfilling both in its process and in the sense it gives
us that we are contribution to the public good.
*Awe at the grandeur of creation
*The experience of being recognized on the deepest level of our
being and recognizing others in that way.
*Acknowledging our connection to something larger than ourselves
and seeing our lives in the context of service to the ultimate triumph of
love, goodness, justice and peace.
That's fine for us, but how are we doing as a nation, as a world?
Is it time for a call to repentance there? Is the world getting better or
worse? I always say that progress is backwards. Waiting the other day
for replies to several e-mails and needing one in particular, I had an
amazingly brilliant thought - Why not use the telephone?! That way I
would get an immediate answer, and it wouldn't be just words on a page
but hearing the vibrant, wonderful voice of the friend I was calling, and I
would be able to get a feeling of how he was doing - not just by the
words, but by the tone of voice.
And the internet - much as I love Google - I was appalled by the
cruel trick played by one teenager on another - the one, a girl, pretending
to be a handsome young man, communicating with her neighbor a few
doors down, getting her very attached to "him" then having him dump her
saying all kinds of cruel things to her. Only after she had hung herself, did
her parents learn that there was no such young man, only a girl down the
street playing tricks on an unsuspecting, sensitive soul. What is happening
in our world. Young people are getting more and more cruel to each other
and to the adults around them. The suicide incident was part of
a program depicting the growing cruelty and irresponsibility being manifested
in our young people including a college student who, driving drunk, killed
one girl and made an invalid of another. She fled back to her native Peru
where she continued to drink and drive and even wrote a song bragging
about her driving experiences. Where is John the Baptist when he's needed?
Who will call us to repentance - we all have things of which we need to
repent. Jesus will.
Jesus calls us to repentance, not to make us feel bad about
ourselves, but to free us from the darkness and deadness that drags us
down. Then he setts us on a pathway of service and fulfillment - heads us
for home - the eternal home He has prepared for us from the foundation
of the world.
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after;
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to
behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple. For in
the time of trouble he shall hid me in his pavilion: in the secret of
his tabernacle shell he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round
about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy;
I will sing, yea I will sing praises unto the Lord.
Change your hearts! And show by the way you live that you have
changed. A good indicator of that is your checkbook which will show
among other things how much you give to yourself and how much to God.
I hope everybody got the pledge letter from our church Treasurer,
Edwin Scharlau - how anybody could resist it I just can't figure. Since
there are more of you here who haven't pledged than have, I assume
many of you didn't get it. He referred to all the special moments the
church provides you - your wedding, your child's baptism, a
granddaughters 1st birthday, delicious food, the incomparable karaokie
singing by church members, dancing the "chicken dance at the Octoberfest,
- sitting in your pew with some of the same people around you week after
week, being greeted at the church door as you walk in, the sermons for
children, the sermons for serious Christians. He says, "I'm sure you
have your own moments you look forward to on Sunday mornings a
the Miami Beach Community Church - from the spiritual to the
simple. " Then he suggests that we all bear the fruit of good stewardship,
that the Church can go forward in strength and its message heard. Bear
fruit. "Change your hearts and show by the way your live that you
have changed!" (Mt. 3:8)
Today's message is "Repent!". May we pray. Each of us Lord,
have things for which we repent, things we have done, things we have
failed to do, things for which others cannot forgive us, things for which we
cannot forgive ourselves. Even the remembrance of them grieves us
severely. In these moments, as we repent earnestly of our sins, "Forgive
us all that is past and grant that we may evermore serve thee in
newness of life to the honor and glory of Thy Holy name. Amen.

Sermon Notes(Not edited nor proofed)The Rev. Dr. Garth R. Thompson Pastor, M.B. Community ChurchA sermon is a simple truth told by someone whobelieves it to people he knows and loves (Phillips Brooks)December 9, 2007 10:30 a, m. Matthew 3:1-122nd Sunday in Advent
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our heartsbe acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer.