"Witness to the Light"

John 1: 6-8, 19-28

You have to feel a bit for the Pharisees. There had not been a prophet in Israel for several hundred years. The Sadducees had already closed their Bible after Moses. The Pharisees were the liberals of the time, who kept it open - at least in theory, who believed that, perhaps, God was not through speaking to them yet. Now, after several hundred years of silence, comes this odd figure - a little bit odd, ranting and railing out in the wilderness. Yet they do take him somewhat seriously - at least seriously enough to come out and see what he is saying and doing out there.

Why is John in the wilderness, rather than in the city, where he will always have nice crowds and, certainly more success? Why not in Jerusalem, where he can talk to the priests and see the people who are worshipping, who would seem more likely candidates for his message? Why out in no-mans-land?

Remember when Moses led the people of Israel out of their slavery into the promised land? For forty years, they wandered in the wilderness, as God purified for himself a people - a people who were ready to receive his promises, who were ready to act upon their faith in him. That is why John was out in the wilderness too - his call was a call into the wilderness. People had to leave their homes in the city, leave and go out to the wilderness. They had to be reminded of their roots, that they were a commissioned people, a people with a task. He called them out to repent, to change their way of thinking and living, and be baptized into a new way of living and thinking - a way that would prepare them for the coming Messiah. They could only do this, he said, if they came out to the wilderness, if they returned to a purer life, if they returned to an awareness of God's promises, if they returned to the commitment that they had once made.

The Pharisees could deal with that. Their message wasn't all that different. They also believed in separating themselves. They believed that the people had to return to the law, to better living. But that is where they parted with John. For the Pharisees, the separation had to do with keeping the law; for John, the separation had to do with going back to God's promises, with living what we would call today an "authentic lifestyle."

For many years, I asked my family and others for one gift for Christmas. I did not receive it until last year. For those years when I was asking for it, I wondered why I received everything else but the one thing I wanted. It wasn't an expensive gift. Maybe part of the problem was that it cost very little. I received ties, shirts, pants, tools - all kinds of things. And I understand that they were given in love, and I appreciated them. But the thing that I truly wanted was to receive just one thing - only one thing - for Christmas - a child. I wanted someone to adopt a child from Compassion International for me. I didn't want to do it myself - I wanted it as a gift. Finally I received it. Other than the gift of my family, it's the best gift I've ever gotten. My youngest son gave it to me - gave her to me. She - and the fact that she came by way of my son - are gifts I will always treasure. In fact, she’s been a continual gift – we received her when she was in kindergarten, and now she’s in the eighth grade.

I'm not putting down gift-giving - especially gifts from my family. What is important to me is that they express their love for me. But what makes this gift special is that it is also an expression of God's love, it makes Christmas a season of hope and promise, not just something to buoy up a consumer economy.

Don't you get tired of Christmas? It gets so hectic, with all the shopping and everything. After it's over, you tend to sit back in your chair, take a deep breath, and say, "Thank God!" Our celebration is an inch deep and a mile wide. We try to do everything, and get little out of it.

This morning, I think John is the church. I think we are called to be witnesses to the Light. I believe that God is calling his people away from a consumer mentality, away from the busyness of the season, back to the wilderness, back to the roots of this wonderful story – so that we can enter again into the promised land of Christmas, and celebrate it in a different way. Personally, I think it would be a good idea if we did as the Orthodox do, and put off the gift-giving until Epiphany, the day that the wise men came - to separate it altogether from Christmas, and take the pressure off all of this gift-giving. And then look for more Gospel-oriented ways to celebrate God's coming among us.

Many of you already include some of those things in your holiday season- going back to the root story, about a baby born in a stable, one who we see in the lost and the least. Many of you work with Salvation Army and RCS and in other ways to help the "least and the lost." But it is hard to be part of two cultures - the one of the city, from which John has called the people, with all of its values; and the other, out in the wilderness, the place to which John calls them. It's hard to be invested in both ways of celebrating - it just makes our celebration even more hectic.

John's call is not for a permanent return to the wilderness, but for a kind of spiritual retreat - to go there for a while, so that we can get back to our roots. He wants us to go there long enough to try on a new lifestyle, to get back to our baptism, to repent which, in the original Greek, means "to go another way" - to try a different way of living, and then return, seeing life in a different way, with different eyes. He wanted the people to go back to the wilderness, to reclaim their heritage, so that they could enter once again into the promised land, prepared to meet their Messiah as the culmination of God’s promises to them.

Can we do that with the Christmas story? Can Christmas, and the season that surrounds it, provide that for us? There is so much pressure to conform during this season, to go out and buy a lot of stuff, and make that our Christmas. Can we make family the heart of Christmas, without buying a lot of stuff? Can we find ways to give ourselves to our families, rather than just things? That seems more in keeping with the story. Can we provide a place for Joseph and Mary to stay, a place that is safe for an infant to be born? A place like the Homeless Shelter, or the Habitat project. or making sure our own home is the kind of place where the Christ child could be welcomed and nurtured? Will we receive him, in the faces of our children, in this congregation? Will we teach, mentor, take him under our wing and receive him - in the person of our own children - into our hearts?

It seems to me that these are things that get us back to the original story - they are our calling into the wilderness, to the living out of the promise, preparing ourselves for the coming Kingdom. It is an exciting and wonderful call.

The easy thing is to stay in the city and do what everyone else does. But God has richly and creatively blessed us. What I would like to propose is this: that every day, from now until Christmas, you read the Christmas story to yourself. It doesn't matter which one of the Gospels you read it from. Maybe take one each week. Read it, and meditate on it throughout your day. Let it take you back to the first Christmas. Live that experience out in your mind and heart. If necessary, go out to a barn somewhere and pray. Let the story sink deeply into your heart. Then let it speak to you, from the root of the story. Set aside any preconceived notions about how you ought to celebrate Christmas, and let God's Spirit speak to you.

Let us go, with John, out to the wilderness, to our roots, to our baptism. Let us hear afresh the wonderful news of our Lord's coming. Let us set our hearts to prepare for him. Let us live our lives in anticipation of his coming. Let us be witnesses to the Light. Then we will have, indeed, a Merry Christmas!