For The Second Sunday of Advent

Collect

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen.

Reading

From Luke 3:1-6

“[John] went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins”

Reflection

It is hard for me to imagine John the Baptizer rounding up a bunch of Episcopalians with a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Maybe in another era. Perhaps a century ago. But not in many more recent years. And really, not since World War II, when the world changed. Life itself changed.

I suspect many people hear the word “repentance” with a bleakness that isn’t inherent to the word or its import. As if there is something we fear what is about to be said – an implication of unworthiness and discomfort.

These words: repentance, forgiveness, and sin: carry a lot of baggage for us. But I also suspect that for most of us, that baggage is mostly empty suitcases we haven’t bothered to open in years.

To repent is to turn; to change direction.

Repentance is the act of turning, changing where we’re headed, altering the path we’re on, putting a new focus into our lives.

I’m not naive to how the word has been used: to browbeat a people to show fealty toward an angry god. But I also think we’re far too afraid of using a word that is central to not only John’s ministry, but Jesus’s.

Repentance is why we all come to church. Because the direction we are headed on when we’re on our own isn’t the one we truly want.

The same goes for “the forgiveness of sins”. We can make an academic thing out of it, of course, but we all know that we aren’t perfect. And because we haven’t always been on the best path (and let’s be honest, we all struggle with it now), we have done and will do things that hurt: ourselves and others. We all sin. And we all can be forgiven.

When we avoid thinking about repentance, forgiveness, and sin, we avoid thinking about the central claim of Jesus: that we all need the grace of God. And thank God that God is so gracious.

And then, when we remember, we can hear the call to repentance as a welcome invitation. To hope, peace, joy, and love. To true freedom.