The Gospel of Our Lord Jesus Christ According to Luke.
John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
And the crowds asked him, “What then should we do?” In reply he said to them, “Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.” Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, “Teacher, what should we do?” He said to them, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what should we do?” He said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”
As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people. (Luke 3:7-18)
______________________________________
A reminiscence circa 2003: –
This has been one of those weeks for me, one that has not gone to plan.
This month has been like that, come to think.
And I, who have been preaching to you about what to do this Advent, as we prepare for the coming of Jesus, I have been wondering what I should do.
And last Tuesday, I found out.
The occasion was our Clericus meeting, For those who don’t know, Clericus is the group of Anglican clergy from this area. We have clergy from Grimsby, and all the churches as far as St. Catharine’s, and including Welland and Thorold, I think. It’s hard to know because not all of them are there at the same time. Some of them are not all there any of the time.
Anyway, the Clericus meeting usually begins with Eucharist, followed by a business meeting, then lunch. Sometimes, a speaker has been invited, and that is a nice break from the usual gossip and stuff that goes on.
This week Elaine Hooker had been asked to bring her Labyrinth.
A labyrinth is not a maze. I can find my way out of a labyrinth. I can’t find my way out of a maze, even if a block of cheese were placed at the exit.
The idea of a labyrinth is to allow one to take a journey, in a small place. A journey of discovery – maybe. A journey of tranquility, of meditation, of relaxation – maybe.
The labyrinth that Elaine has, and I imagine anyone else who uses one, is modeled on the one outside Notre Dame cathedral at Chartres in France.
The original is set into marble tile, I think, whereas Elaine’s has to be portable and so is made of canvas.
I have known of Elaine’s interest in the labyrinth for some time, and have teased her about it immensely. You know the sort of thing, “How can a labyrinth bring someone to know God better?”
What if Peter asked Jesus how to bring people to come to know him? And Jesus saying in reply, “ When the Son of Man is lifted up I will draw people to me.”
And Peter asking, “Should I get a labyrinth?”
And Jesus saying, “Peter read my lips – Son of Man – lifted up, etc”
Yes I have teased Elaine about her labyrinth.
Anyway this last Tuesday we went into St. Andrew’s Parish Hall and there was this humungous canvas circle on the floor, with a pathway in purple on it, weaving this way and that, with an entry point that also was the exit point.
You went in there and after weaving your way around all of the pathway, you came back to the same point.
There was a man kneeling at the far side. He had candles burning around him, and played some sort of eastern flute-like instrument.
Elaine had a Tibetan bell that she would ring when it was time for us to begin and when it was time for any laggards still in the labyrinth to hurry up and come out.
She also had, on a table at the side, some shells and some stones, and again, candles burning. Oh, and there were candles burning all around the circumference of the circle.
She said that we might want to take a stone, or a shell, and carry it with us to the centre of the labyrinth, using it to assist in meditating, and if we wished we could leave it at the centre where there was a basket.
When it was time for me to embark on my journey, I took a stone in my hand, and stocking-footed, stepped into the labyrinth.
I thought it a bit strange, you know? And I could feel the cold of the floor through the canvas and my socks, but I ventured forth, a reluctant pilgrim.
I tried to keep in the lines at first, then I realised that to pass someone, or to allow someone to pass you, or when two pathways were close and parallel to each other, someone would have to step off the path to allow the other to pass.
But soon I was drawn into it.
It was very restful. I found myself praying. I relaxed and walked slowly, passing others, and being passed by others – not because anyone was speeding – but because as the pathway weaved back and forth, it would come into closer proximity to another part of the path. When we passed, no-one spoke, or acknowledged the other.
And I prayed.
And as I progressed on my journey, praying, I handled my stone, turning it around in my hand, feeling its surfaces, the roughness and jaggedness of bits that stuck out. It wasn’t a smooth shiny pebble.
Then I felt a jagged part, rougher and more pronounced than the main part of the stone, and my mind took a hold of that and memories and ideas bubbled up to the surface.
The rock reminded me, of me.
It would be nice to think that I was smooth, with no sharp edges. But I am not.
Oh, when I am in church I am on my best behaviour – like you – but there are times when my sharp edges poke through that smooth, calm exterior, and someone is hurt.
Then again, a rock is hard. And if it is hard, it is unyielding. It can be unfeeling.
And I thought, as I walked around that labyrinth, that maybe that is something I should be working on. I should be working on getting rid of the sharp edges, the hardness, the unyielding-ness, and then maybe the Spirit of Christmas, would find it easier to get into my heart,
“Teacher, what should we do? “
When the people asked John that question, he replied to them as befitted their particular sins.
To those without compassion for those worse off, he said, “If you have two coats, give one to someone who doesn’t have any. If you have food, share it with someone else.”
To tax collectors, notorious for taking more than they should, he replied, “ Don’t make people pay more than they really owe.”
To soldiers, he said, ‘Don’t extort money from people.”
And so on.
He was being specific, because that’s what would influence people more than generalities, but he might have said, “ Ask God to take away your heart of stone, and give you a heart of flesh.”
Because it is from a hard heart, a heart of stone, that hurtfulness, and sins against others, come.
Hundreds of years before, the children of Israel had hardened their heart against God, and they found themselves in exile, living in a foreign land, far from home.
God wanted to bring them back, and have them know him again. He says, in Ezekiel, “I will gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And I will take away their stony heart, and give them a heart of flesh. “That they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and obey them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”
I don’t think anyone wants to have a heart that rejects God, and which has ceased to feel compassion, and kindness for others.
I don’t think anyone would want to have a hard stony heart. But it happens, sometimes, without us even realising it.
Husband and wife can get into a nasty way of talking to each other.
Someone hurts us just one time too many, and we find our heart hardened toward them.
We read about the horrible things that go on in the world, and can’t take it, and we harden our heart, because we don’t want to know about the hurt.
We get asked too many times for help, and we get what’s called ‘charity-fatigue,’ which is to say, hardness of heart. And we quit helping.
People we thought would be there for us, aren’t, and we are angry with them.
Christmas gets to be too much of a hassle. Who to buy for, and what to get, and how much to spend, and how to wrap it, and time’s running out and I haven’t got the tree up yet, and the presents aren’t wrapped, and someone’s coming for dinner, and I don’t have a thing to wear, and I forgot to pick up the turkey and so on and so on.
Slow down.
Take it easy.
That’s not Christmas.
I am so sorry you have to do all that stuff. It’s the price we pay for living in a consumer society.
But don’t let your heart be hardened toward the child; toward the Christ; toward God Himself.
He simply dropped into the world to talk about love.
And he knows about the hassles, and the busyness, and the problems, and the heartbreaks.
And he says, “Come, let me put a heart of flesh within you. Let this soft, feeling heart make you one with me. Come and walk with me, and let us know each other. And you will be my people and I will be your God. And not too much else matters.
“For I will write my laws on your heart, and you will know how to love, and how to be.
“Teacher, what should we do?”
Cast away the heart of stone, and accept the heart of flesh, and live in joy and peace.
Amen.