Sunday 7^th December 2008. Mark 1: 1 – 8

Oyez, oyez, for centuries before the invention of radio and television, the town crier would go into the streets to tell the news, to let people know what was happening.

Life was hard for the Jewish people, their scriptures promised freedom, they were God’s chosen people, but all they could see was hardship and suffering.

They knew from the scriptures; they knew well the words of Isaiah ‘I am sending my messenger ahead of me; he will

 clear the way for you’. But would it ever happen, when would this promise be revealed. When would their messiah come to lead them against the Romans to be their saviour?

For centuries they had been waiting for a sign, waiting for deliverance. But they had preconceived ideas about what would happen, and these ideas didn’t allow for someone who appeared to be a weirdo. They didn’t expect someone in strange clothes, no doubt looking somewhat scruffy, who ate locust and wild honey, they were looking for someone who looked like a leader, looked powerful. And his message, also, was unexpected, no call to a fight, but a call to repent of their sins, to be baptised in water and to prepare themselves for the coming of someone greater than him.

And yet even though some thought John must be mad, there was something that made many listen to him, they could see some light shining from him, they knew there was something in it.

And his call to repent, to turn away from the lives they were living, to turn to God and listen to his word, they were words reminiscent of many of the stories in the Old testament, they were words they understood.

There may have been many centuries in time between Isaiah and John but their message was the same, and they serve to remind us that faith is timeless, that it was, is and still to come.

So what is our message, how are we preparing people for the coming of Christ. Are we truly broadcasting the good news or are we being apathetic just going with the flow.

For a start am I the only person who feels that Christmas cards should wish people a Happy Christmas, not seasons greetings, for what does that mean? Winter - when it is cold, grey and damp isn’t a particularly cheery time of the year, so are we wishing people a miserable time, what are we afraid of, why don’t all cards say Happy Christmas.

Last Sunday I said that as there can be no crib scene without the baby Jesus, there can be no Christmas without Christ. And yet the Church seems to go along with societies diluting of Christmas. Today’s Gospel reading starts ‘the beginning of the Good News about Jesus Christ’ but do we shout the good news out loudly enough.

If John the Baptist could speak to us today what would he say, what would it be like to meet him, would we listen or just think he was weird? And more importantly; what would he say of our Advent preparation? Remember John was preparing them not for the birth of a baby but the appearance in their midst of the Messiah, the Saviour, a man who would walk among them, preaching, and healing, calling people to God.

So if he was speaking to us to today - perhaps he would start by reminding us of his special role, that he had a special job to do. He had to prepare people for the coming of Jesus, he was to talk to people face to face and prepare them for the celebration of Christ’s birth. But we also have a special job to do.

So let’s think how we prepare those around us for the celebration of Christ’s birth, what do we do to make people understand, to make the birth seem alive, that dramatic, joyous day, that day that was to change the whole course of history.

And of course its more than just the birth of a baby, it is the life of Christ, his suffering, his sacrifice for us on the Cross, his coming to us in the bread and wine. One of the interesting things about Mark’s Gospel is that he didn’t mention the nativity, no mention of a baby, shepherds, wise men, no mark was only interested in what you might call the working life of our Saviour..

So what would his message to us be? Would he say ‘Don’t forget about sharing, caring and loving as you prepare for Christmas?’ Don’t forget to teach the whole message of Christ’s life, don’t let people get stuck in the stable, unable, unwilling to move on; but help them to be able to walk with Christ on that long walk of Holy week, to suffer with him on the Cross on Good Friday and then to join in the joyous celebration of the Resurrection on Easter Day. Would John say look at us and say remember you can’t have Christmas without Lent, Good Friday, Easter for they are all the one story, they cannot be separated.

Would John look at the Church and say; get your act together, remember what your faith is and concentrate of proclaiming it, don’t get swamped in fears and prejudices, preach the Gospel, call people to Christ. And how would the Church respond, would synod be shattered by such a basic request?

In the Gospel passage we have just heard Mark is trying to convey the huge sense of shock felt by the way God was doing things. But perhaps they needed a huge shock, a jolt to look at their faith, to look at the way they were responding to God. And do we need a jolt today, would John the Baptist feel we are preparing ourselves and others as we should or would he think the church is drifting along. more worried by numbers than the message, that it’s too busy planning - wondering what it will do next rather than calling out - in the wilderness that is our secular society today, calling people back to faith. We are called to proclaim to Gospel to spread the word.

Prepare the way for the Lord. This was Isaiah’s message, and it is John’s message as the New Testament opens more than five centuries after Isaiah. In the reading from Isaiah we hear the not-too-comforting message, reminding us of how transitory human life is from God’s perspective. He writes, “All people

are grass, ………..the grass withers, the flower fades, when the breath of the Lord blows upon it; surely the people are grass.”

What then is permanent? What then shall we count on? Isaiah, reminds his people, and us, of the everlasting nature of God’s word. It is this word of God which invigorates, which never fails. Our lives may be as fleeting as the grass but God has given us Jesus to be our anchor, to be our comforter and our guide. This was the message John was preparing the people for, it is the message the Gospels prepare us for, all it needs is for us to go out into the wilderness of today’s secular society and proclaim it, and let start by making sure our Christmas cards do wish ‘A Happy Christmas’, let us make sure Christ is in Christmas. Amen.