Muskoka Lakes Ministry of Knox, Port Carling & Zion, Torrance
Sunday Dec 6, 2020
Message: Repentance – An Opportunity!
Reverend John Young
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Announcements
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* We extend thanks to Rev. John Young for supplying the pulpit the month of December.
* Lectio Divina, Thursday evenings, 8pm via Zoom
* Rev Faith will be on holidays for the month of December. Rev John Young will be conducting worship.
* For those who are unable to take part in Communion by Zoom, I will be arranging to bring Communion into your home starting in January. Please contact me to discuss and set up a day/time.
* If you have a pastoral need during my time away, please leave a message on the church office answering machine (It will be checked daily), or contact one of the elders (Knox: Alf MacMillian 705-764-1654 / Edie Bard 705-645-6748 / Scott Murley 647-220-0475 / Cathy Vine 705-764-0320 / Ken Shortt 705-769-3239) and (Zion: Garnet Schenk 705-684-8498 / Inez Laycock 705-762-2075 / Robin Keeler 416-540-4324)
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Call to Worship ~ Advent Candle Lighting
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Today is the 2nd Sunday of Advent and we light the candle of peace. More than simply the absence of war, we might speak about broader aspects of peace … wholeness, completeness, wellbeing … these are things we can experience ourselves and share with world, as gifts from God. We affirm that God’s desire for each and for all is peace in its largest sense. The candle of peace!… Thanks be to God!
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Prayer of Adoration & Confession
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God of hope and peace, thank you for these days and weeks ahead of
Christmas to reflect on your love for all people, your daily blessings poured out on the world, your hope that human beings will – upon receiving your love & blessings – pay them forward, spreading much hope and peace. Even in the darkest days of this pandemic, your love empowers many to show extraordinary care, your blessings enable many to be kind and gracious, patient and generous. As we ponder your love and blessings, we also become aware of our consistent failure to encourage hope and make peace. We want you to deal with the pandemic rather than empower us to be responsible and helpful. We claim to love you but fail to adequately honour your calling that we be beacons of light, and hope. We claim to love our neighbours yet we are slow to wear a mask and keep our distance to protect them. We claim to love ourselves while consistently finding ways to self-destruct.
In the safety of your grace we acknowledge and turn away from our sin …
and claim again your blessing, your love, and your pardon, as promised in the sending of our Saviour. These things we pray in Christ’s name. Amen

Words of Assurance
Ultimately, confession is not about how bad we are but rather it is about
how good God is … and the truth of the Gospel is that God never gives up on us,
for God is love. God gladly sends us on our way … released, unfettered, freed …
so that as we have been blessed, freed, loved, we may also bless, free, and love
others. These are the promises God makes to us in Jesus, the Messiah. Go now in
peace to love and serve your God. Amen
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Scripture
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Mark 1:1-8 John the Baptist Prepares the Way
The beginning of the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God, as it is written in Isaiah the prophet:
“I will send my messenger ahead of you,
who will prepare your way”—
“a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”
And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River. John wore clothing made of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. And this was his message: “After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”
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Message
“Repentance – An Opportunity!”
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Each year, on the Second Sunday of Advent, the Gospel reading tells of a wild man with a wild message out in the wilderness calling everyone to repent, change our ways, turn back to faithful living .. and why? Because God is about to break into the world!

And so we meet John the baptizer, dressed in camel skin, munching locusts, stealing wild honey and likely getting stung for it. He is preaching in the sanctuary of the wilderness and offering a sacrament of cleansing in a river. He is preaching a message of change and repentance … and the people are lined up to listen. Mark’s Gospel says … this is the beginning of the Good News of God’s entry into the world in the person we know as Jesus the Messiah. It seems that people were hungry to hear about this good news.

Mark’s Gospel offers 8 verses for this introduction to John the baptizer and his wild message … the Gospels of Matthew, Luke and John are somewhat longer, each with slightly different emphases.

The Gospel of Matthew has a particular bone to pick with the religious leaders of the time … here the Baptist calls them snakes and tells them to “bear fruit worthy of repentance”. Then come images right off the farm … trees bearing good fruit are kept / the others are cut down and burned … the wheat is gathered / the chaff is burned … turn back to faithful living … bear good fruit and be gathered like wheat. All are challenged to bear good fruit and become gathered wheat.

John’s Gospel puts emphasis on the Baptist as a messenger, a herald, an announcer of things to come … and that announcement had to do with “the light which enlightens everyone – coming into the world.” In John’s Gospel, people might not recognize the light or welcome it, nevertheless God’s light is coming. The Baptist firmly denies that he is the light … he is simply the messenger – God’s light is coming into the world in the shape of a person, Jesus the Messiah.

Luke’s Gospel doesn’t show the Baptist picking on the religious leaders, instead he calls everyone snakes and requires everyone to bear good fruit. In a surprising twist, the crowd is not offended but quickly asks – “what then should we do?” The Baptist’s answer gives us a very practical way of looking at what faithful living might be. We are to share with the needy, feed the hungry, be fair in our dealings with people, and not abuse any status or power we might have. One of the big themes in Luke’s Gospel is this kind of practical Christianity.
Each of the Gospels frames the overall message as Good News … not a threat … not a guilt trip … not a judgment! The core of the Baptist’s message is that God is coming into the world to restore hope and bring peace in the widest sense of those words!! And we already know that God’s arrival in the world is accomplished as a person named Jesus!

Another big point of the Baptist’s message is that people have much changing to do, much to turn away from as we prepare to live in and with the Good News of God’s arrival as Saviour.

A regular item in the news reminds us of the uncomfortable truth that the poor and unfortunate require better care – such a big issue. As an example over a million children in Canada live under the poverty line … and since the government is really just the big ‘us’ … this is something we are called to change as a society. We are invited by the Gospel to change our attitudes to the poor and follow the example of Jesus in terms of kindness and practical help.

The environment – such a big issue – yet also something that each person might play their part in. Let us begin by intentionally reducing and reusing more. As an example use less fuel in the car and put fewer pollutants into the air by simply observing the speed limit. Let us intentionally recycle everything we can. Google “100 ways to go green” and let us all do more than we have been doing. What does it say about us and our society that we treat our world more like a garbage can than a home? We are invited by the Gospel to change our attitudes and lifestyle, and be better stewards of the earth.

Covid 19 – such a big issue – but also one that each person can make a difference with. The three actions which can keep covid19 under control are handwashing, keeping 2 metres apart, and wearing a mask. What does it say about us, about our culture that a significant number of people are refusing to care for themselves and others by not doing these simple and effective things? Let all of us do our part … we are invited by the Gospel to love our neighbours as ourselves.

A couple of things strike me as I reflect on the Gospel stories about John the Baptist.

First, the word ‘repent’ … you’ll notice I haven’t used it much in my sermon … most of the pictures I get in my head when I hear that word are negative. I see a big finger appearing out of nowhere and pointing at me / accusing me of being the worst kind of person. I hear a screechy preacher in my head yelling one word – SINNER! I feel stuck – as if I can’t do anything about it. I wonder if you have similar reactions to the word ‘repent’?

The biblical notion of repentance is none of that negative stuff. Instead biblical repentance is more like an opportunity to return to God’s ways … more like a coming to our senses and deciding to do life in harmony with biblical teaching … more like the prodigal returning home and beginning a new life. Biblical repentance is about leaving something behind and doing something far better as God’s children. Biblical repentance is so much more positive than much of the teaching we have heard. The core of repentance is a personal choice to live the best, honourable, gracious kind of life in God’s world, and according to God’s ways.

Second, we don’t repent, change our ways, re-orient our lives, or turn back to God in order to gain God’s love or forgiveness. The opposite is true … God has chosen to enter the world as a Saviour, loving and forgiving us first, before we do anything … and then giving us the opportunity to live life differently … new life … an honourable and gracious life according to God’s ways revealed in the example of Jesus. Repentance is an opportunity, a gift we are given to say ‘yes’ to a fruitful life as God’s children.

On this second Sunday of Advent, I wish you hope and peace. Amen
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Prayers of the People ~ Lord’s Prayer (sins)
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O God, whose name is Hope, and whose actions are life-giving, thank you for the strength and grace you send our way as we go about our lives in these days of pandemic. Thank you that you are close to us even when we don’t feel it … that your strength and peace is upon us even when we feel alone, vulnerable, miserable. Thank you that we may count on you, not to fix everything that is wrong, but to give us everything we need in order to meet whatever life may toss our way. Thank you for these weeks of Advent reminding all people that Christmas is never cancelled and that your love has no off-season.

O God whose name is Peace, and who plants seeds of wholeness and well-being in every corner of the globe, we count on your blessing to help people navigate these stressful days of covid19. Help us be part of a larger movement which honours so many frontline workers who care for the sick, who protect the vulnerable, who keep the essential services running. Help us be part of the larger movement which limits personal gatherings and helps reduce the spread of covid19. Bless us with patience and calmness as we encounter the world’s chaos and fear … help us to be ambassadors of your shalom.

O God, while we ask you to send your powerful, creative, and loving presence to all who struggle, we believe that you already have done it. In so many ways, our prayers are already answered, so we believe, for you are in the midst of the world already, working your incredible grace and hoping people will pay your blessings forward. We pray these and many other things in the strong and sure name of our Saviour using the words he taught us …

Our Father in heaven, hallowed by your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Save us from the time of trial and deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours, now and forever. Amen
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Benediction
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In a world where fear, uncertainty and anger are so evident, God calls us to be creatively kind, wonderfully patient, unexpectedly generous.
May the many and diverse blessings of God … Creator, Saviour, and Spirit of truth … rest upon you and flow through you to others. Amen