2nd Sunday in Advent                             Luke 3:1-6                      Decenber 6, 2009

The following story is fictitious and yet I suspect it is a story we can all relate to in one form or another, both literally and figuratively.

It did was vacation time and the family was on the road, a road trip to the one of America’s magnificent national parks our west.
The car was packed to the hilt; the family was settled in reasonable comfort.
They had been on the road for about five hours when it became apparent that what MapQuest had indicated was a real road was, in fact, a road under construction.
Ralph should have known better and sighed to himself. When he had turned onto the road and left the main highway, there had been a warning: “Proceed at Your own Risk. Construction Ahead.”
Of course there was no indication of how long the construction was going to last.

It started out OK, but that’s often the case.
For the first couple of miles the surface was paved, though a bit bumpy at times.
Eventually and rather abruptly the asphalt gave way to gravel and a think layer of tar.
The smell of the tar ands the sound of the gravel bouncing up against the bottom of the car got the children’s attention and caused them to stir from their highway induced nap.
Ralph’s wife gave him one of those questioning looks, a look he was not at all unfamiliar with.

It was times like this that Ralph wished the kids could have continued to sleep just a bit longer because their awaking brought the questions: “Are we there yet?” “How much farther?”

“Well,” Ralph said, “We still have a little ways to go, it shouldn’t be long.”
At the same time he asked his wife to dig out one of those old-fashioned road maps from the glove box.

As his wife was unfolding the map the gravel ended and they hit dirt.
If Ralph was feeling uncomfortable before, now he was beginning to sweat and worry.
It didn’t help that they seemed to be the only people on this road, and they had seen no one coming from the other direction.
Even Ralph knew this was not a good sign.
And yet he kept going.
Then the dirt became mud.
Ralph was hoping and praying that this was only a bad patch—that the “real” road, the passable road was just ahead.

No such luck.
The mud did not dry out, instead the car, loaded to the gills, began to sink.
The pinging noise of gravel against the car’s undercarriage had given way to a slurping sound as tires kicked up mud and then were enveloped by it.

Ralph thought to himself, “I have to keep going.”
“If I can just keep moving forward, we’ll be alright. Besides, we’re already behind schedule, but maybe, it will be alright if I just keep going, if we can just keep moving.”

As you might imagine, and as you might have experienced yourself, the mud only deepened.
The car became so mired in the mud that in no time the car was sunk up to the chassis, and the tires were submerged.
And no matter how much he may have tried to gun the engine, it was to no avail, it was an exercise in futility. Finally Ralph simply turned the engine off.

Once again the heads and the questions popped up:
“Are we there yet?” “What’s up Dad?” and once again his dear wife gave him that look, you know the look, the look that speaks volumes.

Ralph just sat there, looking at the road ahead of him.
He considered lying to the kids:
“Why, yes, we are! Just look at this fascinating scenery.” Or perhaps, “I was hoping for some real adventure on this vacation, and here it is.”
He also thought about blaming MapQuest or the people who posted such a useless sign.
Instead he told the kids that they were going to need to be patient and stay calm.
And his wife sighed and looked out the other window.  And Ralph suddenly felt very alone and frustrated.

Help did come.
It came in the form of a tow truck with really big fat wheels that traveled that stretch of the road a couple times a day, trolling for similar unsuspecting victims.  $150 dollars later the car was towed back to the main road and were given directions for a much longer, but passable route to their destination.

In the years that followed, that part of the vacation became known as “the repentance trip” because it embodied so well the definition of repentance—an active turning around, going in a new direction, a change of heart, a change of mind, rather than continuing down the same path, moving in the same direction that is leading nowhere or somewhere dangerous, fast.

In our Gospel reading this morning we hear about John the Baptist emerging from the wilderness proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
And he did so in order that “all flesh (would) see the salvation of God.” (Lk. 3:6)

So, what does it mean to repent?
There are many who usually think if repentance as feeling sorry for ones sins, errors, poor choices and miscalculations.
But the truth is, repentance is much more.
For you see, repentance is more than simply feeling remorse or regret.
Repentance is more than listing all the ways things could have gone differently.
It is not wishing you were a better person, or that something had never happened, that bad things wouldn’t keep happening to you.
It’s not about feeling guilty or ashamed.
It’s not feeling afraid.
It’s not something that leaves us stuck, or standing still or spinning our wheels, going nowhere.

There are many for whom repentance is merely about feelings.
And while feelings can be a starting place—it is never the end result, because feelings are fickle.
You can have mushy feelings of love and affection for someone one day and then a week later find yourself wondering what you ever saw in that person.
You can feel remorse for something you said about someone on Monday and then on Thursday you find yourself gossiping about that same person yet again. Feelings are fickle and feelings never get the job done.

Repentance is about action, it is movement, letting yourself be grasped by God, getting new bearings, and relying on God for directions.

As you many of you may know the New Testament was written in Greek, and the Greek word for “repentance” is “metanoia”.
And Metanoia means changing one’s mind—changing the direction of one’s life.
More specifically, metanoia was an army command—like “about face!” it meant, “turn around face the opposite direction.”

In other words, we might start out feeling sorry for our sins, but repentance then requires a change of mind—a change of direction.

And when that happens new life follows, a new direction that comes with a fresh start and that is what John is proclaiming to those who gathered by the river Jordan. John was not particularly concerned with our feelings—in fact John has never struck me as a “feeling” kind of guy. John was interested in action and results and he makes that clear when he calls all sinners to action: repent, turn around, and accept help.

Repentance can happen when you are confronted by something, maybe remorse, maybe disappointment or regret, maybe the sense that you are stuck or spinning your wheels.
Maybe it comes from something as small as wishing you hadn’t said something or wishing you could take back an action.
Maybe it comes from something as large as the report from the doctor that indicates more tests are needed, and you decide that whether it turns out to be something or it turns out to be nothing, whether you have three more decades or three more weeks, you want that time to count for something, to be something you can offer back to God.
Maybe it comes when you realize there are other people with you on your journey and that your decisions affect them too and the wilderness in not a good place to be forever.

This morning we have the opportunity to celebrate the baptisms of: Hunter, Dominic and Heath.
And while we believe that once baptized, always baptized—we also believe that baptism is a daily event, that every day we have the opportunity to remember our baptism and as a result every day we are born again.
The same applies to repentance.
There are some who will give you the impression that repentance is something that we do just once when we first come to faith.
Similar to remembering and celebrating our baptism, repentance is something that we would do well to do every day.
I don’t know about you, but I have plenty of opportunities in the course of a day to act on something that will eventfully require my repentance and yet I suspect that I am not alone.
Most likely it won’t be something that requires a 180-degree turn around, like sheep who just nibble their way lost, we too may find ourselves slowly, casually, unintentionally finding ourselves lost, stuck and at a loss as to where to turn next. 
Daily repentance is a matter of dealing with the little things of daily life—a bit of anger here—an unkind word there—an adulterous inclination—a spot of jealousy—failure to count our blessings—the possibilities are endless.

Each day we each face possibilities and temptations that have a way of leading us astray and for that reason it is good for us to take time for daily repentance—maybe even hourly repentance depending on what kind of week you are having.
Daily repentance gives us the opportunity to repair, renew and readjust the direction of our lives and if we make those minor corrections through repentance, we may very well spare us from the need for major repentance somewhere else down the road.

John the Baptist came out of the wilderness preaching about repentance for the forgiveness of sins—repentance that would lead to salvation.
Repentance comes in many ways.
When God turns us around, offers us a way to get unstuck and moves us ahead with a new way of life the only appropriate response is one of gratitude and joy. Amen.

Pastor Stephen Blenkush
Zion Lutheran
Milaca, MN
www.ZionMilaca.org

 

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