This morning’s gospel is a tough one...to have to preach...to a sophisticated...21^st century...well educated congregation.....And I think it’s also a bit of a problem...in getting you to take it seriously...because of its setting.....John the Baptist is the central character...but where has he set up his revival tent?.......Is he in the thick of the activity in Jerusalem...on some busy main thoroughfare...or market area?.....Not at all.......He’s way out in the country somewhere.....In fact...we’re told that he was out in the wilderness of Judea...hardly a population center...and yet apparently...crowds of people came out to hear him......They sat and listened to his sermons...which certainly weren’t the warm and fuzzy...or audience-driven type...designed to build self-esteem...or encourage positive attitudes in his listeners.....Because there’s nothing in the record which says...that what this man preached could remotely be translated as... "Trust in God...and everything will turn out all right in the end".....

No...John preached the kind of sermons which were not only blunt...but they were edgy...and they cut right to the quick.....

People have written that the famous New England preacher Jonathan Edwards used to preach his famous sermon... "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"...with such passion...that you could smell the brimstone ...and feel the heat from hell........So maybe there was some kinship... between Jonathan and John...."The reign of God is drawing near"...John thundered to his wilderness congregation..."and all of you... who want to join it...better get ready...by getting right with God!.....How do you do that?...I’ll tell you how...you have to repent!.....You have to confess your sins...and come clean with God!".....That’s essentially the core of his sermon...and the most bizarre and amazing thing of all...is that they did .....They did repent.....For what you and I undeniably know...is that they responded to that message in huge numbers...because if they hadn’t...you and I wouldn’t be sitting here this morning......The people of Judea...and all the region along the Jordan River listened to that amazing preacher... and were convicted...repented...confessed their sins...and then...John baptized them in the River Jordan.......

Now that’s a fine story from a long time ago...but that scene doesn’t really fit with contemporary American religion...does it? ......Several years ago Newsweek did an article entitled "What Ever Happened to Sin"...and the author remarked...that the urgent sense of personal sin... had all but disappeared...in the current upbeat style of American religion ......And I think that’s pretty true isn’t it?.....Maybe Gerry Trudeau got it best in his Doonesbury comic strip a while back...when the Reverend of the Little Church of Walden...was talking with a couple who were thinking of joining the church....."I like to describe it as a 12-step Christianity.....Basically...I believe that we’re all recovering sinners..... My ministry is about overcoming denial......It’s about recommitment... and redemption......It’s all in the brochure out there"......"Wait a minute ...sinners...redemption"..said the wife...."Doesn’t that imply guilt?"...... "Well...yes"...the Reverend continued....."I do rely on the occasional disincentive...to keep the flock from going astray...and guilt is a part of that"....."I dunno"...said the husband..."there’s already so much negativity in the world as it is"...."That’s right"...said the wife...."You see...we’re looking for a church that’s supportive......A place where we can feel good about ourselves.......I’m not sure the guilt thing works for us"......"But on the other hand"...the husband quickly added..."you do offer racquetball!"...."So did the Unitarians...honey" countered the wife ...."Let’s shop around some more"....

So let’s not kid ourselves...this concept of repentance...which is the theme of this morning’s gospel...is a hard sell...in today’s religion market .....And yet what we have to understand...is that repentance is more than liturgical hand-wringing...or soul bearing.....Repentance of sin...is the grief of recognized human guilt...before God.....It’s the theological prerequisite..for being open...to the great blessings of the gospel..... John’s message is intended to warn us...that the Reign of God is on it’s way.....And that’s why he’s calling on us to repent of our sin...so that we won’t miss it.....He’s trying to remind us...that we need to be ready to receive God’s reign when it arrives....He’s trying to tell us...that we need to prepare...if we’re planning to enter it...and come under it’s power...... For only those...who prepare themselves...only those...who have come clean with God about their need for forgiveness and grace....only those... who have shed the excess baggage of their claims to righteousness...will be open to the gift of Jesus...when he comes.......

Repentance...then isn’t a mere exercise in humility...or self-denigration... or any other self-oriented expression of mea culpa......Its focus isn’t on the individual......The focus of the human repentance that John exhorts... isn’t humanly oriented at all....It’s heavenly oriented on the coming Reign of God...on the One we now know...to be Jesus...and on the baptism he brings...and the Spirit he gives ....So what we’re called to do as Christians...is to repent in preparation and expectation of Jesus’ coming....And the reason we’re called to do that...is because paradoxically...sorrow for sin...opens us up to the possibility of a rebirth of joy...as Jesus once again comes into our hearts ...and our history... during the coming Christmas season.....

And yet...we have to be careful...because it’s also true...that most of us who come to church on a regular basis...do that because we already understand that we have a need for repentance.....So we also need to remember that Christianity has in many ways over the years...played rather fast and loose with this whole idea of guilt....When we think about repentance ...and our sin...we have to remember that modern psychology ...has been most helpful in giving us some tools to sort out the guilt... which is appropriate for us to feel...and the guilt which is not...regardless of whether that guilt has been imposed upon us...by religious institutions ...or family systems...in which guilt was the factor which drove the engine of family life......And if we’re going to do that successfully...it might be helpful to think about repentance in these three ways.....

First of all... repentance is a form of spiritual preparation...which enables us to avoid the guilt-inducing implications of repentance...by recognizing...that John the Baptist was attempting to bring forth a readiness in people...for God’s blessing in their lives....Thinking about repentance as preparation for blessing...is far more effective than associating repentance solely with sin...and sin with punishment... because making a connection between repentance and blessing...changes the contentional equation of unconfessed sin...from a force which ultimately leads to some kind of punishment...to unconfessed sin as a force...which deprives us of the opportunity to enjoy and celebrate the miracle of God’s redemptive entry into human history.....As long as our sin is unconfessed...you and I remain hardened against the beauty and possibility inherent in God’s advent in Christ.....For it’s repentance which sharpens our capacity to perceive the magnificence of this event... and it’s implications for our lives......Repentance as preparation...is an active decision to participate in the new age of God’s revelation in Christ.....It’s not a way of avoiding punishment...or of being "good"..... It’s a way of joining the celebration... and making it real in our lives....

Secondly...repentance isn’t about the past...it’s about the future.....How many of us live in the past?....How often is the meaning of our lives determined...by what has happened to us...or what has been done by us? .....The past is the primary arena of guilt...because we inadvertently allow it to become the distorted reference point for repentance...If we listen carefully to John the Baptist ...we hear echoes of some of the most incisive...contemporary thinking about the nature of change....For at the deepest levels of our being...to change in the literal sene of the word metonia...which is the Greek word for repentance...is to "change one’s mine"..."to turn in a new direction" ....And what this suggests...is that paying attention to what happens next ...and not to what happened before...is really what repentance is all about....The problem is that our lives are far too often defined in terms of our history...and not enough in terms of our present...and most important of all...our future.....So our repentance should not be focused on our past actions and failures...but rather on what is yet to come.....Because it’s repentance...that enables the spirit within us...once it has been forgiven and empowered...to live at a different level of meaning and purpose..... And it’s life...at that different level of meaning and purpose...which has the possibility to lead us to new horizons and vistas in our lives.....For if we can connect confession and repentance with a new future...instead of an old past...then we can get on...with moving toward the coming of God’s kingdom...by living a life that looks forward and not backward.....

Finally...we must recognize that an inability to repent...threatens us with the possibility that we may not have any room for growth in our lives.... And so there’s a dimension of John’s warning...that should create some authentic anxiety...for if we can’t confess how we’ve done harm to others as well as ourselves...and then bring ourselves into genuine repentance...we limit our potential for growth....The apocalyptic imagery of a burning fire...vividly suggests that something in us is destroyed when we allow ourselves...to confront our capacity for evil...and our ability to cause suffering....But we must also view our past clearly...so we don’t allow others to instill inappropriate guilt...or to manipulate us... with inappropriate feelings of shame.....And yet we must also guard against nuancing the experience of repentance so much...that it loses its power to shake us up.....At it’s best...the call to repentance should command a deeper look...at what you and I would prefer to ignore... That’s why it takes a lot of work and honesty to find the proper balance between a graceful exposure to repentance...as an invitation to new growth...as well as a definitive mirror that accurately reflects back to us ...what you and I would frankly rather not see.....

But there is yet one more step in this repentance business that we need to take a look at... because a radical change of outlook...or a changing of one’s mind...or a turning in a new direction...must eventually be translated into actual behavior...and what this may mean for us...is abandoning treasured ways and values......In our texts this morning...it’s very interesting that we’re given a vision of a whole new reality:...the kingdom of heaven...which is so beautifully described in the passage from Isaiah.....And so we need to consider the fact that our act of repentance...may bring us to a place in our lives...where we begin to involve ourselves in activities...which are attempting...even in small ways...to create this vision of a new reality in our own world....And it’s the power that comes to us...from that act of repentance...which makes this possible.....It’s what gives us the courage and the strength...to turn in a new direction.....

In the novel...A Civil Action...there is an incredible baptism-repentance story.....An attorney becomes so totally obsessed with a civil damage case...that he completely spends himself and the total financial resources of his firm in its pursuit....In spite of the merits of his clients claims... which are in fact quite compelling...the courts fail to offer a proper resolution or remedy.... So having exhausted himself...and pursued his personal vision of being an ace litigator...the lawyer so burns out...that his whole life comes to an impasse....At the climax of a period of exhausted inactivity and apparent disintegration...he goes to Hawaii... where finds himself on a beach one evening...strips...and walks out into the water.....He swims a way out...as if he’s never coming back....and the narrative gives the impression that he might intend suicide....Then after a long while he turns...swims back to shore...dresses and begins a whole new life.....The episode is a rite of passage and a reintegration.....And that’s precisely what repentance asks of us.......It asks us to imagine other ways of being and doing.....

Among John Lennon’s legacies is the song "Imagine"...in which he invited his listeners to visualize a world at peace....He offered it to us in the middle of warfare abroad...and horrendous division at home.....And yet we couldn’t resist such imagining...because deep in our souls...we all yearn for a pervasive peace...rooted in justice and righteousness almost as much as we yearn for food and drink....But we don’t often allow ourselves to dream such dreams....And in order to protect ourselves... from pain and disappointment...most of us tend to turn our eyes away from such a vision...But these prophets...Isaiah and John...invite us to dare to take the risk.....They dare us to dream God’s own dream for the world....For dreams are powerful...and imagination only serves to broaden possibility

.....In our times...unfortunately...the death of imagination...threatens to engulf our world...as well as all human hope...in nothingness....But let’s not forget...that God’s dream is more than a figment of imagination...It’s a promise from a dreamer...we can trust....But that divine dream also requires commitment...as well as trust....Dreaming God’s dream can...if we allow it...empower us to work here and now...for what God wants for the creation....

One individual who understood that...who understood what power there was in having the courage to imagine...to dream of turning around even the most concrete kinds of things...was no doubt thinking of these very scriptures...when he shared a dream in his heart...for the possibility of imagining the world...in a way...that would be more pleasing to God....... "I have a dream"...he said... "that one day every valley shall be engulfed ...every hill shall be exalted...and every mountain shall be made low...the rough places...will be made plains...the crooked places will be made straight...and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed...and all flesh see it together....This is our hope....This is the faith that I will go back to the South with.....With this faith...we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair...a stone of hope.....With this faith...we will be able to work together...to pray together...to struggle together...to go to jail together...to climb up for freedom together... knowing that we will be free one day"

And so this morning...I ask you...my brothers and sisters in Christ......... Where have all the dreamers gone?.........Is there no one...left among us.....who dares to imagine?.........Amen