(John 1.6-8,19-28)

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  19This is the testimony given by John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, ‘Who are you?’ 20He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, ‘I am not the Messiah.’ 21And they asked him, ‘What then? Are you Elijah?’ He said, ‘I am not.’ ‘Are you the prophet?’ He answered, ‘No.’ 22Then they said to him, ‘Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?’ 23He said,  ‘I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord”’, as the prophet Isaiah said.  24Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25They asked him, ‘Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?’ 26John answered them, ‘I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not know, 27the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.’ 28This took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing.

I want to carry on with a theme, which I have been developing over the Christmas period. The reason that the ‘true meaning’ of Christmas has been lost is because the church has given away the story. We have dumped Advent in favour of a longer Christmas season. The reason that Christmas is lost is not, as we might like to imagine, that commercialism has swallowed it whole - try explaining to Robbie (Sam’s autistic brother) that he cannot have his Christmas chocolates yet because Christmas has not begun.

Advent is the period of four Sundays before Christmas when we mark the period of waiting and anticipation for the coming Christ – it is not the chance to get an early start to the Christmas season. The Advent candle symbolizes those who have been waiting the coming of Christ. The candles stand for the Patriarchs, the Prophets, John the Baptist and Mary. They are not, as people might suppose, simply a countdown towards Christmas

In commercial terms the Christmas season ends on December 24th and then the Winter Sales begin on December 26th. In Church terms the Christmas celebration starts at midnight on December 24th. If we were to be purist over the whole thing we would not sing our carols until Christmas Day – the Herald Angels can’t hark until the king is new born. In the meantime society eats and drinks itself into oblivion.

We start Christmas early for the best of reasons. We want to engage with society and baptize the culture. We leave the baby out of the crib as a signal that all is not yet here. We omit the final verse of O Come all Ye Faithful. We sing carols that set the scene for events yet to unfold –

In the Bleak Mid Winter

…In the bleak midwinter,
frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow,
snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Once in Royal Davids’s City.

Advent becomes a trailer for the big event. Just as we tune in a couple of hours before the cup final to see how the teams got to Wembley, so also Advent prepares us for what is round the corner.

Do we need to swing right over to accommodate as we have done. Is it not true that if we work too hard to accommodate yourself to others then you end up losing their respect? Where is the prophetic element to what we are saying? Are we challenging people to realize that Christmas points to the Savior of the world?

Compare this to how hard we will fight to protect our own good name - Last week I was doing a day’s teaching for a Youth and Community Work Training Course. The students all worked in placements and came into college once a fortnight to study. In the lecture I asked two students to keep quiet in order to give someone else a chance to speak. One of the students was taking notes on her computer. She was angry at being reprimanded in public and texted her line manager to complain. He then rang the college to complain. The result of all of this was that when I came out of the lecture 30 minutes later there were two members of staff waiting to debrief the student and I on what had happened. I thought her behavior was inappropriate. My concern is not to reprimand her (that is the job of the college) but to protect my good name. Should we be similarly concerned over how well or otherwise the church is presenting the good name of our Lord and Savior.

In the Gospel for this Sunday, the wild and eccentric figure of John the Baptist comes out of the desert, eating locusts and wild honey (John 1:6-8, 19-28) and startling his listeners with the vehemence of his message. He is a poignant figure. He does not fit with the authorities and he will be dead before the Kingdom of God appears. It is happy-sad story full of pathos: He can see a bright new age dawning, but it is one of which he will not be a part.

This could be like any of us over the Christmas period. We glimpse an ideal that might be but probably never will. As I was cycling home two young people sped past me on their bicycles. One of them turned round and shouted ‘get an upgrade!’ It is maybe this that the church needs to do with its Christmas message.