In my church last Sunday morning, our gospel reading was Matthew 3:1-12. It’s one of those Advent eye-openers. It’s not about good tidings of great joy, but about John the Baptizer’s apocalyptic threat: those who do not bear fruit worthy of repentance are about to be burned with unquenchable fire. Damn!
It seems like we always trip over that tension at Advent, which is partly about the delightful anticipation of Christmas, and partly about the terrifying threat of hell. But that tension isn’t unique to Advent; it’s at the core of the melodramatic way we’ve told our Christian story for centuries.
Here’s a short sermon about it. (Sneak preview: I don’t actually think God is going to burn anybody with unquenchable fire.)
[youtube id=UI1xlsuUe38]
I attended meditation at Open Prairie last Wednesday when I was home in Princeton (which my father calls the Holy City by the way.) Thank you for that time of quiet and reflection and thank you for this message. The tradiltional interpretation of Jesus and salvation turned me off years ago; amen to your message today.
Thanks, Pamela. And here I thought I was the only one who thought of Princeton, IL as the Holy City…