Today is December 14. We are in the middle of the Advent season, ten days before Christmas Eve. That night at 5:00pm, fifty Westminster children will be dressed as angels and sheep, magi and the holy family and crowded into this chancel area. In music and squirming fun they will enact the Christmas story and lead us in singing our favorite carols. The Candlelight service at 11:00 will have slightly less energy but will be filled with beautiful music, prayer and mystery. So how is the season going for you this year? Is it calm or crazy? Soon after Thanksgiving, in an effort to be organized most of us made our lists and we have been checking them twice. There are the people to buy gifts for and the ones who will get cards. There were the decorations to sort through, refresh and hang. Most of us put up a wreath and some kind of tree, tall or small, with lights and ornaments that carry precious memories. We have dropped change in the Salvation Army pot and written checks for good causes. We have stood in lines at the post office and store counters and tried to do all that is necessary to have the season go smoothly. Why, then, would Protestant leaders, years ago, choose this "Brood of Vipers" scripture of the Prophet John the Baptist for the lesson on the Third Sunday of Advent? Who needs to hear him ranting and raving about wrath and repentance when we really just want to sit at home by a cozy fire, wrap presents and listen to a CD of the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir singing O Holy Night?

John was not the "sit by the fire" type. Imagine this longhaired man of the desert wearing a camelhair cloak and a leather loincloth around his waist and living on locusts and wild honey. Spending part of his life in the caves of the Qumran area near the Dead Sea, John’s many followers came to him hoping for baptism in the Jordan River for the forgiveness of their sins. He offered them that baptism and, using the words of the Prophet Isaiah, he told them to prepare for the coming of one who was more powerful than he, who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. John was so popular and outspoken that his leadership was a concern to the Roman ruler Herod Antipas. Herod had been confronted by this prophet about the romantic relationship he had with his sister-in-law, the wife of his brother, Philip. As a result, John was imprisoned and later beheaded. So…all that to say that this man was not afraid to speak out when injustice was being done, even at risk of his life.

Worried that the end-times were coming, crowds of people came to him for baptism. They knew they were the chosen ones, that they were all children of Abraham, so they weren’t really seriously concerned about what the end times would bring but wanting to cover all their bases. They came to him "just in case." John sensed that they weren’t truly repentant and unloaded his verbal barrage on them. "You brood of vipers!" He told them that anyone could be called a child of Abraham. Ancestors are not important. What matters is how you live your life. "Then what should we do?" they asked. Focusing directly on their weaknesses, he responded in ways that would challenge each the most; that would confront the aspects of their lives that defined their identities. To those who had plenty of warm clothing and food he told them not to horde but give some away, to share with those who had none. To those who used their power as tax collectors to demand more than they were entitled and keep the difference for themselves, he told them to stop the practice. To those in the military who used their power to falsely accuse and to threaten and blackmail, he commanded them to stop. They could not expect the label of Abraham’s child to be enough to protect them. Their behavior had to reflect that they truly knew what it meant to live and trust in God.

In the same way, we can’t say that we are Christians at Christmas unless it truly means something in our lives. It has become a popular label in some crowds, necklaces and earrings with crosses worn without a full understanding of the risk and responsibility they represent. In our culture, we have such a hard time knowing what the holiday is. Is it Christmas Trees and Santas, reindeer and light-bulb jewelry, fake snow and jingle bells and an abundance of presents under a tree? I have the impression that even in schools there is some confusion about Christmas songs. When other religions are explained to children through games and music, there are times when the Christmas songs chosen are Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and Jingle Bells rather than carols about the birth of Jesus. I wonder what the children are learning about Christmas. It is hard not to be affected by the advertising year-round but especially at this time. It controls the beginning of the season so much that I begin to think we should start Advent on the day after Halloween. We allow TV and catalogue ads to dictate the meaning of the season. How did you feel when you heard of the sale on DVD players at a Florida Wal-Mart and a woman being trampled as people rushed to buy the $29 item? I was deeply sad and even more so when it was reported that the trampling might have been a hoax to get an insurance payout. What do we believe about Christmas?

Emmanuel means "God is with us." The Good News is that if God can be born in a manger, a feeding trough, then God can be born anywhere even in the midst of airport lines, Christmas Tree lots, traffic jams, or even discount stores. The trick is that, as people of faith, we each need to be watching for God, to be aware that God is there amongst and between us. We don’t usually have the luxury of a brilliant star illuminating God’s presence or an angel announcing it to us so we have to be alert and watching with all our senses. Five hundred years before Jesus and John, the Prophet Zephaniah rejoiced with the Israelites saying, "God is in your midst! Fear nothing for God will renew you in God’s love. I will gather you. I will bring you home." That message of joyful hope is what Jesus embodied and is the gift God gave us in human form that first Christmas. It is God in our midst, a sense of never being alone, and of a deep peace that we were, where we belong, we are home. When have you experienced it, that Christmas gift of God’s presence and God’s love? It may have even happened to you on December 25 or on some other day during the year?

Just as the Advent season was beginning two weeks ago, I had several people come up to me saying, "Thanksgiving at the Voyager-Carmel Shelter was incredible this year. It was very, very special. I’m so glad I was there." After the third or fourth person said this to me, each in his own way, I finally made time to ask someone what was so unusual about it this year. I found that a combination of things happened to make that day unique. The clients live at Voyager-Carmel Shelter long-term. They have mental disabilities that make employment difficult. Most are shy and are slow coming out of their rooms when the Westminster team arrives with turkeys and all the Thanksgiving or Christmas trimmings. This year twenty-five people, a very large group of all ages, children, youth, adults and seniors, carpooled from the church to San Rafael. After all the food was unloaded, there wasn’t enough space in the small kitchen for more than five or six to do the final preparation so the others set about to make the room and themselves as welcoming as possible. Children played games and invited residents to join in. People began singing carols and favorite songs but there was no guitar or piano player to accompany them this year. It felt like old friends gathering as some clients recognized and greeted volunteers who had helped with the dinners in prior years. People where chatting and began sharing their own stories. One man, John, was pleased to tell our team that he now has a job. A Marin woman who has been mentoring him had invited him to her home for Thanksgiving to celebrate but he didn’t really want to go. He told her hesitantly that he really wanted to have Thanksgiving at the Voyager because its always so special. He invited her to join him there. She came and helped by decorating the tables. Another man who had graduated from the Voyager came back for the dinner and to be with old friends. The church volunteers and the clients have begun to feel like family to each other. Then, a new resident, Dave, came from his room to join the party. Dave moved into The Voyager recently after being homeless for fifteen years living in the hills of Marin County. Dave could play the guitar!! He began playing for the group as they sang along – old favorite songs that he remembered and Christmas carols. They all sang for at least a half an hour enjoying the magic of the moments as the dinner waited. The church members repeatedly told me later, "It felt like family. It was such a special time talking and being with the residents and with each other." The words that John the Baptist spoke to the crowd came to my mind, "Whoever has food must share with anyone who has none." And from the prophet Zephaniah, "God is in your midst…I will gather the outcast…At that time I will bring you home, at the time when I gather you…"

Where is home for you this Christmas? Where do you know your deepest peace? We try so hard to decorate our homes and make a perfect Christmas for our family and friends but God may be waiting for us somewhere else. Emmanuel, "God is with us," inviting us to be alert to how God is alive in young girls and carpenters, musicians and children, in stables and mangers and shelters. Christmas for Christians is living with the Holy Spirit and fire of our baptisms passionately seeking out God in the world and finding God in the most unlikely places – inside you and inside me. God is in our midst. Merry Christmas!