Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.  Luke 3:8.

 
I finally figured out why I like John the Baptist. You don’t have to wonder where you stand. He doesn’t call a spade, a spade. He calls it a damn shovel. As abrasive and unpleasant as John can be, he’s nothing if not direct. Yet, all that honesty can be exhausting. Here we are, halfway through Advent, still being chastised by a crazy guy in animal skins. Could we get to the Good News already?

 
Beneath all the tinsel and shimmer of a 21st century Christmas, the earth groans with expectation. We’re ready for some comfort and joy. But John presses the question. Are you ready? Are you really ready for God-with-us?

 
The fruits John holds up for us are simple: share, don’t exploit others, be satisfied. He’s direct, clear and exquisitely practical–so much so, that it’s easy to overlook how counter-cultural these fruits really are. If we take him seriously, and if we engage a life that yields these tangible fruits, we’ll participate in the leveling of mountains and valleys that we heard about last week.

 
For some of us that’s good news. For others of us–steeped in a culture of climbing and striving to get to the top, or at least avoiding the bottom–not so much. But the Good News we sing every Sunday is that we serve a God of power and might, a God who can raise up stones into chosen ones. This God desires that we prepare the way for His constant arrival in the world.

 
As Sunday’s closing hymn will tell us, this requires us to “make straight the way for God within.” So where are the stony places within us? How have we been hardened to God’s desires? And how might God raise and redeem our hesitations and anxieties into the fulfillment of His promise for the world?

 
Peace,
Kris

 
Pray the questions with us at www.trinityspokane.org.