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Fr. Chris Yaw+
St. David’s Episcopal Church; Southfield, MI
St. David’s Episcopal Church; Southfield, MI
“Repentance”
Advent II, RCL-A, December 9, 2007
Advent II, RCL-A, December 9, 2007
Well now, what a pleasant little story that was!
A loud and smelly homeless guy, type-cast for that cable show, “What Not to Wear” -- crawls in
from the desert, barely surviving on grasshoppers and Bit ‘O Honey’s -- and screams vile
threats at anybody who listens -- criticizing, especially, the most religious among them -- And
of course the punch line is: they all do listen!
With a vocabulary seemingly designed to hinder more than help -- the crowds just can’t go
away.
And 2,000 years later John the Baptist is one of the most famous saints around. In our own
tradition, more Episcopal churches bear the name “St. John” than any other saint.
So what’s the attraction?
Why listen to this guy?
Who on earth would be interested in what he has to say?
----------------
What say you and I update that story a bit.
Close your eyes if you like, and imagine…Imagine this… In your family album -- Or in a little
metal frame, sitting on a side table in your mother’s apartment -- is a picture… of you.
In it, you are much younger --Your cheeks glow with innocence --You were hopeful -- You were
optimistic -- You were confident.
And as you gaze at that photograph in your mind this morning -- you imagine what it would be
like to go back in time -- To turn back the clock -- And return to that age of innocence.
What would you and I whisper into the ear of that younger person?
What sorts of opportunities should they take advantage of?
[Besides buying plenty of Microsoft stock…]
What sorts of pitfalls should they avoid?
[Besides never, ever buying a Pacer!]
What would it be like to return to that day and that time in which that photograph was taken --
and live life all over again?
What would it be like to go back?
What would it be like to return?
What would it be like to come back home? (Lawrence Kushner)
----------------
The stark and startling words of one of the Bible’s most colorful characters awakens you and
me to this possibility this morning.
The lone voice of the one crying in the wilderness.
The fore-runner, the warm-up act, the one who pointed not at himself -- but to the main
attraction. John’s message resounded with so many people because it was an invitation to
come back home -- an invitation for people to be the kinds of people they would want to be if
they could do it all over again -- an invitation for people to live the lives they really wanted to
live --an invitation for people to live the lives they really want to live.
----------------
Image another scenario -- your spouse calls you at four in the afternoon -- and says that
Obama is coming over in a few hours for dinner -- or Romney – or McCain – or whoever.
Now we’ve already planned dinner -- and it’s chicken, or grilled cheese, or turkey leftovers -- for
those of us who really know how to stretch out our Thanksgiving.
And of course, our house is pretty clean -- clean enough for you and me.
But all of a sudden, we get this call -- one of these presidential wannabes is coming over.
And all of a sudden, our dinner menu is not good enough.
All of a sudden, our house is not clean enough.
We quit what we are doing and rush right home to get our house in order -- because we
suddenly realize that the way we are living our day to day lives is not the way we would live
them if someone more important were really paying attention to us.
And if we can imagine this -- we can imagine why there were Jews from all over Jerusalem,
Judea, and Jordan going out to meet John the Baptist.
“The Messiah is coming over for dinner” -- was the call they heard -- “What kind of life are you
living?”
The prophets said that God would come back when the people repented -- turning to Him with
all their hearts.
God is coming to see you….
And this is why people were lining up in front of this smelly, homeless guy who was calling
everyone get ready.
----------------
“Repent” is the first word we hear the Baptizer utter.
Indeed, this is the first word Jesus speaks when he starts his ministry -- following his own
baptism and temptation in the desert in Matthew 4:17.
And the Hebrew word John uses is this one: “teshuva.”
And it is a central concept to the whole life and ministry of Jesus.
Indeed, Teshuva is more than a word -- Teshuva is more like a theme when we trace its origins
in Jewish tradition and spirituality.
Teshuva is the idea that is at the heart of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year - the day of
awakening -- It is also at the heart of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and asking for
forgiveness.
Rabbi Laurence Kushner says the idea of "Teshuva" in the Jewish religion -- is analogous to the
idea of Jesus in the Christian religion -- in that Teshuva is the letting go of our own
waywardness and sinfulness and placing our trust in God.
Teshuva is what ultimately fulfills our soul and gives us our deepest joy.
Teshuva is the gesture of returning to God -- of returning to our ultimate source - of going
home.
----------------
Many of us like to read Philip Roth, one of America’s greatest novelists -- and in his book "The
Human Stain", he defines sin like this:
“It’s in everyone. Indwelling, inherent, defining.
“The stain that is there before its mark…
“The stain that precedes disobedience…
“That… perplexes all explanation and understanding.
“As we live in the world we leave a stained trail…
“For there is no other way to be here.” (as quoted by Miroslav Volf)
Maybe that’s why John washed people in the river -- it’s the only way to get out stains.
----------------
“Oh, you Episcopalians, you never talk about sin at your church!” -- is a comment I’ve heard
more than once before.
So this morning, let’s start -- Hey Carolyn, tell me about that spaghetti stain on the front of
your Alb -- or Ken, what about that A-1 sauce all over your suit jacket?
Yes, let’s all harp on our shortcomings that are so invisible to the rest of us.
How often do we parade around in our transgressions like a drunk oblivious to the lampshade
he’s wearing?
It is only out of congenial courtesy that we behave otherwise -- “Oh, Miss Godiva, was she
naked, I never noticed!”
Indeed, we all notice -- even more than we want to -- which is why our emphasis when we
come to church is not on the muck and the murk of our shortcomings -- we all know how bad
we are -- why do you think we use our kneelers?
That’s why our emphasis here is elsewhere -- and that’s why we get up out of the kneelers.
It is on the bright light of an amazing grace that can cleanse us of all that.
The point of John’s baptism was not the dirt that went into the water -- but the cleansed souls
that came out.
Episcopalians believe God’s mercy wins out over God’s judgment.
One of the more poignant phrases in our prayer book comes as the priest prays over the bread
and wine in the Rite I Eucharistic prayer saying, “yet we beseech thee to accept this our
bounden duty and service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences.”
Most of us believe that the Gospel our 15-year-olds need so desperately is not a final exam on
the rules of abstinence, sobriety and excess -- rules they already know all too well -- but
assurance that forgiveness is offered to the penitent in Jesus’ name.
Let’s face it - we know the rules.
And like the stereotypical American tourist trying to order in a Paris café -- what we need is not
to keep speaking English louder and louder to our francophone waiter -- but to try a different
language -- the language of repentance and forgiveness.
We all know the world of moralism promises a temporary safe haven based on rules we like.
Moralism goes fishing through the Bible looking for verses to “prove” a case.
But taking the message of repentance and forgiveness seriously requires a scary step of faith
that we’ll always be tempted to side step.
----------------
One of the distinguishing marks of Episcopal worship is the appearance in our Daily Offices of
the Confession.
The Daily Morning and Evening prayer in the prayer book asks us to confess our sins twice a
day -- and emerge from the cleanliness of the Jordan River renewed and reinvigorated.
We’re reminded of Martin Luther’s observation -- ‘If we bathed just once a week we would start
to smell.
“We need to be washed daily to be truly clean.”
It’s not as if we have nothing to wash off -- it’s that we are apprehensive and shy about taking
the plunge.
We are tempted to avoid making just 6 minutes a day for spiritual reflection on the last 24
hours -- I know I am -- but how much better off would we be to ourselves and each other and
to the world if we did?
----------------
I know of this man -- A Christian -- He was spending a lot of time at work, with a very pretty
co-worker.
They both were married -- And they were both very attracted to one another.
One day this man walked into his priest’s office -- He said, “I’m seriously thinking about
hooking up -- about committing adultery.
He said, “We’re headed to a business conference for a few days next week -- “And no one would
know -- “I think I’ll do it because I know God will forgive me.”
“Yes, that’s true,” said his priest, “But will you want forgiveness if it involves repentance.”
“Will you be able to look at yourself in the mirror and admit who you really are -- “to see how
you’ve let down your wife and kids -- “Then eventually, one day, look in the mirror and forgive
yourself, much less receive God’s forgiveness if you do this?”
“Will you want forgiveness if it involves repentance?
Unfortunately, just like you and me on so many occasions, he was unable to back away -- and
like you and me, because we have all committed sins, some much worse than this -- he
continues to struggle with the reality of forgiveness and repentance in his life -- as do we all.
----------------
What the priest was trying to do was open up this man’s eyes to teshuva -- to the turning
around of his thinking -- to the contemplation not so much of the temptation -- which is so
strong -- But of his real home, the place he really wanted to be -- the person he really wanted
to be.
You see, that’s what sin does -- it masquerades around as this incredibly attractive endeavor
that will ultimately satisfy our deepest longings -- the irresistible co-worker -- the now-and-wow
gift we can’t live without -- or even that telling off of our neighbor which would make us feel so
good.
Our fantasy lives are entertained and teased.
But the satisfaction of temptation is as real as a Hollywood stage set -- It’s as nutritious as a
six-pack of Milky Ways -- As eye-catching and alluring as it looks: it never fulfills.
What we really long for is our very best selves.
So we want to go back -- we want to go home -- this is what we really want for Christmas.
----------------
One of the best things about living in a small town is a small town newspaper.
There’s so little news that many of these newspapers – like the Battle Creek Enquirer -- publish,
almost verbatim, the police blotter -- you know, those police reports on random incidents of
relatively small consequence.
Not long ago I clipped this incident:
“A suspect was arrested after driving erratically down Capital Avenue. “A subsequent sobriety
test confirmed he was driving with a blood/alcohol level more than two times the legal limit.
“When asked how much he had been drinking--“The suspect said he had not been drinking at
all -- “Rather his girlfriend had been drinking heavily and he had just finished kissing her good
night.”
Now I don’t know if you and I should be imagining in church this morning just what kind of a
kiss this young man had engaged in to ingest that much alcohol. Rather, a more profitable
exercise might better be the contemplation of just how lame this excuse is. And just how
lame our excuses are when we are confronted by even greater authorities that call us to
account.
That’s what Advent calls us to consider.
For that’s what repentance is all about.
That’s what going down into the river is all about -- it’s about abandoning our excuses and
agreeing, at long last, to go under God’s x-ray machine -- knowing that we might not be happy
with the pictures it yields.
One writer puts it this way,
"It is about being seen through, “seen into,
and known for who we really are.
“It is about the total failure of our defenses and
the abject poverty of our pretensions.
“It is about stepping into the light, or having the light
turned upon us, “so that every nook and cranny of our being is
illuminated for examination.
“It is about standing before God without our armor, our masks, our
possessions, our excuses -- “with nothing but our beating hearts
and the slim volume of our life histories to commend us, “-waiting
to hear God's true word about ourselves." (Barbara Brown Taylor)
And my friends, as we continue to prepare as a St. David’s community for the coming of Christ
as a baby in a manger.
What is God’s word to us if it’s not St. John’s word of forgiveness?
What is God’s word to us if it’s not a word of commendation and joy for all that we are –
precious and valuable in God’s eyes… that we are worth dying for?
What is God’s word to us if it’s not a word of praise, “Well done my good and faithful servant."
So on this day, we ask ourselves:
What’s holding us back?
What’s keeping us from experiencing the cleansing power
of Christ’s forgiveness?
What’s keeping us from seeing us as God sees us?
Yes, it’s true, God forgives us, so why aren’t we forgiving ourselves?
----------------
In order to catch a certain kind of monkey at the zoo -- Zoo workers drill a certain size hole
into coconuts -- and they throw the coconuts into the pen.
Then, when the monkeys put their hands into the holes to get the yummy, white coconut on
the inside, they make a fist -- And when they make a fist, they can’t pull their hands out. -- So
they get stuck and the monkeys are easily captured.
It would be so easy for the monkeys to get away -- all they would have to do is let go of that
white, yummy coconut on the inside.
So what is it that you and I need to let go of this morning?
What do we need to stop clutching onto -- so that we might go free?
So that we might join that line at the Jordan River and yield to the words of the Baptist.
Are we being held captive by our fears about money, children, retirement, the afterlife?
Are we worried that our health won’t hold out -- and allow us to live the kind of lives we want
to live?
Or do you worry, like I do, about my continual inability to live up to my own expectations?
----------------
In light of our fears, John’s message to you and me this morning is actually good news --
Because John assures us that we are somehow worthy to undergo the cleansing power of
baptism and repentance -- that no matter what we have done -- no matter how unforgivable
we may consider ourselves to be -- there is no sin God will not forgive -- there is no
transgression for which pardon is denied.
There is a way toward cleanliness-
There is a way toward forgiveness-
There is a way to start over-
There is a way to go back
My brothers and sisters, let us rejoice this day --
for in Jesus, yes, we can go home.
Amen.
Lessons:
Isaiah 11:1-10,
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19,
Romans 15:4-13,
Matthew 3:1-12
A loud and smelly homeless guy, type-cast for that cable show, “What Not to Wear” -- crawls in
from the desert, barely surviving on grasshoppers and Bit ‘O Honey’s -- and screams vile
threats at anybody who listens -- criticizing, especially, the most religious among them -- And
of course the punch line is: they all do listen!
With a vocabulary seemingly designed to hinder more than help -- the crowds just can’t go
away.
And 2,000 years later John the Baptist is one of the most famous saints around. In our own
tradition, more Episcopal churches bear the name “St. John” than any other saint.
So what’s the attraction?
Why listen to this guy?
Who on earth would be interested in what he has to say?
----------------
What say you and I update that story a bit.
Close your eyes if you like, and imagine…Imagine this… In your family album -- Or in a little
metal frame, sitting on a side table in your mother’s apartment -- is a picture… of you.
In it, you are much younger --Your cheeks glow with innocence --You were hopeful -- You were
optimistic -- You were confident.
And as you gaze at that photograph in your mind this morning -- you imagine what it would be
like to go back in time -- To turn back the clock -- And return to that age of innocence.
What would you and I whisper into the ear of that younger person?
What sorts of opportunities should they take advantage of?
[Besides buying plenty of Microsoft stock…]
What sorts of pitfalls should they avoid?
[Besides never, ever buying a Pacer!]
What would it be like to return to that day and that time in which that photograph was taken --
and live life all over again?
What would it be like to go back?
What would it be like to return?
What would it be like to come back home? (Lawrence Kushner)
----------------
The stark and startling words of one of the Bible’s most colorful characters awakens you and
me to this possibility this morning.
The lone voice of the one crying in the wilderness.
The fore-runner, the warm-up act, the one who pointed not at himself -- but to the main
attraction. John’s message resounded with so many people because it was an invitation to
come back home -- an invitation for people to be the kinds of people they would want to be if
they could do it all over again -- an invitation for people to live the lives they really wanted to
live --an invitation for people to live the lives they really want to live.
----------------
Image another scenario -- your spouse calls you at four in the afternoon -- and says that
Obama is coming over in a few hours for dinner -- or Romney – or McCain – or whoever.
Now we’ve already planned dinner -- and it’s chicken, or grilled cheese, or turkey leftovers -- for
those of us who really know how to stretch out our Thanksgiving.
And of course, our house is pretty clean -- clean enough for you and me.
But all of a sudden, we get this call -- one of these presidential wannabes is coming over.
And all of a sudden, our dinner menu is not good enough.
All of a sudden, our house is not clean enough.
We quit what we are doing and rush right home to get our house in order -- because we
suddenly realize that the way we are living our day to day lives is not the way we would live
them if someone more important were really paying attention to us.
And if we can imagine this -- we can imagine why there were Jews from all over Jerusalem,
Judea, and Jordan going out to meet John the Baptist.
“The Messiah is coming over for dinner” -- was the call they heard -- “What kind of life are you
living?”
The prophets said that God would come back when the people repented -- turning to Him with
all their hearts.
God is coming to see you….
And this is why people were lining up in front of this smelly, homeless guy who was calling
everyone get ready.
----------------
“Repent” is the first word we hear the Baptizer utter.
Indeed, this is the first word Jesus speaks when he starts his ministry -- following his own
baptism and temptation in the desert in Matthew 4:17.
And the Hebrew word John uses is this one: “teshuva.”
And it is a central concept to the whole life and ministry of Jesus.
Indeed, Teshuva is more than a word -- Teshuva is more like a theme when we trace its origins
in Jewish tradition and spirituality.
Teshuva is the idea that is at the heart of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year - the day of
awakening -- It is also at the heart of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement and asking for
forgiveness.
Rabbi Laurence Kushner says the idea of "Teshuva" in the Jewish religion -- is analogous to the
idea of Jesus in the Christian religion -- in that Teshuva is the letting go of our own
waywardness and sinfulness and placing our trust in God.
Teshuva is what ultimately fulfills our soul and gives us our deepest joy.
Teshuva is the gesture of returning to God -- of returning to our ultimate source - of going
home.
----------------
Many of us like to read Philip Roth, one of America’s greatest novelists -- and in his book "The
Human Stain", he defines sin like this:
“It’s in everyone. Indwelling, inherent, defining.
“The stain that is there before its mark…
“The stain that precedes disobedience…
“That… perplexes all explanation and understanding.
“As we live in the world we leave a stained trail…
“For there is no other way to be here.” (as quoted by Miroslav Volf)
Maybe that’s why John washed people in the river -- it’s the only way to get out stains.
----------------
“Oh, you Episcopalians, you never talk about sin at your church!” -- is a comment I’ve heard
more than once before.
So this morning, let’s start -- Hey Carolyn, tell me about that spaghetti stain on the front of
your Alb -- or Ken, what about that A-1 sauce all over your suit jacket?
Yes, let’s all harp on our shortcomings that are so invisible to the rest of us.
How often do we parade around in our transgressions like a drunk oblivious to the lampshade
he’s wearing?
It is only out of congenial courtesy that we behave otherwise -- “Oh, Miss Godiva, was she
naked, I never noticed!”
Indeed, we all notice -- even more than we want to -- which is why our emphasis when we
come to church is not on the muck and the murk of our shortcomings -- we all know how bad
we are -- why do you think we use our kneelers?
That’s why our emphasis here is elsewhere -- and that’s why we get up out of the kneelers.
It is on the bright light of an amazing grace that can cleanse us of all that.
The point of John’s baptism was not the dirt that went into the water -- but the cleansed souls
that came out.
Episcopalians believe God’s mercy wins out over God’s judgment.
One of the more poignant phrases in our prayer book comes as the priest prays over the bread
and wine in the Rite I Eucharistic prayer saying, “yet we beseech thee to accept this our
bounden duty and service, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences.”
Most of us believe that the Gospel our 15-year-olds need so desperately is not a final exam on
the rules of abstinence, sobriety and excess -- rules they already know all too well -- but
assurance that forgiveness is offered to the penitent in Jesus’ name.
Let’s face it - we know the rules.
And like the stereotypical American tourist trying to order in a Paris café -- what we need is not
to keep speaking English louder and louder to our francophone waiter -- but to try a different
language -- the language of repentance and forgiveness.
We all know the world of moralism promises a temporary safe haven based on rules we like.
Moralism goes fishing through the Bible looking for verses to “prove” a case.
But taking the message of repentance and forgiveness seriously requires a scary step of faith
that we’ll always be tempted to side step.
----------------
One of the distinguishing marks of Episcopal worship is the appearance in our Daily Offices of
the Confession.
The Daily Morning and Evening prayer in the prayer book asks us to confess our sins twice a
day -- and emerge from the cleanliness of the Jordan River renewed and reinvigorated.
We’re reminded of Martin Luther’s observation -- ‘If we bathed just once a week we would start
to smell.
“We need to be washed daily to be truly clean.”
It’s not as if we have nothing to wash off -- it’s that we are apprehensive and shy about taking
the plunge.
We are tempted to avoid making just 6 minutes a day for spiritual reflection on the last 24
hours -- I know I am -- but how much better off would we be to ourselves and each other and
to the world if we did?
----------------
I know of this man -- A Christian -- He was spending a lot of time at work, with a very pretty
co-worker.
They both were married -- And they were both very attracted to one another.
One day this man walked into his priest’s office -- He said, “I’m seriously thinking about
hooking up -- about committing adultery.
He said, “We’re headed to a business conference for a few days next week -- “And no one would
know -- “I think I’ll do it because I know God will forgive me.”
“Yes, that’s true,” said his priest, “But will you want forgiveness if it involves repentance.”
“Will you be able to look at yourself in the mirror and admit who you really are -- “to see how
you’ve let down your wife and kids -- “Then eventually, one day, look in the mirror and forgive
yourself, much less receive God’s forgiveness if you do this?”
“Will you want forgiveness if it involves repentance?
Unfortunately, just like you and me on so many occasions, he was unable to back away -- and
like you and me, because we have all committed sins, some much worse than this -- he
continues to struggle with the reality of forgiveness and repentance in his life -- as do we all.
----------------
What the priest was trying to do was open up this man’s eyes to teshuva -- to the turning
around of his thinking -- to the contemplation not so much of the temptation -- which is so
strong -- But of his real home, the place he really wanted to be -- the person he really wanted
to be.
You see, that’s what sin does -- it masquerades around as this incredibly attractive endeavor
that will ultimately satisfy our deepest longings -- the irresistible co-worker -- the now-and-wow
gift we can’t live without -- or even that telling off of our neighbor which would make us feel so
good.
Our fantasy lives are entertained and teased.
But the satisfaction of temptation is as real as a Hollywood stage set -- It’s as nutritious as a
six-pack of Milky Ways -- As eye-catching and alluring as it looks: it never fulfills.
What we really long for is our very best selves.
So we want to go back -- we want to go home -- this is what we really want for Christmas.
----------------
One of the best things about living in a small town is a small town newspaper.
There’s so little news that many of these newspapers – like the Battle Creek Enquirer -- publish,
almost verbatim, the police blotter -- you know, those police reports on random incidents of
relatively small consequence.
Not long ago I clipped this incident:
“A suspect was arrested after driving erratically down Capital Avenue. “A subsequent sobriety
test confirmed he was driving with a blood/alcohol level more than two times the legal limit.
“When asked how much he had been drinking--“The suspect said he had not been drinking at
all -- “Rather his girlfriend had been drinking heavily and he had just finished kissing her good
night.”
Now I don’t know if you and I should be imagining in church this morning just what kind of a
kiss this young man had engaged in to ingest that much alcohol. Rather, a more profitable
exercise might better be the contemplation of just how lame this excuse is. And just how
lame our excuses are when we are confronted by even greater authorities that call us to
account.
That’s what Advent calls us to consider.
For that’s what repentance is all about.
That’s what going down into the river is all about -- it’s about abandoning our excuses and
agreeing, at long last, to go under God’s x-ray machine -- knowing that we might not be happy
with the pictures it yields.
One writer puts it this way,
"It is about being seen through, “seen into,
and known for who we really are.
“It is about the total failure of our defenses and
the abject poverty of our pretensions.
“It is about stepping into the light, or having the light
turned upon us, “so that every nook and cranny of our being is
illuminated for examination.
“It is about standing before God without our armor, our masks, our
possessions, our excuses -- “with nothing but our beating hearts
and the slim volume of our life histories to commend us, “-waiting
to hear God's true word about ourselves." (Barbara Brown Taylor)
And my friends, as we continue to prepare as a St. David’s community for the coming of Christ
as a baby in a manger.
What is God’s word to us if it’s not St. John’s word of forgiveness?
What is God’s word to us if it’s not a word of commendation and joy for all that we are –
precious and valuable in God’s eyes… that we are worth dying for?
What is God’s word to us if it’s not a word of praise, “Well done my good and faithful servant."
So on this day, we ask ourselves:
What’s holding us back?
What’s keeping us from experiencing the cleansing power
of Christ’s forgiveness?
What’s keeping us from seeing us as God sees us?
Yes, it’s true, God forgives us, so why aren’t we forgiving ourselves?
----------------
In order to catch a certain kind of monkey at the zoo -- Zoo workers drill a certain size hole
into coconuts -- and they throw the coconuts into the pen.
Then, when the monkeys put their hands into the holes to get the yummy, white coconut on
the inside, they make a fist -- And when they make a fist, they can’t pull their hands out. -- So
they get stuck and the monkeys are easily captured.
It would be so easy for the monkeys to get away -- all they would have to do is let go of that
white, yummy coconut on the inside.
So what is it that you and I need to let go of this morning?
What do we need to stop clutching onto -- so that we might go free?
So that we might join that line at the Jordan River and yield to the words of the Baptist.
Are we being held captive by our fears about money, children, retirement, the afterlife?
Are we worried that our health won’t hold out -- and allow us to live the kind of lives we want
to live?
Or do you worry, like I do, about my continual inability to live up to my own expectations?
----------------
In light of our fears, John’s message to you and me this morning is actually good news --
Because John assures us that we are somehow worthy to undergo the cleansing power of
baptism and repentance -- that no matter what we have done -- no matter how unforgivable
we may consider ourselves to be -- there is no sin God will not forgive -- there is no
transgression for which pardon is denied.
There is a way toward cleanliness-
There is a way toward forgiveness-
There is a way to start over-
There is a way to go back
My brothers and sisters, let us rejoice this day --
for in Jesus, yes, we can go home.
Amen.
Lessons:
Isaiah 11:1-10,
Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19,
Romans 15:4-13,
Matthew 3:1-12
