“ON OUR TERMS OR ON GOD”S TERMS?”

That question is at the center of John the Baptist’s call for repentance this Advent Season. It applies in every situation regarding how we live our faith in this world. “What then should we do?” That question is asked of John three times in this week’s Gospel from Luke 3:7-18. The crowds ask it. The tax collectors ask it. The soldiers ask it. It’s a question many of us ask.

It’s the question we ask when life is complicated, difficult, and the world has gone mad. When we ask, “What then shall we do,” I don’t think we are saying to others, “Tell me what to do. Give me an answer.” Rather, the question points to our sense of powerlessness when we recognize we have come up against something bigger than ourselves or helplessness to fix a given situation.

Here’s why I say that. Every day we make hundreds of decisions, big ones, little ones, important ones, unimportant ones, life-changing ones, some with lasting consequences, and others with temporary effect. Most of the time we know what to do. We do not always get it right, but we generally know what to do. However, when our world gets turned upside down and we begin to feel like life is more than we can handle, that’s when we cry out, “What then should we do?”

If that question comes from a deep place within, then our response must also come from that same deep place. Our response to that question must begin not with what is happening around us but with what is happening within us. If we focus only on what is happening in the world around us, our response will be basically limited to fight or flight, neither of which are “fruits worthy of repentance.” We will be prone to deny any responsibility and declare our problems to be somebody else’s fault. We will begin to feel powerless to fight the world’s situations.

That same powerlessness, can also be our way forward if we do not demand resolve “on our own terms.” Admitting our own powerlessness opens us to a new and different source of empowerment. Instead of limiting possibilities, our powerlessness now creates new possibilities with “the One who is more powerful.” Powerlessness does not mean we have no choices. It means we must make different choices. We may be powerless to escape the world around us, but we can choose to live a different way.

I believe that is what John the Baptizer is telling those who come to him? In this week’s Gospel. He doesn’t ask them to change the “world” but to change “themselves.” In the world, poverty still remains, unjust economic systems still exist, and power is still abused. But let’s be honest -Jesus didn’t really fix the world either. He engaged and gave himself to the world one person, one relationship, and one moment at a time. He loved the world to death and beyond. He showed a different way of being, a different way of living and relating, he offered different priorities and values, and then invited us to participate and follow him. In doing all that, he showed us what it means and looks like to be human and to be the dwelling place of God.

Every change and new decision made “on God’s terms” can become concrete, practical acts of repentance. And,repentance can move us from a place of powerlessness to empowerment recognizing with confidence that “ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE WITH GOD.” We may not be able fix the world, but holding the door open for the coming of “the One who is more powerful to change us,” the question will no longer be, “What then should we do?” The question will become, “What then will we do?”

As we begin to turn to “the One who is more powerful” in our lives, consider accepting this invitation to “come to Grace this Advent Season – be part of this congregation that is filled with prayer, fun, laughter, and our love for Jesus! Experience the presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament.  All come at Jesus’ invitation – young and old, the assured and the doubting, the wise and the foolish, and the in-between.  All are welcome here! Come to the Feast!

Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday as we “celebrate God’s love together,”

Blessings and Peace,

The Reverend David O. Guss, Ph.D. - Pastor, Grace Lutheran Church