In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

     John Madden (you know, the Monday Night Football guy)-knows what this holiday season is all about. At least, he thinks he does. In a commercial that played several times during the Broncos' game last Sunday, his picture came on and he said, "This is a special time of year. Families get together at home, sit in the living room, and don't talk, because they're watching football." He suggests, by the end of the commercial, that's why this season is so special-football. Now, I'm as much a football fan as the next guy, or gal, but we know football isn't really the reason for the season. How absurd! Anyone who pays any attention at all to what's happening this time of year-knows, the reason is really-buying presents, that will make people happy! Whether it's jewelry for the wife, tools for the hubby, video games for the kids, we are bombarded with the message-get out there! Get busy! The reason for the season, is to get the right gifts at the right price-so that the right presents will be sitting, wrapped under the "holiday"-tree, on Christmas Eve. That, it would seem, is the real reason for the season, from a secular, western, purely material perspective. And you know as well as I, that some folks will march dutifully through the month of December, with that in mind. Some folks will arrive at Christmas Eve, feeling good or bad, depending upon the success they had fulfilling the great American commission to go and buy-wrap and give! Which is why-the Church provides-Advent!

     Already, we are half way through Advent, and still, the call is for us to prepare. The danger, of course, is that we who are steeped in western culture, will simply hear that as a call to get on with our card-writing and light-hanging and tree-decorating and gift-giving and party-celebrating. My guess has always been that the Advent call to prepare will be heard on any given Sunday, as an anxiety producing call, for most in the congregation-who already are feeling a bit behind, and pressured. I worry when sounding the call to prepare, that people in the congregation will stop and think-"Yes, he's right-I've got a lot to do, and my time would be better spent at home, or at the mall, rather than in church"-so that I'd never be surprised if there were those who would just get up in the middle of the sermon, and leave-to go prepare elsewhere and otherwise. Now-I'm not suggesting you do that-I'm saying I'm sensitive to the pressure and tension that is exerted on all of us-by the surrounding culture, by our extended families, by media-to DO-so much prior to Christmas, that it's difficult to keep your mind, your heart and your life, in the right place, prior to Christmas. Which, again, is why the Church provides-Advent. It is to remind us that there is more to the pre-Christmas season, than football, jewelry, and brightly wrapped packages. It is to remind us that there is more to this season than office parties and school dances. It is to remind us of the real reason for the season-which is-yes, you know it-Jesus!

     Just before Thanksgiving, I saw a sign-board outside a church north of the Springs, that said the sermon was, "Being John the Baptist". And that's a great Advent challenge, because what does it mean to "be John the Baptist"? Contrary to what we might think of at first, John the Baptist was really not all about the hairy shirt, or the leather belt, or eating the locusts and wild honey. While John the Baptist-baptized and called people to repentance, that was not really the reason for his ministry. He baptized and called people to repentance, because he was pointing them to Christ, and the coming of Christ-and he knew that preparing the way of the Lord, was about preparing oneself, not outwardly-not in external preparations-John knew it was about the inner life-that preparing for the coming of Christ is about a change of the heart, a returning to God with all one's heart, an opening of one's heart to Christ, so that when He comes, we will be ready to receive Him. These are the preparations that prepare the way of the Lord, and make straight his pathway-and repentance, and confession of our sins, and a return to the covenant and promise of our baptism-these are part and parcel of what it means to prepare for the coming of Christ. Which is why John the Baptist called people then, and calls people now-to prepare for the one who would come after him. John knew that Jesus was coming, and that Jesus, the Messiah, would continue to come to His people throughout the ages. So, John's primary work, the goal and focus of his ministry-was to point people to Jesus-to direct people away from themselves, and away from their preoccupation with the world, and worldliness-to point them to Christ! St. John tells us this, about John the Baptizer, when in our gospel lesson, we read, "There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light." And then, when questioned about his role, John the Baptizer answered, echoing the prophecy in Isaiah, "I am not the Messiah-I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness-prepare the way of the Lord, make straight the way of his coming." John knew his place, and his role, in the working out of God's great plan for salvation-and it had to do, first and last and always, with keeping Christ at the center. And that, is the call of John, and the call of Advent, for you and for me, as well.to keep Christ at the center. And just how do we do that? In the midst of the busy-ness of Advent, in the craziness that is the "pre-Christmas" season, how do we keep Christ at the center-of our hearts, our lives, and our homes?

     As John said, live lives of repentance-we are to turn from those things that are keeping us from Christ, and return to him with all our hearts. Make confession of our sins an important part of our Advent preparations-whether through the Rite of Confession and Absolution on Sunday mornings, or through Private Confession, Wednesday evening, Dec. 21st. Return to the covenant and promise and commitment of your baptism-getting out your baptismal certificate, looking at baptismal photos, talking to parents about your baptism-so that your baptism will live in your life, as a real event-and then, make the sign of the cross in remembrance of your baptism; dip your fingers into the baptismal font when you enter or leave the church, in celebration of your baptism; make the sign of the cross at the end of the creed, when we affirm the resurrection of the body-that God will resurrect this body, He claimed and marked with the cross of Christ in baptism. And then, as St. Paul says in our second reading, "rejoice always; pray without ceasing; give thanks in all circumstances; do not quench the Spirit; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil"-for in this way St. Paul writes, "the God of peace himself, will sanctify you entirely, and keep your spirit and soul and body sound and blameless-for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is how we prepare for the coming of Christ-whenever, and however He comes-because this is how we keep Christ, at the center-not just at the center of Christmas--but at the center of our lives!

     In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.