Messenger

A Separated Peace

Every service during the Advent Season focuses on a different theme. We lit the first candle and talked about hope last Saturday and Sunday in worship. We will light the peace and hope candles as we begin our time together this weekend. I love “The Shawshank Redemption” and have always appreciated Andy Dufresne’s quote, “Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

Last week’s texts focused on the Parousia (Second Coming of Christ), while this week’s Scripture takes us back to the beginning of Mark’s gospel and the arrival of John the Baptist. The Bible goes into great detail about this “wild man” from the wilderness. We know how he dressed (camel hair and a leather belt), how he ate (locust and wild honey), and how he filled his days (shouting “repent for the kingdom of heaven is near”.) He was an ascetic who shunned personal attention, but still continued to draw hundreds of followers. John the Baptist might have been the original countercultural hippie who “turned on, tuned in, and dropped out.” I believe it Is telling that the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ does not begin in a regal palace or holy temple but in the wilderness.

Let’s take a look at this week’s gospel lesson from Mark 1:1-8.

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.As it is written in the prophet Isaiah, “See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,who will prepare your way; the voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight,’” 

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.”

Questions to Consider

· What does “good news” mean to you? Where does your “good news” begin?

· When the Bible talks about peace, is it internal, external, or both? Why?

· Why do you think Mark’s gospel didn’t include a birth narrative? Does beginning with John the Baptist change the way you read this book?

· What are you hoping God will do today?

See you this weekend,

Pastor Dave