10:30 am, 2nd Sunday of Advent, Dec 10, 2023 ~ FBCA

(Is 40:1-11; Mk 1:1-8) J G White

When her daughters were small, a woman painted a ceramic nativity set, complete with the holy family, sheep, shepherd, donkey, camel and magi, and an angel. It was nicely painted and antiqued.

Years later, she gave it to her older daughter, at her wedding shower. But by then, the little Baby Jesus did not quite match the rest. You see, just a few years before, the woman had met a friend with a similar nativity, but that lady had lost the Baby Jesus - the smallest figurine. So the mother gave away the Baby from her hand-painted set. Now hers was missing the Baby Jesus. Sharon had to get a new one, and paint it. Did not match, exactly.

Yes, it was Sharon White, who gave away her hand-painted Baby Jesus, just because someone else needed one. That’s the way she does things!

Today we read the start of another of these Bible books called the Gospels. Mark. We heard the first words of the story: The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And Mark has no Baby Jesus. He starts with grown up John the Baptizer and grown up Jesus of Nazareth. No birth stories at all.

What a character, John is, eh? This cousin of Jesus (maybe a second cousin?), son of an old Jewish priest who works in the Temple, but John heads out like a wild man to the shores of the Jordan River to exercise his ministry. He draws a crowd, and baptizes people in the river, but do you hear what he preached?

‘I’m not it. I’m not number one. Me? I’m not the one you’re looking for. He’s going to arrive soon. I’m not worthy; not worthy to touch Him. I’m doing this for you, but what He’ll do for you: Wow!’

‘I am second’ is John’s attitude. He’s getting people ready for Number One.

Do you know about the ‘I am second” campaign? It started about fifteen years ago. It has a series of short interviews with celebrities, each one confessing they are Christians. All saying, ‘I’m not number one: Jesus is my number one. He’s First; I am second.’ From musician Michael W Smith, to author Anne Rice, to NHL player Mike Fisher, they all testify to how life is better when Christ takes preeminence. TV personality Kathie Lee Gifford:

Kathie Lee Gifford - YOUnique (youtube.com)

I have been working in the entertainment field since I was ten years old. To be a young woman in that business is brutal, because of the rejection, and its nonstop: boom, boom, boom.

I got riiipped one time on an audition for Charlie's Angels. And I'm sitting there, and the casting agent goes, "Let me tell you right now why you're not 'right' for Charlie's Angels.'

And I go, "Oh, ok."

"We're just looking for a 'pretty' girl." And then she said, "and a this, and a that," it was like getting beat: hit em to the left, hit em to the right.

And as I was walking out the door, I leaned back in and I went, "When you're casting a cartoon... let me know!" And I left laughing. God made me that way. At the end of her monologue, her testimony to Jesus, Kathie Lee Gifford says, “I am second.”

There is a gift in being ‘second,’ not first, not having to be number one. John the Baptizer knew this. He had a very important role, yes, but he was not the Messiah, a Saviour. He pointed the way, prepared the way, which is what the Jewish people, & others, needed.

The start of the Good News, the Gospel, for many people today, is preparation. Someone - or many people - prepare the way for Christ to meet a person. Quite often that is your role, and mine. It is not up to me or you to convert a person, to trans-form someone, to fix them. But it is up to us to discover how we shepherd others along. Your task is unique in this, as is mine.

As is the overall task of First Baptist. Even we don’t have to be first. I have a colleague, he is the lead minister of First Baptist Edmonton. He also is the lead shepherd of a church that worships with deep tradition, with broad-minded teachings, and seeks to include a wide variety of people from their city. Ryan is only half joking when he sometimes calls his church Last Baptist Church. For some, its their last chance to stay Baptist and still fit in, find a home.

Part of our role, at First or Last Baptist Amherst, is to build a spiritual community that feels like home to a wide range of thinking people, a wide range of personalities, a wide range of creative folk who still want to be Christian. We get to be a wide variety as we hold onto Christ Jesus, from many points around a circle, and discover the freedom He brings us.

We don’t have to be number one. My way of doing things, or your way of explaining things, does not have to be number one. Your life is not all about you; it is part of a greater picture. One important thread in a gigantic tapestry; one musical phrase in a dramatic symphony.

Often, when we are trying to be number one, ‘looking out for number one,’ this means Jesus is missing. At least, on the back burner. We actually flourish best when we are well-attached to the Vine - to use Bible imagery. I am the best me with Christ in me. When I fail at this, I remember these poetic words from the Second letter to Timothy.

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him;

if we deny him, he will also deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful—

he cannot deny himself.

So, it is OK to be still waiting and searching for Jesus, for more of Christ. Noticing that Jesus is missing is a good starting place. To be looking for the One who seems far from us is a good search. Like the person who gave up on God and decided not to believe, but keeps writing letters to God, or sending up prayers, ‘in case you are there.’ We’re on the right track! & we’ll find those who help point the way.

This is what I want a congregation to include: to be a group that welcomes the searchers, those on a spiritual quest. First Baptist - or Last Baptist, whatever we are - a family of seekers and finders.

To celebrate Advent - the arriving of Christ into the world - is to celebrate the fact that things are not complete, not finished. This is not as good as it gets. It gets better! There is more! So we keep waiting, we keep watch for Christ Jesus in our day and age.