Turn and Run

          It has been a great help to me to see a grief counselor since my father died.  My counselor helps me trudge through the awful sludge of sorrow and anguish that death brings on.

          I always look forward to our appointments because though grief work is very hard work, it is also life giving, and it enables me with a healthy sense of perspective.

          My counselor is a few towns down the road, so I have a bit of a drive to get to him.

          Driving to an appointment not too long ago, I was interrupted three times by perspective wrecking news.  First, I’ll tell you that the setting for this story was an absolutely beautiful East Tennessee day.  It was mid-day, the day after a good rain.  The sun was perfect and just warm on a cool afternoon.  I drove along a two lane road, and feasted on the sights.  There were farms with rolling pastures on both sides of the road.  All around, new growth was just coming up from the dark soil of the planting fields.  The way the sun played off the green ground was holy and brilliant.  It was a picture perfect scene that warmed me just to look at it.  I thought to myself as I passed by with my dad on my mind, “this must be a scene from heaven.”

          Then, my phone rang. 

          It was a friend of mine who lives in another state.  He was calling with sad news.  One of his employees came into work that morning with bruises and a terrible story about an alcohol soaked scene of domestic violence at her home.  We talked about what he should do.  He was in a hurry to take some action, so we hung up after a short conversation.

          I drove on.

          My pretty drive was now colored a little darker by images of violent behavior. 

          A few minutes passed and my phone rang again.  It was another friend calling with more sad news.  Hospice has been called for my friend’s father-in-law.  His father-in-law has fought a courageous battle with cancer, but it’s got into his bones now, and he just can’t fight much longer.  We hung up, and I drove on through the sunshine, feeling sober and thankful that I had my problems and not someone else’s troubles.

          In a few minutes I started around a curve in the road, and just as I came through the elbow of the curve and into a straight stretch, I had to stop suddenly. There was a wreck in the road.  Two cars had hit head on.  There were people standing in the street holding their heads and making phone calls.  Broken glass lay glistening all over the asphalt like a million tiny jewels, and the twisted metal wreckage of the smashed up cars completely blocked the two lane road.

          It seemed to me the most unlikely of accident scenes.

          It was a beautiful clear day.  No fog to cloud the driver’s vision.  No rain to cause a slippery hydroplane.  The wreck was on a straight stretch of road.  No intersection to get mixed up at or stop sign to run through.  Wide open fields on either side of the street so no buildings or bushes to blame a blind spot on.  I have no idea how this wreck could have happened.

          They had plenty of help on the scene, so I pulled off the road and turned around to find another way to my appointment.

          My perspective was all jostled up on my drive (which was just 30 minutes!), and I had a sense of urgency planted in my heart.

          What I mean is I got a very real sense that life is indeed short.  In fact, we may not have much time to gladden the hearts of those we travel the road with.

          I feel a real sense of urgency in the gospel scene this morning.  I think I can hear urgency, maybe bordering on panic in John the Baptist’s voice as he shouts, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”  I think John is welling full with anxiety when he says, “One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.  He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor….”

          John is saying that Jesus is coming, and when he comes something big is going to happen…so get ready.

          Now, sometimes we preaching types want to disarm John, ask him to calm down, lower his voice maybe, tell him he’s scaring the children, but I’ve decided that this Advent I don’t want John cool off, rather, I want him to amp it up a notch or two.

          We need his urgent cries, and we need his wild eyed repentance sermons because life is short, and we can do better.

          I know, and you know, that life is short and we quite simply do not have time to fool around with hate and sin and silly arguing and fighting.  We human creatures need to repent, turn away from, our grim acceptance of poverty, our propensity for causing wars all over the world, our prejudices and our intolerance of difference and change.

          See, the drive I described with all the bad news is actually not all that out of the ordinary.

All of those things happen on any given day.  Life is spinning with good and bad news, and if we want to get caught up in the good news, then, we need to adopt some sense of urgency in our lives.  Maybe we need to listen to the screaming of John the Baptist.

          Now….a lot of people choose to take heed to John’s warning because they are scared. That is because Jesus is coming, and those who don’t fall into line are going to burn in Hell.

          Fear may motivate you and carry you along in your faith journey, and that’s your choice.

But you should know that urgency does not necessarily develop into fear of Hell.

          I am not motivated by fear of fire in my longing to be close to God.  I am motivated by my deep desire to be involved in and tangled up in the love of God.

          See, it strikes me that to be separated from the love of God would be as bad and as painful as any horror I could imagine.

          It strikes me that to be separated from the love of my family and my friends whether by my foolish doing, their doing, or some random twisted accident, would be as bad and as painful as any horror I could imagine.

          The point is - life can be too good, too rich and too Grace filled to waste a single precious moment of our time with greed, or hate, or violence, or selfishness…

          Those things are all wrecks in the road and we need to turn around and find another way- And not because we’re scared of fire, but rather, because we are drawn to the love of God like metal to a magnet.

          John’s cry in the wilderness reverberates down to us today, you know.  It sounds like this: “Turn and run to God!  Go to God dear ones!  Leap into the loving arms of God and from those arms leap with love into the embrace of your neighbor!”

          The love of God is fiery indeed.  The love of God burns off all the hate and bitterness that lies on the surface of the world to reveal the cool interior Kingdom, where Grace washes pain and sorrow away.

          So, I say- let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!  Turn around and run into this love- quickly!  It’s urgent!  Amen.