It is in the story about John the Baptizer
who, having pointed out Jesus and baptized him
sort of fades away,
allowing Jesus to take the lead.

What I find interesting
is that John in so doing
relinquished a great deal of power.

Huge crowds flocked to him
there below Jerusalem on the Jordan River

Even Political leaders and wealthy people
came to watch, and wonder.

People hung on every word John uttered;
so, he was giving away a great deal of power
and, one would think, personal satisfaction
in allowing Jesus to replace him.

In fact, such is explicit in today's reading.
A crowd of John's disciples come to him
and ask why Jesus, a man baptized by John
is suddenly getting all the attention.

And, John answers that such is his purpose
and his greatest joy.

In fact, the greatest witness of John the Baptizer
was not that he pointed out Jesus to the Crowds,
or even that he gave up personal power
in allowing Jesus to replace him,
but, rather, his greatest witness was
that he was fulfilled in joy
by the coming of Jesus.

Crowds have trouble discerning
what is real and what is not,
what is of God, and what is not,
what gives the greatest joy, and what is hurtful.

One example comes from several years ago,
when, crossing the Singapore harbor late one night,
an overcrowded passenger ferry caught fire.

It wasn't an especially dangerous fire,
except that someone yelled "Run"
and the crowd ran.

The mass of humanity rushed all at once
to the opposite rail of the ship
and capsized the vessel.

Hundreds were lost that night
in the deep, dark water.

Our Epistle today is from Saint Paul.
It was written from Corinth
to the church at Thessaloniki
in the north of Greece

to try to call the young church there
to an understanding of what it means
to discern what is of God in Christ Jesus
and to follow it,
no matter what.

Paul anticipates that the world will not last
and begs them to hold fast to the faith.

There is no sense that the little faith community
is supposed to control the world,
but rather that, in the midst of a world gone mad,
they can remain strong in faith and love
and be pleasing to the Lord, when he comes.

I read these words
and those assigned in the other two readings today
with great attention,
and I was stunned by the message I received.

We are privileged as citizens of this land
to be living out the most successful experiment
in human freedom and development
this world has ever known.

People came here
often to turn their back on other places
and found something good and full of hope.

But, a risk attends
in that we can become oblivious, ignorant,
distrustful, condescending, and even disparaging
of the cultures, issues, and contributions
of the billions of God's other people
around the world.

And, I fear that those shortcomings
of our culture and identity
are being used somehow
to gain our consent to war
based on factors other than compelling injustice.

How did we get from the tragic evil
visited upon us on the 11th of September
to the verge of war with Iraq?

I'd like to know
so I can understand and judge properly.

When I was a small boy
my job in the family labor pool
was to peal the metal foil
from the chewing gum wrappers
and roll it into balls.
We would take the balls to the town square
for recycling for the war effort.

Much later, I learned that none of it was recycled.
The foil would have burned to ash.

The collection of the foil simply was a part
of a national conditioning of the population for War.

I am feeling some such conditioning just now,
and I fear that we are rushing to the rail
with no sense of what is about to capsize.

So does the world, on many issues,
draw us into its own agenda.

What are the conditioning forces
for the many decisions,
great and small,
that we make as individuals and families?

Paul's Epistle today
was written to a new church community
which wasn't too sure about
what was true and good, and what was not,
what was of God, and what was not.

So, Paul admonishes idleness;
which he defines as
the unwillingness
to think things through,
and test where the Spirit of Christ
would lead them;

and, Paul encourages the faint of heart;
which refers to those who would live
only for their own well being.

And Paul implores them to help the weak;
that is, those who would follow the crowd
over the side of the ship.

He makes no claim that the little faith community
should aspire to change the world of empires.

Neither did Jesus, for that matter.
That simply wasn't the issue.

Jesus was concerned with changing our hearts.
That is to him the place of greatest treasure.

So, Paul continues that theme
of preparing our hearts
for the reality of Christ's coming.

Be at peace among yourselves, he says.
Admonish, encourage, help others.
Be patient.
Repay not evil with evil.
Seek to do good to all God's people.

The issue is what is inside of us.
That is where the Kingdom of God is to be.

The world will change only
when enough people live by such words,
with such vision, for such love.

Test everything by the Christ of God,
he continues.

(Don't be blindly led by the crowd.)
Abstain from doing evil in any form.
Pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances.

Christmas is coming, my friends.
We should not let its significance
in this world
and in these times
escape us.

Think, in your quiet moments,
what kind of world it was
into which Jesus was born.

And, then, meditate about the purpose of his coming:
to bring light to dark places
to bring warmth to cold hearts
to bring truth to dulled minds
to bring love and hope
and promise and peace

but to do that, he also has to bring justice.

To do that, he had to go outside
the power systems of that day.
He had to go to a simple, rude town
and an uncluttered people,
and there, he unveiled the true nature of God.

We are being asked,
as was John the Baptizer,
to step aside from our clutter
and our need for control
and allow Jesus to show the way;
to allow him to be our measure
of what we are to be and do,
no matter what.

Paul expected Jesus to return momentarily,
and wanted the people of his church
to be for Jesus, a delight.

Paul wasn't correct about Jesus returning in his lifetime;
but he is right-on
about our call to be renewed in heart
by God's Christmas,

to follow his son in all things,
and, so, to be for God
an emerging delight.

That is our purpose, and our greatest Joy.