Helen Weber-McReynolds, RCWP
December 4, 20222
2nd Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 11:1-10; Ps. 95; Romans 15: 4-13; Matthew 3: 1-12
Dorothy Day said, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.” I think she didn’t want people to sell themselves short, thinking that there was no way they could help the poor and wage peace as she did if they weren’t perfect. I think she also wanted to be known as a radical, a rabble-rouser, someone who protested the injustice in the world, and who worked to create positive change. And she wanted other people to do the same, to be critics and protestors of injustice, but then to do whatever little bit they could to make themselves and the world better, and not worry about being saints.
I think Isaiah, Paul, and John the Baptist are all calling us in a similar way in today’s readings. They are calling for all of us to be rabble-rousers in faith. But what kind of radicals are we called to be? Isaiah, in this beautiful holy mountain passage, says the kind who search for justice for the poor, equity for the meek, and who are bound by truth and righteousness. Paul, in his plea for unity between Jews and Gentiles, calls us to be servant-leaders to everybody, to model inclusion in the image of God’s radical love of all. And John the Baptist calls us to prepare the way of God, to make straight the paths in our communities for all to participate in the joy of God’s love, to invite everybody to the river of new life.
Advent is a good time to settle down and reflect on being a better person, and leader, individually. But I think these three prophetic voices call us even more to work communally as the people of God to make Jesus come alive again in our statement and actions. Our Gospel translation today uses the word repent, but the Greek word it came from is metanoia, usually translated, “to change your mind.” We often associate repentance with guilt, with paying a penalty for past mistakes. But John was calling people to baptism, not to punishment. He was inviting people to a begin a new life. He was encouraging people to submerge themselves in the Jordan and leave their old mind-set behind, and to come to the surface with a new attitude, to adopt a new, more loving, inclusive, justice-oriented way of thinking. He invites us, just the same, to puzzle through together, as the people of God, how to work toward peace, for one another, and for our earth.
And John said he was the forerunner of one even more life-giving, more merciful, and more wise. We know that he was leading the way for Jesus, the human presence of God, through the consent of Mary. Jesus personified God’s acceptance, inclusion, forgiveness, and love, not punishment or guilt. Jesus and John call us to consent, as Mary did, to bring forth in our own lives peace-making, help-giving, and loving kindness.
So as spiritual rabble-rousers, as riverside prophets, as everyday communion-builders, what are we being called to say? What are we being called to say to our government, as Americans? What are we called to say as citizens of Indianapolis? What shall we say to the Catholic church, as members striving for reform and renewal? What will our statement be, by example and action, to the people we work with? Our relatives? Our friends? We are called to be critics, of course, of what we see as wrong. But the Gospel we live by is the Good News, and our Creator is a God of love and mercy. I invite us to be Advent people, to foretell a better future by working to come up with new, creative ideas to make things better. Certainly, membership in an RCWP community gives us “wild shoot”, rabble-rouser status. And I think that what we are doing here, trying to create a new way of being church, modeled after the old way of the Early Christian community, which is inclusive and non-hierarchical, is a big step in the right direction. I challenge us all to constantly grow spiritually, teach one another and keep learning constantly, and keep working at all the things we each do to make things better for our human family members and for the earth.
We are preparing for the Advent, the arrival, of the Christ, the life-saving event of human history, the shared destiny prepared for all of us by God when we were created in the divine image. We have a new, hopeful, loving, justice-filled story to tell. Let us answer the call to be the flower of Jesse with words and actions of protest and of peace.
December 4, 20222
2nd Sunday in Advent
Isaiah 11:1-10; Ps. 95; Romans 15: 4-13; Matthew 3: 1-12
Dorothy Day said, “Don’t call me a saint. I don’t want to be dismissed so easily.” I think she didn’t want people to sell themselves short, thinking that there was no way they could help the poor and wage peace as she did if they weren’t perfect. I think she also wanted to be known as a radical, a rabble-rouser, someone who protested the injustice in the world, and who worked to create positive change. And she wanted other people to do the same, to be critics and protestors of injustice, but then to do whatever little bit they could to make themselves and the world better, and not worry about being saints.
I think Isaiah, Paul, and John the Baptist are all calling us in a similar way in today’s readings. They are calling for all of us to be rabble-rousers in faith. But what kind of radicals are we called to be? Isaiah, in this beautiful holy mountain passage, says the kind who search for justice for the poor, equity for the meek, and who are bound by truth and righteousness. Paul, in his plea for unity between Jews and Gentiles, calls us to be servant-leaders to everybody, to model inclusion in the image of God’s radical love of all. And John the Baptist calls us to prepare the way of God, to make straight the paths in our communities for all to participate in the joy of God’s love, to invite everybody to the river of new life.
Advent is a good time to settle down and reflect on being a better person, and leader, individually. But I think these three prophetic voices call us even more to work communally as the people of God to make Jesus come alive again in our statement and actions. Our Gospel translation today uses the word repent, but the Greek word it came from is metanoia, usually translated, “to change your mind.” We often associate repentance with guilt, with paying a penalty for past mistakes. But John was calling people to baptism, not to punishment. He was inviting people to a begin a new life. He was encouraging people to submerge themselves in the Jordan and leave their old mind-set behind, and to come to the surface with a new attitude, to adopt a new, more loving, inclusive, justice-oriented way of thinking. He invites us, just the same, to puzzle through together, as the people of God, how to work toward peace, for one another, and for our earth.
And John said he was the forerunner of one even more life-giving, more merciful, and more wise. We know that he was leading the way for Jesus, the human presence of God, through the consent of Mary. Jesus personified God’s acceptance, inclusion, forgiveness, and love, not punishment or guilt. Jesus and John call us to consent, as Mary did, to bring forth in our own lives peace-making, help-giving, and loving kindness.
So as spiritual rabble-rousers, as riverside prophets, as everyday communion-builders, what are we being called to say? What are we being called to say to our government, as Americans? What are we called to say as citizens of Indianapolis? What shall we say to the Catholic church, as members striving for reform and renewal? What will our statement be, by example and action, to the people we work with? Our relatives? Our friends? We are called to be critics, of course, of what we see as wrong. But the Gospel we live by is the Good News, and our Creator is a God of love and mercy. I invite us to be Advent people, to foretell a better future by working to come up with new, creative ideas to make things better. Certainly, membership in an RCWP community gives us “wild shoot”, rabble-rouser status. And I think that what we are doing here, trying to create a new way of being church, modeled after the old way of the Early Christian community, which is inclusive and non-hierarchical, is a big step in the right direction. I challenge us all to constantly grow spiritually, teach one another and keep learning constantly, and keep working at all the things we each do to make things better for our human family members and for the earth.
We are preparing for the Advent, the arrival, of the Christ, the life-saving event of human history, the shared destiny prepared for all of us by God when we were created in the divine image. We have a new, hopeful, loving, justice-filled story to tell. Let us answer the call to be the flower of Jesse with words and actions of protest and of peace.
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