John’s baptism is hitting a nerve with a lot of people. Mark tells us all the people from the countryside and from Jerusalem are continuously coming out to hear John the Baptist. They are attracted by two aspects of John’s being.

First, he sounds like the prophets of old. He’s quoting Isaiah from another time when the people were also driven to repentance. The bit that Mark quotes evokes the entire passage we had in the first reading and more. God’s response to that repentance is warm and loving, “Comfort my people…Speak tenderly to Israel…prepare the way of The Lord…Lift up, do not fear…he will feed his flock…he will gather the lambs in his arms…he will gently lead..”

They want things to change and they know that change begins within each one of them.

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Some weeks ago I ran across a quip where someone said they didn’t want to turn the clocks back an hour this fall because they didn’t want to add an hour back to 2020. Here we are at the start of the church’s new year, the first Sunday of Advent, with a sense of caution. A year ago none of us saw 2020 coming as it has. If I had, I would have gotten you to stock up on toilet paper.

I don’t need to go through the litany of worldwide, national and local disturbances we have endured this year. The personal struggles and losses for many or most of us have been tough, too. In truth, they have been worse. When we go through trials personally and when we endure the loss of dear friends it takes a toll. And all of it stacks up.

Paul wrote to the church at Corinth affirming them as a grace-filled body formed around the testimony of Christ. They have been “enriched in him in speech and knowledge of every kind.”

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In many respects, our family’s Thanksgiving plans are unchanged from prior years. Three of our four children will arrive on Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning with their spouses. The other, our oldest, will host his in-laws at their home on Thanksgiving and bring his family over on Friday. The groceries have been bought and the bird is thawing. We will pray together, laugh together and very likely eat too much together. Memories will be shared. Stories will be told. Some will play games. Others will very likely fall asleep in front of a football game. We’ve contributed to the needs of others, including through the Care Center’s holiday food drive and to our sister church in Honduras.

We have so very much to be thankful for in the opportunity to continue all of those traditions.

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