The Sunday Eucharist - December 12, 2021

It was great to have two old friends as my guests for this Sunday – Dave Baldwin and Doug Pyeatt.

Doug brought us the reading from Zephaniah (3:14-20), who is one of those index prophets (ie. one you have to look up in the index). The reading was, appropriately, one of joyful anticipation of good times that lie ahead.

The Gospel reading (Luke 3:7-18), by contrast, contained almost no joy! It begins with John the Baptist addressing his audience as a ‘brood of vipers!’ (Luke 3:7) and the mood doesn’t elevate much as the passage progresses.

I’ve used to print off each year a copy of a 'John the Baptist Christmas Greeting Card' that I'd then share with the congregation. It began with the Baptist’s peculiar words of Christmas cheer – “You brood of vipers …” - and highlighted the incongruity of the Baptist with the mood of the silly season. You'll find a copy on my blog if you want to print it off and send it to someone who needs it. 😉

If you listen to our broadcast, you’ll hear too that I’ve offered some fresh thoughts this year on what John might have been up to in the Jordan. It occurred to me that the Jordan was the river that Joshua crossed many centuries earlier, leading the people of Israel into the Promised Land. It occurred to me that John’s baptism might have been less a symbol of washing than it was a symbolic re-crossing of the Jordan!

Dave
http://www.fatherdave.org
http://www.fighting-fathers.com