Dear St. Luke’s,

Have you ever seen one of those crazy street preachers with signs that say, “THE END IS NIGH!”? I thought those were mostly made-up troupes until I saw one in downtown Atlanta. That day I learned a valuable lesson, if someone is yelling to you about Jesus, don’t respond. The fact they shout means they are not interested in listening. Why does preparing for the end seem to bring out the worst in people? You’d think if he really believed what he was preaching, he would reconcile with loved ones and try to bear fruit worthy of repentance, but he certainly did not ask me.

In Advent, we hear in much of the scripture where from the end-times hysteria stems. This past Sunday, we heard how we must stay awake and alert because we do not know the time or place when the Lord is coming. This week, we will listen to how John the Baptist prepared the way of the Lord by proclaiming repentance of sins and calling the Pharisees a bunch of vipers. He baptized with water, but the one coming after him (Jesus) will baptize with fire and separate the wheat from the chaff; the chaff burn in unquenchable fire. Through all of the action and allusion, the truth of the passage is clear. You want to be the wheat because being chaff is not good.

What John and Jesus described in these passages is scary, but it does not really describe the end times. Considering both rely heavily on metaphor and parable it is hard to paint a picture of what end-times would look like, but what they describe seems more like a transition than an ending. There may be an end to some things, but beginnings will almost certainly follow. It is easy to see the baggage that others carry and how much easier it would be to throw that chaff into the fire, starting anew unburdened by all that weight. While it is easy to see others’ baggage, it is much harder to see our own that we’ve worked so hard to carry and maintain, and it is impossible to see it as anything other than essential. We can be quick to judge, but we too can shed our burdens and throw them away to leave more room in our souls for fruit worthy of repentance.

When we read this week’s Gospel, initially it sounds scary because we don’t want to get burnt with the chaff, but it is scary for completely different reasons. From the wilderness, John is a living reminder of what we truly need, which is God’s creation around us and the baptism that washes away our sins. Everything else, when it becomes too heavy, is mere chaff that we can leave for the fire.

We are baptized with water. While we wait for the baptism of fire that John speaks of, we are reminded that we are people of fire. Fire is a transition. The wood ends and becomes coals, heat, smoke, and ash, and we must keep feeding it if we find the warmth for new fruit trustworthy of repentance.

Remember, “THE BEGINNING IS NIGH!”

Blessings,

Nick