The sermon for December 18 was based on John 1:19-28.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Most of you know how much I love serving my Sailors and Marines. I am, in lot of ways built form military service, I resonate to that whole way of life, the order the structure the clarity of purpose and the exercise of command. Marines, in particular, value, almost revere command.

Genuine command and the qualities of leadership that it depends upon flow frm the combination of intellectual flexibility and an almost ruthless determination to implement one's will. Nothing, the say, is so like god as a general in the field or an admiral on the sea. The word admiral is actually a ancient Persian word meaning "Lord of the Sea".

There is no substitute for a really good commander on the battle field. Men like Patton and Halsey and Mitchell and Chesty do amazing things in the fog of war. Yet Arlington is full of admirals and generals. There may be nothing more like god than a general but a general is still nothing more than merely like god. He is not the Christ. Neither is the ability to command a one size fits all solution to the thorny problems of daily life. There is nothing wrong with the ability to command its just that it isn't always the best thing to do.

Someone very dear to me has been encouraging me lately to ask myself what my various heroes would do if they were in my situation. John the Baptist is certainly one of my heroes. He is fiery and fringe yet at the same time beloved of Jesus who calls him the greatest of all the prophets. Notice what John the Evangelist says of him in our Gospel for today. John the Baptist "confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." When asked who he was he said who he wasn't. I don't know what psychologists would make of it but I like it.

John "confesses" that he is not the Christ and in so doing kills to birds with one stone, so to speak. John was born to prepare the way for Jesus, to announce his arrival to the people of Israel. In order to say who is the Christ he must also say who isn't the Christ. John is faithful to his calling by telling people that he is not the Christ. He is also being good to himself and his neighbors by not taking on the identity and responsibilities of God Almighty. We would do well to take his example to heart. This text means something more to me this year than ever before.

People call my house at all hours of the day saying, "Pastor what am I going to do?" The part of me that leans toward command and resonates with the Marine Corps wants to have a game plan for every one of my suffering friends, a six step solution with an accompanying full color time chart, in short, I want to offer a commanding answer, the kind Jesus offered His hearers. Once in a while this is possible, once in a very great while. Usually this isn't possible and feeling obligated to offer such an answer hasn't given me a single moment's peace.

But what if I took the advice of my good friend and tried to imitate John the Baptist. Now camel hair and locusts aren't my style but I think I can get on board with the part where he confesses and does not deny that neither he nor I is the Christ. What does it mean to confess such a thing in our time and place? What would I , a mere servant of the Word, have to offer you if I were to reject the idea of an admirable spiritual admiralty and admit that I am not the Christ? Well, surprisingly, I would be able to offer you the real thing. The less of me there is the more of God there is. John the Baptist says the same thing in chapter 3 of this same Gospel. He must increase but I must decrease.

Instead of trying to be Christ for you it is my job to sit with you in your troubles, to cry with you while you are suffering and to hold your hand while we wait for He who is truly in command to reveal His will for us. This is a lesson not just for Pastors but for fathers and mothers and sisters and brothers and children and friends and lovers and neighbors and so on. What would our lives be like if we just let God be God and let Him take care of us? How much happier would we be if we could joyfully confess by word and deed that we are not the Christ?

St. Paul says in today's Epistle that we are to rejoice always, to be gentle, to be anxious for nothing and to be at peace. It's hard enough to do that while getting dinner ready or wrapping all the presents let alone while trying to be god. I have never experienced joy, gentleness, tranquility and peace while trying to exercise command. On the contrary, the closest I've ever come to what St. Paul describes has been during those times when I was most sympathetic, honest, open and humble. Ironically, amazingly, I am most holy when I least try to be like God.

My advice to you brothers and sisters as well as to myself is to get rid of your anger whether righteous or unrighteous and leave it God. He's the only one who can handle it well. Follow rather the example of John and Paul. Seek peace and joy. Let go of blame and demands. Instead of behaving like some self-righteous deity find ways to say "I am not the Christ" I leave vengeance to Him. Say rather I need the Christ and I crave mercy from Him. It is my experience that anger, blame and expectations, are weapons and that to drop them feels like walking unarmed onto the battlefield. No one would feel safe unarmed on the battlefield and yet that is exactly the way that we chaplains are obliged to go forth to war, unarmed. Just as I must trust others to fight for me in times of war we must all trust God to fight for us in our daily lives. And by leaving the fighting to Him we are free to be joyful and peaceful and gentle and anxious for nothing. That is the kind of life that I want for myself and my family and I think you do too.

Only when we've dropped our anger and resentment and fear are our hands free to take hold of the Body and Blood of Christ. We have to reject the sound of our own recriminations before we can hear the sweet words of Pastoral Absolution. Once we realize just how badly we need to be forgiven, how little like Christ we really are, we begin to cherish our Baptism in a whole new way. What I'm trying to say is that as long as we are trying to pass ourselves off as Christ, whether to others or to ourselves, we are not really free to recognize and receive Him.

I have never before in my life been so ready and willing, so eager even, for Christ to be Christ and for me to be just me. This year I feel as if John the Baptist has explained the First Commandment to me so that I've understood it for the very first time. Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. What does this mean? We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.

If God feels the need to be angry let Him be angry. He's better at it than we are anyway. Who here can rain brimstone or turn people into pillars of salt. If God feels the need to accuse let Him. He's got much better dirt on us than even we ourselves do. If God feels the need demand more of us than we are willing to do. Let Him make His wishes known. He can use resources we've never even imagined to guide and shape our conduct. I warn you, though, if you're waiting for God to leap down upon the earth and smite the people who getting on your nerves you're probably going to be disappointed. Isaiah describes God's attitude best in our Old Testament reading. He is like a shepherd seeking the lost and inspiring His people to repentance and renewal. Think too of Christmas. John the Baptist isn't Christ. Christ doesn't come wild-eyed and eating insects. He comes as a babe in arms, a child in a manger. If God who must govern the universe, constrain the devil, and punish the unrepentant dead can come as a baby and work as a carpenter how much more free are we mere mortals to be gentle and peaceful and anxious for nothing? Don't ask yourselves what Jesus would do. Whatever the answer is you're almost certainly incapable of doing anything even remotely like it. Instead we should be asking ourselves, what can I do right this second to make my life and the lives I share more peaceful and more joyful? Amen.

The Peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Last Updated: 7/15/2008