SERMON BY THE VICAR, ADVENT 2, 2025
Readings: Romans 15:4-13, Matthew 3:1-12
Today in our series on the preparation of Advent, our focus turns to John the Baptist and leads me to a short reflection based on the readings with three even shorter headings – preparation, truth telling and the ecumenical vocation.
Preparation. John the Baptist is known in the Orthodox tradition as the forerunner. He stands at the threshold of the New Testament, a voice crying out in the wilderness. His mission was clear: prepare the way for the Lord, calling all people—Pharisees, Sadducees, soldiers, tax collectors, everyone—to repentance. In this, John embodies the prophetic spirit: not bound to one group, but speaking to all with courage and truth. The courage and truth right now in terms of preparation is that without it, as we hold up a mirror to ourselves, we will miss the opportunity (whatever it is) if we do not take time to prepare well. Preparation. If we turn up an hour late for a flight, it should be gone; if we, like the foolish virgins at the wedding feast, turn up late and unprepared to the wedding, we will find the door slammed in our faces. Similarly for worship, whether as a producer or consumer, all of us have a duty in our worship to prepare. Turning up for worship late with no time for reflection or preparation is to treat worship as a commodity like a McDonalds and to display spiritual arrogance and unawareness. For those involved in leading worship in whatever way, to do so without thorough and timely preparation is such a misuse of office that it could almost be described as blasphemous or abusive – last second dot com can also kill, as any medic or psychiatrist will tell us. This is the importance of preparation.
Truth Tellers. Prophets in Scripture are not fortune-tellers; they are truth-tellers. John’s message was simple yet radical: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” What is repentance? In Greek it is metanoia or change of consciousness – our faith should be changing our consciousness all the time, and if it isn’t we need to ask ourselves why. What is the blockage? John the Baptist did not discriminate in his message—his call was ecumenical in spirit, reaching across social, religious, and political boundaries. By baptizing in the Jordan, he used a space where Jew and Gentile, rich and poor, religious leaders and common folk stood equal before God. And in sacred geography, the Jordan Valley is one of the lowest places on earth. Symbolically, for all the baptised, the only way is up after our baptism. So too in the sacred geography of this hilltop Parish – we have the UK’s widest gap in life expectancy between the rich top of the hill and the poor bottom of the hill. That gap in life expectancy is currently 13 years and growing. What is the prophetic message of the Parish Church in such a situation? That’s the question we will continue to ask in 2026, working together with our ecumenical partners.
Ecumenical Vocation This is the model for any individual, group or church who have laid upon them the prophetic vocation of ecumenism – as historically this church has done, and in which field I work. Ecumenism today seeks unity among Christians, and even dialogue across faiths. Like John, ecumenical work is prophetic because it challenges division, pride, and exclusivity. It calls us to repentance—not just personal, but communal—turning from sectarianism toward the kingdom vision of one body in Christ. John’s humility (“He must increase, I must decrease”) reminds us that true unity is not about winning arguments but preparing hearts for Christ. This Parish led the way in 2025 in recognising the ecumenical significance of the martyrs of the twenty first century – this is the ecumenism of blood. Pope Leo and the leaders of Orthodox Churches have shown this through the pilgrimage of faith to Nicaea in Türkiye this last week and to Lebanon where the
vibrant faith of the hundreds of thousands of young people showed what it means when Christians work together. So now is the time in this Diocese and the Church of England to wake up from the ecumenical sleep of recent years and to commit anew to following the path of Christ together. For myself I have absolutely no interest in working in a Church of England which is dead to the riches of other Christian traditions, and we know that a church which lives to itself dies to itself. Wake Up England.
John’s voice still cries out: prepare the way of the Lord by building bridges. Prophetic ecumenism means speaking truth with love, confronting injustice, and inviting all to the waters of renewal. Just as John pointed beyond himself to Jesus, our ecumenical efforts must point beyond denominational identity to the living Christ who unites us. Preparation, truth telling and the ecumenical vocation are all lights in the darkness. Christ is the source of that light and later on in that service, our children will help us understand this in sharing their Christingles with us. Christ as Light of the World.
John the Baptist shows us that prophetic ministry is not about isolation but invitation. His ecumenical spirit reminds us that the kingdom is bigger than our boundaries. May we, like John, be voices in the wilderness—calling all people to being prepared, to change of consciousness, renewal, and unity in Christ. The arrow prayer of Advent cuts through it all with bracing clarity – Maranatha.
