WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:11.939 The first season of Advent that I can remember observing in a truly meaningful way was years ago, 00:00:12.140 --> 00:00:15.220 soon after we had moved to England. 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:25.600 We were grad students, and we were living in the granny flat of a large house owned by a retired couple 00:00:25.600 --> 00:00:29.300 in our parish church in Cambridge, and they eventually became dear friends, 00:00:29.300 --> 00:00:37.579 and adoptive grandparents to our children, but we were just becoming Anglican in those days. 00:00:37.700 --> 00:00:41.140 Neither Alicia nor I had grown up in liturgical traditions, 00:00:42.060 --> 00:00:47.600 and the church calendar was still somewhat mysterious to us. 00:00:48.560 --> 00:00:53.600 But this retired couple that we were living with, these were true Anglicans. 00:00:54.079 --> 00:00:57.579 They had been born and raised in the Church of England, 00:00:57.579 --> 00:01:04.039 and I can still remember our first Advent season in their large 18th century house. 00:01:04.879 --> 00:01:13.039 At the start of Advent, they squeezed a large Christmas tree through the front door, 00:01:13.179 --> 00:01:20.799 and they positioned it in their massive foyer with its stone floors and its paneled walls 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:26.759 and its double height ceiling with balconies that ran three sides around the very top. 00:01:27.500 --> 00:01:33.739 And I, as a distinctly non-liturgical American, thought to myself, 00:01:34.140 --> 00:01:37.140 now it is decorating time. 00:01:38.900 --> 00:01:43.979 We are about a month out from Christmas, so we're getting a little bit of a late start. 00:01:43.980 --> 00:01:50.620 But this place is going to look great for getting in the Christmas spirit. 00:01:50.760 --> 00:01:55.719 And so I had teed up an Andy Williams Christmas album on my iPod, 00:01:56.100 --> 00:02:00.359 and we put some eggnog in the refrigerator to chill, 00:02:00.540 --> 00:02:06.880 and I began to consider strategically which balcony we should have an elf on the shelf 00:02:06.880 --> 00:02:11.699 peering down at everyone as they walked in the entrance. 00:02:11.699 --> 00:02:21.159 But they did not decorate for the entire season of Advent. 00:02:21.399 --> 00:02:27.359 And to my shock, they did not decorate that large Christmas tree in the foyer. 00:02:28.419 --> 00:02:33.079 That didn't happen until Christmas Eve after we came back from a Christmas Eve service, 00:02:33.199 --> 00:02:36.939 and then lights were strung, and Christmas decorations appeared all over the house, 00:02:36.939 --> 00:02:42.099 and we kicked off these 12 days of celebration, the 12 days of Christmas, 00:02:42.479 --> 00:02:46.039 with gift-giving and Christmas crackers and Christmas dinners, 00:02:46.159 --> 00:02:51.840 with adults having proper conversations while they had little paper crowns perched on their head. 00:02:51.939 --> 00:02:52.919 There's nothing like it. 00:02:53.259 --> 00:02:59.659 And eating massive wheels of Stilton cheese and bringing up dusty bottles of Bordeaux from the basement. 00:02:59.659 --> 00:03:02.000 It was an amazing celebration. 00:03:04.079 --> 00:03:10.859 But what I remember most from that year was what I learned about Advent. 00:03:12.579 --> 00:03:23.939 In a kind of weird way, that empty, unadorned tree in the foyer taught me far more than if there had been no tree at all. 00:03:23.939 --> 00:03:33.060 I would walk past it every day, and it stood there kind of like a sentry, guarding Advent, 00:03:33.340 --> 00:03:37.960 reminding every person who walked past that it is not yet Christmas. 00:03:39.300 --> 00:03:44.919 And we are still in a season of stillness and of waiting. 00:03:44.919 --> 00:03:53.939 I am reminded of that tree whenever we come into church during the season of Advent. 00:03:54.599 --> 00:04:03.099 We show up, and the engines for Christmas outside of church, they have been going full throttle for weeks. 00:04:03.759 --> 00:04:11.500 I just saw an article in which Martha Stewart recommends that you start preparing for Christmas early 00:04:11.500 --> 00:04:16.879 by decorating for Halloween using white pumpkins. 00:04:19.000 --> 00:04:20.199 You heard it here first. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:26.779 But in contrast, you walk into church, and instead of festive lights, it's a little bit more subdued. 00:04:26.860 --> 00:04:33.500 What we primarily have is one or two candles from our Advent wreath burning. 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:39.300 And even the Advent candles have a kind of soberness to them. 00:04:39.300 --> 00:04:46.819 In recent times, we have renamed them as hope, love, joy, and peace, the four candles. 00:04:46.960 --> 00:04:53.639 But in earlier eras, they represented the four traditional themes of Advent. 00:04:56.019 --> 00:05:05.680 Death, judgment, heaven, that's a good one, and hell. 00:05:05.680 --> 00:05:10.400 In that order. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:18.860 And waiting to greet us throughout the month of Advent is not Santa Claus, not even sweet, cuddly baby Jesus. 00:05:19.560 --> 00:05:28.240 The main character, the leading role in the church's season of Advent is the one person who you would never invite to your office Christmas party, 00:05:28.560 --> 00:05:30.000 and that is John the Baptist. 00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:37.120 That is who welcomes us to church this morning. 00:05:37.920 --> 00:05:46.980 In our gospel reading from Luke chapter 3, this sober and awkward figure living outside of the boundaries of mainstream society, 00:05:46.980 --> 00:05:50.620 who not only doesn't dress like everyone else, 00:05:50.779 --> 00:05:55.000 he shows up wearing a strange costume. 00:05:55.000 --> 00:06:05.779 The gospel writers go to great lengths to describe John the Baptist's clothing in some detail. 00:06:06.600 --> 00:06:13.879 Because they want you to understand that John the Baptist is wearing his Old Testament prophet costume. 00:06:13.879 --> 00:06:20.199 And furthermore, it's not just any Old Testament prophet costume. 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:24.219 This is not an off-the-rack Old Testament costume. 00:06:24.219 --> 00:06:32.879 This is a specially crafted costume designed to look like the greatest of Old Testament prophets, Elijah. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:42.839 In 1 Kings chapter 1, it describes the prophet Elijah as one who spent time in the desert. 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:48.100 If you'll remember, he was fed by ravens, miraculously bringing him food. 00:06:48.500 --> 00:06:57.079 And it specifically points out that he famously wore garments of hair with a leather belt around his waist. 00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:00.120 Elijah was well known for this. 00:07:00.120 --> 00:07:08.040 And so when John the Baptist shows up, living in the desert, eating locusts and wild honey, 00:07:08.180 --> 00:07:15.500 and wearing, as Matthew 3 puts it, garments of camel's hair with a leather belt around his waist. 00:07:16.879 --> 00:07:20.519 No one in Palestine dressed like this in that era. 00:07:21.079 --> 00:07:24.180 Everyone in Israel knew this was not an accident. 00:07:24.180 --> 00:07:28.959 This is John intentionally dressing like Elijah. 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:33.319 But why would he do this? 00:07:36.899 --> 00:07:41.199 For 400 years, there had not been a prophet in Israel. 00:07:42.780 --> 00:07:47.759 The very last prophet to speak in Israel was named Malachi. 00:07:49.180 --> 00:07:51.680 That was our reading for this morning. 00:07:51.800 --> 00:07:52.899 We actually heard from Micah. 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:55.959 Micah, Malachi, they sound similar. 00:07:55.959 --> 00:07:59.180 But the lectionary reading is from the prophet Malachi. 00:07:59.180 --> 00:08:07.099 And throughout Israel's history, God spoke to his people through prophets, warning and cajoling them to obey. 00:08:08.180 --> 00:08:15.419 But as Israel disobeyed the Lord again and again, eventually, God just stopped speaking to them. 00:08:15.420 --> 00:08:18.759 He stopped sending prophets. 00:08:18.759 --> 00:08:27.759 And so between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament, there were about 400 years of silence. 00:08:28.340 --> 00:08:39.000 The very last words, the very last things heard before that silence descended came from the lips of Malachi. 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:39.120 Malachi. 00:08:43.779 --> 00:08:47.600 And like all the other prophets, he called on Israel to repent. 00:08:47.740 --> 00:08:51.059 He was telling them that the day of the Lord would one day come. 00:08:51.379 --> 00:08:53.159 But then listen, here's how he ends. 00:08:54.279 --> 00:09:05.080 These are Malachi's final words as the last prophet in Israel in the last two verses of the last book of the Old Testament. 00:09:05.080 --> 00:09:12.920 Behold, Malachi says, before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 00:09:13.860 --> 00:09:16.879 I will send to you Elijah, the prophet. 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:25.500 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. 00:09:25.500 --> 00:09:30.360 Lest I come and strike the land with utter desolation. 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:39.139 And those are the last words that Israel hears. 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:45.419 For 400 years, it's ringing in their ears. 00:09:45.419 --> 00:09:52.959 The Lord will one day come, will purify us, will judge wrongdoing, will heal what is broken. 00:09:53.259 --> 00:10:02.519 And the way that we'll know that the Lord is coming is that Elijah, Elijah, who you remember, did not die, but was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. 00:10:03.799 --> 00:10:07.779 Elijah will return to prepare the way for the Lord. 00:10:07.779 --> 00:10:23.720 And so when John the Baptist shows up in the desert wearing what Elijah famously wore, announcing that the day of the Lord was at hand, it would be hard to underestimate the electricity that would have been in the air. 00:10:24.939 --> 00:10:31.459 All of Israel suddenly realizing, this must be it. 00:10:32.159 --> 00:10:36.600 This is the Elijah-type figure who was prophesied. 00:10:36.600 --> 00:10:42.920 This is the thing that we've been dreaming about for 400 years finally coming true. 00:10:45.040 --> 00:10:49.920 Even Jesus himself would reassure his disciples that this was, in fact, happening. 00:10:50.279 --> 00:10:54.700 He tells them in Matthew 11 that there has risen no one greater than John the Baptist. 00:10:55.159 --> 00:11:00.779 And if you are willing to accept it, Jesus told them, he is Elijah. 00:11:06.600 --> 00:11:18.779 So one of the reasons that John the Baptist is so important is that by representing Elijah, he forms a bridge from the Old Testament to the New Testament. 00:11:18.779 --> 00:11:32.980 John appears in the opening pages of the New Testament like this sort of time travel from of old, stepping out of the mists of the past to speak to Israel in the present in order to say, 00:11:33.519 --> 00:11:37.139 what has been prophesied is now coming to pass. 00:11:37.139 --> 00:11:43.059 The day that you've been waiting for, it's now here. 00:11:43.960 --> 00:11:49.840 God is going to act in history, and the one who comes after me is going to do it. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:12:05.639 But I think we have to stop and ask, given his transitional role, we get why John the Baptist was so important to Israel. 00:12:09.080 --> 00:12:11.800 But how is John the Baptist important to us? 00:12:11.799 --> 00:12:23.139 The church calendar gives him such a big role for at least two out of four Sundays during Advent. 00:12:23.439 --> 00:12:26.599 Every single year, John is the central figure. 00:12:27.979 --> 00:12:32.139 If you're not getting enough John the Baptist this Sunday, come back next Sunday. 00:12:32.139 --> 00:12:44.139 In the church calendar that gives the Trinity only one Sunday per year, giving John two weeks in a row, it's a lot of liturgical real estate. 00:12:46.360 --> 00:12:47.519 So why is that? 00:12:47.740 --> 00:12:49.980 Why does he feature so prominently? 00:12:50.500 --> 00:12:53.039 What is it that we're supposed to learn? 00:12:53.039 --> 00:13:04.679 To answer that question, it's helpful to remember that for roughly the first 500 years of the church, 00:13:04.779 --> 00:13:11.019 the season of Advent was not actually focused on the coming of Christ at Christmas. 00:13:13.779 --> 00:13:19.459 The season of Advent was focused on the second coming of Christ. 00:13:19.460 --> 00:13:25.460 I know that's hard for us to get our heads around because Advent comes right before Christmas. 00:13:26.320 --> 00:13:33.200 And to be sure, over time, the season of Advent did begin to include a focus on the birth of Jesus at Christmas. 00:13:33.200 --> 00:13:39.580 But historically, the primary focus of Advent was always on the second coming of Christ. 00:13:39.580 --> 00:13:51.560 And this is something that the contemporary church in the West does not focus on very much these days. 00:13:52.200 --> 00:14:02.980 The exception is if you happen to grow up like me in a wing of the American church that happened to be very focused on the second coming of Christ. 00:14:02.980 --> 00:14:13.279 But in those circles, the focus was not on Christ returning to repair the world, to right wrongs and heal hurts and judge injustice. 00:14:13.680 --> 00:14:25.019 Rather, the focus was on Christ returning to take Christians out of the world, to rapture them, to take them up to heaven and to leave the world to fend for itself. 00:14:25.019 --> 00:14:35.860 But that teaching, it's an aberration in the history of Christianity. 00:14:38.559 --> 00:14:43.519 It's not what the global church believes about the second coming of Christ today. 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:47.960 It's not what the global church has believed throughout history. 00:14:47.960 --> 00:15:01.960 What the church has always taught about the second coming of Christ is that it will be the consummation, the completion of what God put in motion in the first coming of Christ. 00:15:01.960 --> 00:15:14.060 That when Christ returns, he will right all wrongs and bind up wounds and liberate the oppressed and bring healing to the nations. 00:15:14.059 --> 00:15:22.279 When Christ returns, he does not come to snatch Christians up out of the world and take them up to heaven. 00:15:22.479 --> 00:15:30.279 He returns in solidarity with his creation in order to bring heaven to earth. 00:15:33.359 --> 00:15:35.239 And the early church prayed for that day. 00:15:35.240 --> 00:15:45.320 The early church looked at all that was wrong in the world, all the suffering that still existed, and they said, come, Lord Jesus. 00:15:47.180 --> 00:15:49.000 O come, O come, Emmanuel. 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:51.840 Intervene. 00:15:53.620 --> 00:15:55.100 Fix what's broken. 00:15:55.899 --> 00:15:58.659 Bring relief to those who are suffering. 00:15:58.659 --> 00:16:06.259 Come and transform this sinful world and bring the full reality of the heavens to saturate every part of it. 00:16:11.259 --> 00:16:15.240 And we also, I pray like that. 00:16:15.919 --> 00:16:17.199 Come, Lord Jesus. 00:16:18.799 --> 00:16:22.600 Come to Ukraine. 00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.439 And end the suffering of innocent people. 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:29.720 Come to Gaza. 00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:34.000 And restore what has been lost. 00:16:34.460 --> 00:16:36.020 Come to Sudan. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:40.460 And end the ravages of civil war. 00:16:42.980 --> 00:16:45.500 Come to Washington, D.C. 00:16:46.660 --> 00:16:49.260 Come to our neighborhoods. 00:16:50.020 --> 00:16:51.340 To our places of work. 00:16:51.980 --> 00:16:53.220 To our homes. 00:16:53.220 --> 00:16:55.500 And heal. 00:16:55.500 --> 00:16:57.060 And transform them. 00:17:01.139 --> 00:17:03.879 The early church prayed for this to happen. 00:17:05.079 --> 00:17:09.500 And although they believe that no one knows when that will fully happen. 00:17:10.240 --> 00:17:14.019 And that God is the ultimate agent in history. 00:17:14.019 --> 00:17:23.759 They believe that in some mysterious way, we also have a role to play in preparing for God to act. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:30.759 To create the conditions for Christ's return and intervention. 00:17:30.759 --> 00:17:33.720 In 2 Peter chapter 3. 00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:43.359 Apostle Peter writes that in the last days, scoffers will say, where is this coming that the Lord has promised? 00:17:43.839 --> 00:17:46.259 People were asking about the second coming of Christ. 00:17:46.259 --> 00:17:48.839 And Peter's reply is this. 00:17:49.180 --> 00:17:53.839 The Lord isn't being slow in his coming. 00:17:56.640 --> 00:17:57.900 He's not being slow. 00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:02.420 He's being patient in his coming. 00:18:02.420 --> 00:18:11.200 And the reason he's being patient, Peter says, is so that we have time to enter into repentance. 00:18:12.820 --> 00:18:17.740 Which he says will hasten the day of the Lord. 00:18:18.519 --> 00:18:19.920 It's a fascinating word. 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:23.759 He says it will hasten the day of the Lord. 00:18:23.759 --> 00:18:31.000 Peter says that repentance in some mysterious way creates the conditions for the Lord's work. 00:18:31.279 --> 00:18:35.019 For God's intervention and ultimately for the second coming of Christ. 00:18:39.279 --> 00:18:50.940 Similarly, John the Baptist announced to Israel that the first coming of Christ is also hastened by repentance. 00:18:50.940 --> 00:18:59.380 Our text from Luke 3 says that John went into all the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance. 00:19:00.100 --> 00:19:00.380 Why? 00:19:01.240 --> 00:19:04.880 In order to prepare a way for the Lord. 00:19:06.100 --> 00:19:12.000 It is by repentance, John the Baptist preached, that valleys will be lifted. 00:19:13.080 --> 00:19:14.519 And mountains made low. 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:16.880 And crooked paths made straight. 00:19:17.240 --> 00:19:19.759 And rough places made smooth. 00:19:20.940 --> 00:19:28.080 And this repentance, in fact, did prepare the way for Jesus. 00:19:29.759 --> 00:19:34.880 Many, many people came out to the desert to repent and be baptized by John. 00:19:35.500 --> 00:19:42.320 Matthew 3 says that then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to John. 00:19:42.320 --> 00:19:46.180 And they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 00:19:46.320 --> 00:19:47.440 They're pouring out. 00:19:47.440 --> 00:19:59.480 And so when Jesus comes on the scene ready to teach and heal and bring the kingdom of God close to them, the people were ready to listen. 00:19:59.600 --> 00:20:01.600 They were ready to receive him. 00:20:01.860 --> 00:20:04.140 They were ready to respond. 00:20:04.140 --> 00:20:13.520 And that is no less true for us today. 00:20:13.520 --> 00:20:27.640 I would wager that there are not many of us here who don't want to receive greater healing and transformation by Jesus in our lives. 00:20:27.640 --> 00:20:37.520 But just as it was for those who went out to the desert to hear John the Baptist, so it is with us. 00:20:39.120 --> 00:20:43.280 Repentance prepares us to receive him. 00:20:43.279 --> 00:20:50.980 We're reminded in Isaiah 57. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:54.980 Thus says the one who is high and lifted up. 00:20:55.579 --> 00:20:57.879 I dwell in the high and holy place. 00:20:58.759 --> 00:21:04.339 And also I dwell with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit. 00:21:04.339 --> 00:21:13.980 God dwells with those who have a contrite spirit, a repentant spirit. 00:21:16.379 --> 00:21:18.039 Here's the problem. 00:21:21.379 --> 00:21:24.259 Repentance is often misunderstood. 00:21:25.720 --> 00:21:30.959 It's one of those words that is absolutely freighted with baggage. 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:44.039 It carries with it associations of heaviness or shame or legalism or boilerplate confessions and abstract forgiveness. 00:21:47.140 --> 00:21:51.980 Repentance can often be about ritual or saying words to tick a box. 00:21:51.980 --> 00:22:13.460 But I want to suggest that true repentance is about an inner posture of the heart that slowly over time creates more space for Christ and actually leads to deeper and more authentic freedom. 00:22:13.460 --> 00:22:35.559 In 1986, it was announced that the world's largest McDonald's was going to open in one of the most famous locations in the center of Rome, in the Piazza d'Espagna at the foot of the Spanish Steps. 00:22:35.559 --> 00:22:40.359 Right there, 450 seats, largest McDonald's. 00:22:42.240 --> 00:22:55.240 Well, the thought that a fast food restaurant would feature in one of the most visible centers of Italian culture created an uproar and it provoked massive protest across the entire country of Italy. 00:22:55.339 --> 00:23:01.200 And one of the results of these protests is that a manifesto was written. 00:23:01.200 --> 00:23:15.019 And it became a famous manifesto which proclaimed that people have fallen prey to a virus, which the manifesto named as the fast life, which fractures traditions and communities. 00:23:15.559 --> 00:23:21.720 What we need instead of fast food, it said, is slow food. 00:23:21.720 --> 00:23:30.240 Food that is grown locally and prepared in that culture style and experienced leisurely and enjoyably with others. 00:23:31.220 --> 00:23:43.360 And most people mark this manifesto as the birth of what became known as the slow food movement with the snail as its mascot. 00:23:44.579 --> 00:23:47.740 And it had a transformative effect around the world. 00:23:47.740 --> 00:23:56.920 It helped shine a spotlight on the fact that the best things in life, the most important things take time. 00:23:57.839 --> 00:23:58.940 They can't be rushed. 00:24:03.740 --> 00:24:13.079 And I want to suggest that perhaps what we need in the church is a slow repentance movement. 00:24:13.079 --> 00:24:23.199 A slow repentance movement would recognize that the changes that we need to make in our lives take time. 00:24:25.659 --> 00:24:27.480 They don't happen overnight. 00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:36.259 We need more than only words that we quickly say or boxes that we easily check. 00:24:36.259 --> 00:24:46.200 What we need is time and persistence and faith and community. 00:24:48.299 --> 00:24:59.480 We need these things to make the rough places in our hearts smooth and to prepare a place that Christ can more easily inhabit. 00:24:59.480 --> 00:25:05.380 The great Orthodox theologian, Demetrius Staniloé writes this. 00:25:07.200 --> 00:25:09.440 Our self-absorption is like an ocean. 00:25:11.039 --> 00:25:13.839 And so the road to overcoming it is long. 00:25:16.099 --> 00:25:21.700 Love is the exit from the shadowy prison of self-preoccupation. 00:25:22.059 --> 00:25:24.960 But this escape cannot happen all at once. 00:25:25.799 --> 00:25:27.480 The way is one gradually. 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:28.120 Gradually. 00:25:30.400 --> 00:25:37.460 Repentance, he writes, is the critical eye which isn't fooled by the false pleasures offered by our ego. 00:25:38.400 --> 00:25:43.740 Repentance stops us from always saying yes to those false callings. 00:25:45.099 --> 00:25:50.720 By repentance, he says, God doesn't let us be satisfied with who we already are, 00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:57.579 but slowly moves us out of the darkness of self-absorption and into the light of love. 00:26:03.860 --> 00:26:09.059 John the Baptist came preaching repentance. 00:26:10.500 --> 00:26:14.860 It was his message to Israel and it is his message to us. 00:26:14.859 --> 00:26:20.519 It is the message of this season of Advent. 00:26:22.119 --> 00:26:24.479 But repentance is not something to fear. 00:26:25.439 --> 00:26:30.699 It is not a message of condemnation or shame. 00:26:30.700 --> 00:26:34.200 It is an invitation to freedom. 00:26:35.480 --> 00:26:44.860 It is an invitation to smooth down the rough places in our hearts and to straighten those places that feel misaligned. 00:26:44.859 --> 00:26:51.339 It is an invitation to move slowly but persistently. 00:26:51.339 --> 00:26:58.000 The transformative effects of repentance don't come simply by a word here or a prayer there. 00:26:59.279 --> 00:27:04.959 Repentance is a posture that we learn over time. 00:27:04.960 --> 00:27:13.140 We learn to move things that take up space in our hearts to make room for Christ. 00:27:14.500 --> 00:27:20.480 And if we make room, he will come. 00:27:23.600 --> 00:27:32.019 Even this morning, as we come forward shortly for the sacrament of communion, 00:27:32.019 --> 00:27:33.420 Jesus will be here. 00:27:35.259 --> 00:27:41.960 He will be drawing close in the bread and the wine in his body and blood. 00:27:44.819 --> 00:27:47.099 And we can come ready to receive him. 00:27:47.579 --> 00:27:50.980 We can come ready for him to fill our hearts. 00:27:51.539 --> 00:27:58.680 We can come ready for him to respond to even our smallest, slowest steps of repentance. 00:28:02.019 --> 00:28:02.379 Amen. 00:28:02.379 --> 00:28:02.460 Amen.