2nd Sunday of Advent

 The Kingdom is Coming

Don’t mess with a man who has been living in the desert

Eating locust and wild honey and wearing camel skin.

John came out of the desert with both guns blazing.

Firing away at the Pharisees and Sadducees

As he called them “a brood of vipers.”

The Kingdom of God was coming

And they had to bear good fruit as evidence of their repentance.

For every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

How much fruit do we bear?

The Kingdom of God was coming.

And Christ will have His winnowing fan in His hand.

And he will clear the threshing floor.

The wheat He will gather in His barn,

But the chaff He burn with unquenchable fire!

And the only way to escape the unquenchable fire

Is to repent.

To repent means to change;

Not for a day but for a life;

To repent means to turn around;

Not to keep going the same direction.

Most people however feel absolutely no need to repent.

To change or turn around.

Well if no one needs to repent

Then why is the world the way it is?

Violence, crime; division; war; racism; sexism;

Bullying; arguing; greed; anger; selfishness; self centeredness;

Jealousy; gluttony; bitterness, grudges, revenge, lust.

Do I need to go on?

Where does this all come from?

It comes from Humanity.

It starts off seemingly harmless but grows like a weed

Impossible to uproot.

There is absolutely no room for any of this in Heaven.

Not even a fraction;

Not even a drop;

Zero, zippo, nada!

So to get into Heaven we have to Repent of these things.

Some people may have to repent only a little, Others a lot.

John warns us

The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

The train is at the station;

it is leaving soon;

And it is time to get on board.

Or we will be left behind.