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Foreign.

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Thank you for engaging with
the homily by Pastor Chill Will from

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Chapel Hill.

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I hope this message encourages
you, challenges you and moves you

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to go deeper in your faith and
enrich how you love God and love

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your neighbor in your day to
day life.

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Just a reminder.

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Like the Scriptures and
Gospels themselves, this homily was

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written for a particular
community in a particular, particular

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context, time in history.

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And yet, like our sacred
texts, I hope that these words hold

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timeless truths about God's
unconditional love and grace.

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We hope these words speak to
you in a meaningful way.

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Welcome to Holy Tree Lutheran
Church and Lutheran Campus Ministry

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on this second Sunday of
adventure the Holy Gospel According

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to Matthew in those days, John
the Baptist appeared in the wilderness

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of Judea proclaiming, repent,
for the kingdom of heaven has come

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near.

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This is the one whom the
prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

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the voice of one crying out in
the wilderness, prepare the way of

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the Lord, make his path straight.

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Now.

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John wore clothing of camel's
hair and a leather belt around his

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waist, and his food was
locusts and wild honey.

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Then Jerusalem and all Judea
and all the region around the Jordan

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were going out to him and they
were baptized by him in the River

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Jordan, confessing their sins.

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But when he saw many of the
Pharisees and Sadducees coming for

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his baptism, he said to them,
you brood of vipers who warned you

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to flee from the coming wrath,
therefore bear fruit worthy of repentance.

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Do not presume to say to
yourselves we have Abraham as our

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ancestor.

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For I tell you, God is able
from these stones to raise up children

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to Abraham.

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Even now the ax is lying at
the root of the trees.

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Therefore every tree that does
not bear good fruit will be cut down

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and thrown into the fire.

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I baptize you with water for repentance.

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But the one who is coming
after me is more powerful than I

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and I'm not worthy to carry
his sandals.

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He will baptize you with the
Holy Spirit fire.

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His widowing fork is in his
hand and he will clear the threshing

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floor and will gather his
wheat into the granary.

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But the shaft he will burn
with unquenchable fire.

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The Gospel of the Lord in the
name of the Father and the Son of

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the Holy Spirit.

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So have you put up your John
the Baptist Advent decorations yet?

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Maybe the John the Baptizer in
the Wilderness section of your Nativity

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scene.

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You know, the one where you're
just kind of sitting right just outside

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the Nativity and he's waving
his finger at everyone walking by

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calling them snakes.

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You don't have that.

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You haven't seen that anywhere.

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I haven't either.

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In all seriousness, I know
that I've used that Advent John the

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Baptist joke before because
every year I love that it is at this

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time in the holiday season
that John shows up.

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Christmas music has been
playing for a few months now.

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I think the first Christmas
commercial I saw was a soft launch

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by Walmart at the beginning of October.

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That's fine.

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No shade thrown.

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In a hard and complicated and
gloomy world, we need something to

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look forward to.

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And yet here comes John the Baptist.

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One Sunday around this time of
year at the church I served in South

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Carolina, we had someone dress
up as John the Baptist with ratty

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and messed up hair and a fake
beard hanging off his chin and carrying

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a cereal box full of honey o locusts.

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And it kind of freaked out the children.

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At the Children's Message.

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It was like one of those viral
videos of the Grinch crashing a Christmas

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party and the kids just
running away screaming, yeah, we

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didn't do that again.

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John the Baptizer isn't the
Grinch per se, but he should make

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us a little uncomfortable.

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It's not that his heart is too
small, almost too big.

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It's on fire.

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He's really fired up.

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He's jarring, he's blunt, he's
off putting.

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He's a street preacher,
similar to the one that you don't

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make eye contact with or avoid
walking on the other side of the

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street.

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But also there is something
about him.

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It is like an out in the open
performance artist whose purpose

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is to grab our attention, who
stokes curiosity, is someone who

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resonates with our longings
for something different, who is advocating

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for change, perhaps even revolution.

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Someone who shakes us out of complacence.

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When I read this text, this go
around for Advent, of course I notice

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the attention to detail of
what he is wearing and eating.

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But I also notice that he's
drawing a crowd.

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People aren't avoiding him,
people are coming to him.

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The Gospel of Matthew shares
that John appeared in the wilderness

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that is outside the city,
outside where normal life happens,

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outside of where the temple is
a place where you would think not

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much happens or is wild.

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It's dangerous.

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Perhaps God doesn't show up in
those places.

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It's there, out in the open,
in the wild, unscripted, uncurated

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places that he proclaims and
advocates for a turning around the

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change as God has come near.

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In continuity with the prophet
Isaiah, he is preaching and advocating

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for this holy reversal A
flipping, if you will, of where the

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weak and the vulnerable are
not preyed upon, but rather are safe

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to live, to grow, to thrive.

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It's out there in the
wilderness where he screams out that

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God is indeed near.

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The God of surprises, showing
up in the least likely of places,

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in the wild and in untamed places.

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I noticed that it's not a
street preacher coming to the middle

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of the city to yell at people
and condemn people, but rather it's

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John out in the wilderness and
people going to him.

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Then Jerusalem and all Judea
and all the region around the Jordan

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were going out to him and they
were baptized by him in the River

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Jordan, confessing their sins.

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You see, prophecy, the
prophetic task, is about conviction,

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not fortune telling, is about
cultivating inspiration and action

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that leads to change.

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And this fits perfectly with
what Advent is about.

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The surprising news that God
is coming near, that God is near.

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This invokes and stokes
spiritual revolution.

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A chance and an invitation and
an opportunity to move, earn, see

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things differently.

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The change.

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During the season of Advent,
we are on a journey to the incarnation,

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which is a fancy theological
word that means God becoming flesh,

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carne, meat, God becoming meat.

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And as we get closer to
Bethlehem, as we get closer to the

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surprise of God showing up in
a manger, surprisingly, it appears

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that we have to go through the
wilderness to get there.

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The way to the manger goes
through the wilderness.

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It goes through those wild and
untamed, perhaps even dangerous places.

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Yes, indeed, John the Baptist
seems weird and out of place this

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season.

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But if he is an image and an
icon of God showing up in least likely

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places, if he is calling for
us to wake up and see that God has

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come near, if he is advocating
for those who long for revolution

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and change, and it has
everything to do about Christmas,

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this is what I noticed this go around.

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John's vision of nearness of
God has within it this image of axes

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and chopping down trees and
consuming fires.

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And yet it seems that the
incarnation and Jesus even surprised

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John.

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Yes, with the nearest of God
there is this reality of the fire

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of the Holy Spirit that is
life altering and transforming and

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purifying.

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And yet this God shows up in
unlikely and surprising places.

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The wilderness, the manger and
water at a table with bread and wine.

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Yes, there is continuity with
John and Jesus's vision of the nearness

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of the kingdom of God, with
the first being last and the last

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being first.

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And yet God shows up not in a
temple, but in the wilderness and

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in a vulnerable baby in a
feeding trough.

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Again, God Showing up on a
cross, saying, father, forgive them,

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for they know not what they do.

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And then the ultimate
surprise, an empty tomb.

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And the good news that death
will not have the final word on our

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lives.

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That love wins.

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That God's love wins.

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Today we have our
congregational meeting voting on

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new leadership and on a new
ministry plan for the new year.

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Talking about trees and
bearing fruit, I can without a doubt

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say that this past year was a
fruitful year for our community of

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faith.

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We are a growing community and
in a hard and unsettling world.

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We are leaving leaning even
harder into our vision and mission

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and our core values of what it
means to follow Jesus together.

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There is no doubt that God
will continue to show up at the font

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and at the table, but also
taking our lead from John the Baptist,

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I hope and pray that we can
continue to be open to God, showing

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up in wild and unexpected
places in the midst of that, keeping

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our focus on Jesus, a God who
is full of surprises.

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Perhaps, like John the
Baptist, we too will continue to

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show up in wild and surprising
spaces to speak up and speak out

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about the nearness of God and
how that impacts how we love God

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and love our neighbor.

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Perhaps as we continue to
journey to the manger into Bethlehem

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through the wilderness, we
will find oasis of water, remembering

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our baptism that we are
beloved child of God.

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Nothing can change that.

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As that warms our heart, we in
turn turn to others, share with them

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the nearness of God.

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What I want you to do now is
get out your red handles, they're

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there in your few chairs.

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And turn to page 237 towards
the end of the Liturgy of Baptism.

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There when we do affirmation
of baptism, I thought on when John

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the Baptist shows up in the
wilderness on our way to Christmas,

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perhaps we too can remember
our baptism and affirm our baptisms

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as we meet together as a congregation.

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Thinking about how we use our
money and our stewardship of gifts,

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perhaps we can remember the
gift of baptism and how that leads

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us to walk and follow Jesus to
the Manger into Bethlehem, here at

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the top of the page says
affirmation by the assembly.

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And as we read this, I want
you to note that if anybody asks

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you what's the job description
of a Christian, or what do Christians

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believe?

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Or what do Christians do in
the world?

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This is a great paragraph and
snippet that you can show them.

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This is what we are called to
be in the world.

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We will affirm this together
and pray for one another, knowing

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as we get closer to Bethlehem,
we remember our baptisms and the

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gifts we we have for the
community of faith and for the whole

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world, even in surprising and
untamed places.

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So each and every Sunday you
make public profession of your faith.

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You intend to continue in the
covenant God made with you in holy

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baptism, live among God's
faithful people to hear the word

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of God and share the Lord's
Supper, to proclaim the good news

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of God in Christ through word
and deed, to serve all people following

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the example of Jesus and to
strive for justice and peace in the

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earth.

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I do, and I ask God to help
and guide me.

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People of God, you promise to
support and pray for one another

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in your life in Christ?

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We do, and we ask God to help.

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And God let us pray.

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We give you thanks, oh God,
that through water and the Holy Spirit

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you give us new birth.

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You cleanse us from sin and
raise us to eternal life.

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Stir up in your people the
gift of your Holy Spirit, the spirit

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of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,

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the Spirit of knowledge and
the fear of the Lord, the Spirit

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of joy in your presence both
now and forever.

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Amen.

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Foreign.

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Thank you for listening.

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If there is anything that
stood out for you, or if you have

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a question or you just want to
have a conversation, you are always

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free to reach out and contact us.

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And remember you are not alone and.

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That you are loved with a love
stronger than death.

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Sam.