Heaven and Earth: Love’s Surprising Interruption | December 7, 2025

This Sunday we continue our theme Heaven and Earth (based on Will Willimon’s book Heaven and Earth: Advent and the Incarnation) by looking at the messenger sent to prepare the way, John the Baptist. In the wilderness, John proclaims that God is on the way, a savior is coming. So, get ready! Prepare the way!

Just continuing in the path we’re on requires no preparation. But God interrupts our lives. God claims us in baptism, declaring we belong not only to ourselves, but to our Creator. And because we belong to God, we are called to repent, to change our ways, to let God work in us and transform us. 

At Living Hope, we celebrated this baptismal promise in a special way with Weston Franzen’s baptism, in which he is claimed in the waters of baptism, washed clean, and named forever as a child of God.

Today’s Scripture readings are 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Psalm 139:1-2, 5, 7-12, 16-18; and Mark 1:1-8.

Here’s the worship livestream (with the baptism) from Living Hope, and the sermon podcast audio:

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In the name of the One who was, who is, and who is to come, Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen

Every year as we approach the beautiful story of Christmas, we run into John the Baptist. He’s the last of the great prophets, a wild man wearing rough clothes, eating locusts, out in the wilderness, demanding repentance.

And every year, it feels just a tad hypocritical to stand up here in a nice robe in a well-heated, comfortable sanctuary and give a nice, civilized sermon about John the Baptist.

In a few minutes, we’re going to celebrate Weston’s baptism. Whenever we have a baptism, I know we’re going to have people here who are newcomers to our church, which is fantastic. Welcome, I’m glad you’re here.

And whenever I know we’ll have newcomers, I always feel this tiny bit of extra pressure for things to go well, to pick the most familiar songs, have the most polished sermon. I don’t want anyone to feel uncomfortable, especially if you’re new, so there’s this temptation to water down the sermon—pun intended, right? Baptism, water down the sermon?—the temptation is to make baptism into a nice comforting ritual, something to check off the list, maybe to make some relative happy. I certainly don’t want to say anything that would scare you off.

Well, that’s harder during Advent. Especially this week. John the Baptist would not approve of a nice, comfortable baptism. When John tells his audience to prepare, to get ready, to repent and be baptized, he intends for their lives to change.

Will Willimon points out, “No preparation is needed, no straight path is required, if you intend to walk in the direction you’ve always walked.”

Over the last few years, we have occasionally signed our kids up for swim lessons, and this fall, we looked at the numbers and decided it made sense financially to officially sign up and become members of the YMCA. We haven’t done much with it, but nobody seems to care if we actually use our membership or not. It was pretty easy to join, just hand over a credit card and fill out a form.

Many organizations are similar. I think we’re members of the Lincoln School PTA just because our kid attends the school, even if we don’t ever show up for anything.

The church is different, or at least we ought to be different.

Quoting Willimon:

“When you are initiated into the body of Christ, like John, we strip you down, bathe you, half drown you, pull you up all wet and sticky like a newborn, lay hands on your head, give you a job way beyond your natural abilities, insist you affirm the Apostle’s Creed—even when you don’t understand all of it—and call you by the name Christian.

You are asked to believe, or at least be open to believing, that God Almighty was born; that a virgin birthed Jesus; that Jesus’s arrival was announced by a wild-eyed, crazily attired wilderness preacher; that he who was king allowed himself to be tortured to death; that his once-dead body came back to life after three days; and that the first thing on Jesus’s mind on the day of Resurrection was to resume conversation with the same losers who betrayed and abandoned him in his time of trouble, promising to give them everything he had and heaven too.

Don’t say you weren’t warned…[When we baptize babies and toddlers like Weston, we’re promising God we will bring them up] as if they were Christians until they act like it. “To be sure, it’s absurd to call a little baby, squalling and indignant, ‘Christian.’

Yet that’s just what [we as the church do] until, sooner or later, the promises of baptism are fulfilled; we have become that person whom the church promised we would be. Somebody calls out ‘Christian,’ and we answer because, by the grace of God, the name fits.” (Willimon 51, 53)

It’s more than signing up for membership; it’s turning our whole lives over to Jesus.

And this is all God’s doing. The whole point of baptism, the whole point of Advent and Christmas, is that God does what you and I cannot do. I cannot transform my life, but God can. True life change comes only as gift.

I cannot fix the brokenness of this world, but God can, and God can use you and I as part of the transformation. Prepare the way of the Lord.

The message John preaches is not simply a demand that we try harder, do more, shape up and repent and follow the commandments better because Jesus is coming. That’d be bad news. Mark’s Gospel begins, “The good news about Jesus Christ, God’s Son.”

John says the Messiah is coming, God is moving, Jesus is entering the world, and because that’s happening, we should get on board. We repent because we believe God in Christ is forgiving us, setting us free, washing us clean and giving us new life. It’s all a gift, a gift we cannot possibly deserve.

Baptism is God’s work, not ours. Certainly a toddler doesn’t do it for himself, but none of us do. Only the Holy Spirit can use a few little handfuls of water to make an eternal transformation.

We love because God first loved us. We live because God gives us life. We belong to God because God claims us and names us beloved.

I saw a great Black Friday deal on Amazon and ordered it in “used-like new” condition. I opened it on Thursday morning, and a piece was broken. Free returns are great. Baptism doesn’t come with a return policy. There’s no fine print.

John goes out in the wilderness to proclaim the same message at which the Psalmist marveled: God will never stop seeking you. God knows you. God says, I will be your God, and you will be mine, from the embryo to the grave, no matter how far you wander.

What if you go really far away? Nope, God is there. What if you do something bad, like something really really horrible? Nope, God still cares for you. God still comes looking for you.

Hide in the darkness? Pretend God doesn’t exist at all? Nope, you are still God’s child. You still belong to God.

Prepare the way of the Lord.

It’s good news, and it’s demanding news. Baptism joins us into the body of Christ. God claims us in baptism, not just part of us, not just for an hour on Sunday morning, not just when we feel motivated to do some good deed, but for our whole lives.

Baptism says, “You belong to God. Your life is not your own.” “Where can I go to escape your presence? If I went up to heaven, you would be there. If I went down to the grave you would be there too!” God’s claim is irrevocable, and for eternity. No return policy. Good news indeed!

2 Peter says, “What sort of people ought we to be in the meantime, while we have breath? How shall we spend our lives?” Verses 11 and 12: You must live holy and godly lives, waiting for and hastening the coming day of God.” Verse 14: “While you are waiting for these things to happen, make every effort to be found by him in peace—pure and faultless.”

Baptism is the perfect illustration of the most profound truth of Christianity: God loves you. God accepts you as you are.

I learned this week that Costco has something called executive membership, where if you pay an extra $65 a year, you can come in an hour early to shop, while the rest of us who are members, but not quite good enough members, wait outside. There are no levels of membership in Christ’s body. Everyone is equally welcome at the table.

God accepts you as you are, but God will not leave you as you are. God loves you and God calls you to be different, to grow more holy and godly, to become more like Christ, the one whose image you bear.

God insists on getting involved, bringing heaven to earth, interrupting with your life, surprising you with love. God loves you as the sinner you are, and calls you to sin no more. Nothing watered down about that. Get ready, prepare the way of the Lord.

Willimon again:

“Repentance is not a one-and-done experience. In baptism, the old Adam is put to death (Romans 3:19-22). Yet, as Martin Luther noted, the old Adam is a mighty good swimmer.

Each day you wake up, jump out of bed, and submit to the continuing work of repentance begun in baptism.

Though the rite of baptism takes only a few minutes to perform, it takes your whole life to finish what was begun in you when the church doused you ‘in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit’ and called you Christian.
We never get too mature, or so adept at following Jesus that there’s no need daily to keep turning to the God who, in Christ, has turned to you.” (Willimon, 62-63)

When you fall short, the good news is that the God who made you and loves you will never give up on you. Again, no return policy.

God is relentless at chasing down sinners, willing to be born into a sinful world so it can be redeemed. Willing to take on flesh, even to die so death can be defeated.

Christian life means to live in the light of Jesus’ advent, Jesus’ coming among us. To live as if we actually believe we belong to God.

Letting go of the things of this world that separates us from God, letting go of our idols, our fear, our hatred, our selfishness and our self-righteousness.

Drowning in the waters of baptism, and allowing the Holy Spirit to raise us up again, to seal us for eternal life in Christ.

Prepare the way of the Lord.

Other sermon in this year’s Heaven and Earth Advent series:
Week 1: Meanwhile, We Hope and Wait
Week 3: Joyfully Pointing to Light
Week 4: Rejoicing at Peace