Turn Around

Repent, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

The Greek word that we translate as "repent"

is actually the word “metanoia.”

It does not simply mean to feel sorry for what we have done.

It does not mean just to confess our sins

and then go back to living the same way.

It means something far more radical.

It means a complete turnaround.

A fundamental change of direction.

A transformation of the mind and heart.

It is a whole, all-in concept,

not just a slight change of direction, an all-in.

To better understand this, let me give you an example.

I have shared that I like to hike and climb these 14ers in Colorado.

To do that, you have to set out first thing in the morning,

in the middle of dark.

One of these mornings I set out early in the dark with my friend

and it became clear after the first two hours of climbing

that in fact we were on the wrong trail.

My friend said, “We have to turn around.”

I did not like that news

because we had just done two hours of hard climbing

at an altitude over 10,000 feet, we are pretty exhausted.

There is only so much we can do in one day.

Now he may as well have said,

“Metanoia, Brendan, we have to turn around.”

Because in fact, if we did not turn around,

we would never have made the top of mountain

because we were on the wrong trail.

It sounds so obvious,

but if you are on the wrong trail,

you are on the wrong path and

you are looking to go somewhere,

you are not going to get to where you go

if you are on the wrong trail, right?

So you have to turn around.

Why did I spend 15 minutes arguing with him?

It made no sense, but I had to turn around

and then we went over onto the other trail,

which cost us another three hours of hiking.

Now, the point of this is that

sometimes we have to hear the message.

We have to hear the message in our heart

and to really take it serious that we have to turn around.

We are on the wrong trail.

And that is hard to hear because we do not like to hear it,

just like me on that trail.

We have put in a lot of work.

We are where we are at because we have done certain things,

but not where we want to go.

And therefore, we have to turn around.

The prophets are the people who do this for us.

They tell us what we need to hear even if we do not like it.

Isaiah today which we hear in the first reading

and John the Baptist, who we may as well call “John the Isaiah”

because he comes on with just as strong a language.

They see where we ought to be

or could be where we are

but we are not quite there yet.

But they see it and they tell us, we have to turn around.

They build a vision for us so that

we can imagine ourselves on that trail.

That is what we hear in Isaiah today.

Isaiah paints this breathtaking vision

of the wolf dwelling with the lamb,

the leopard lying down with the young goat,

the calf and the lion together,

with a little child to guide them.

All of these different animals are being guided by a child.

Mind blowing, but they see as God sees,

this is where we are to go.

But if we want to go there,

we have to have a metanoia.

We have to turn around because

that is not the path we are on right now.

And this is where John the Baptist comes in.

He warns us sternly that we need to turn around.

And then we have these people who say,

“Oh yeah, no, we are on the right path.”

He says, no, you are not.

Show me your fruit.

He is much harsher.

Show me evidence.

Show me what you are doing in your life to see this turn around.

And he warns them.

Now we have to hear this message because we are in Advent

where we are called to be focused on the message of Christ.

And we all might think, we are on the right trail,

like me on the mountain.

But am I on the right trail.

I am here. I am going to church.

But we may not be on the right trail.

We may need to turn around and look again.

We may need to go back and walk a different path.

This is what John the Baptist and

Isaiah pound away at for us to hear.

Last week, I talked about how we are called

to take nine breaths of prayer to pause and

to take in a little bit of silence and stillness

and to reflect in our life.

As we reflect on our life

and we hear what John the Baptist had to say to us,

which is to metanoia, turn around and come back a different way.

Then that is what we must do.

One is we most definitely need to turn around,

but who are we turning around for?

This is not just a gentle turn around.

We are called to turn around and

to focus with clarity on those most in need.

That is the turn around.

That is where the evidence is going to be shown for us.

We are called to turn around and

to look at who needs our attention.

So I am going to give you three ways.

First, inside our family.

There are probably people inside our family

we need to turn around and to look at

and listen to and to hear their story.

That might be the child who is struggling in school or friendship.

That might be somebody who is finding it difficult

to get along inside school.

Or it might be that we might pay attention to our spouse

who has been working endlessly

and has been trying to get our attention and we have not.

Or maybe we have to turn around and to look at our parents

who now in their older age are in more need than they used to be.

And they need our listening ear.

That they need us to pay attention.

That we need to listen to them

and hear their story, their needs now.

But if only to our family that we do it,

that would not be enough.

You see, we need to reach out to those who are around us.

People who we know.

Maybe the person in the pew next to you that you know.

Or maybe the neighbor across the street.

Maybe somebody who has lost a spouse this year

and now they are going into the holiday times

without the love of their life for the first time

and they are particularly broken.

Or maybe the person who has long lost their loved ones

and their family do not show up anymore.

But you know and you can visit them.

You can write a card.

You can call them.

You can take the initiative to reach out to them

so they know that you see them.

That is the fruit that we are looking for.

But again, if that is our family

and that is just our neighbors,

that is still not enough, my friends.

We must also see those who are most vulnerable in our society.

They are the ones you must particularly work hard to see.

The ones who are now frightened

to go to their immigration appointment,

even though they have it.

They are terrified to go down. Why?

Because they might think they get caught up in a sweep

that brings them to a faraway state

while they plead their case with a court case

that is so broken they will not see it for months and

maybe even years without their families.

I know the system is broken.

We all know that.

I do not know who you vote for and I do not really care,

but is that the direction we want to go?

To treat the most broken, the most vulnerable

like animals rather than human beings.

We need to use our voices to do it again,

to come back a different way.

We need to treat those who are homeless,

who are broken on the streets,

and I do not know their stories, neither do you.

I know that. But can we see them?

Can we just listen to their story?

Can we see them as another human being

who is broken and wounded and we may never know why?

But can we treat them like a gentle child?

Because that is the vision that Isaiah and John the Baptist sees.

A harmony where enemies are together,

that we do this together. Why?

Because that is the kingdom of heaven.

And then we are not there yet.

We know we are not fully there,

but we are in these in-between times.

We are called to bring it about

by our actions inside our family, to our neighbors,

and to those most broken in this world.

That is our call from John the Baptist, Isaiah,

and all the prophets, and Christ the Son.

Repent, the kingdom, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.