Thank goodness we've got the Romans scripture today, otherwise how could we justify our new banner? I can see why "Urgency" was the word last week. Last week, Jesus explained to his followers that the end times were coming and they needed to stay alert. Paul seconded that motion when he wrote that the end things were closer than we think. The urgency in scripture was made all the more powerful by the loss of Elwin. Urgency made sense. But for those of you who have tipped your heads back, "hope" might be a different matter. Hope? John the Baptist accusing folks of being snakes doesn't sound very hopeful to me. Even the Messiah he points to doesn't sound hopeful to me. John's water baptism sounds less traumatic than the other guy's fire baptism.

Believe it or not, though, John the Baptist's call to repentance is good news. I grew up in a church that specialized in altar calls. The end of the service when everyone's head is bowed and the pastor pleads seductively - with everyone's head bowed and eyes closed - for us to raise our hands to show that we repent of our sinfulness, giving our lives to Jesus. This sweet-talking always followed a fire and brimstone sermon filled with vivid details of our sins. The sins always started pretty tame, but it was a slippery slope from playing cards to driving fast cars to hanging around with boys on close terms with demon drink. I would end those come-to-Jesus services terrified, convinced that I was hell-bound unless I gave my life to Jesus. So I would raise my hand. That's not what John is doing. John's call to repentance today reminds us that repentance is part of getting ready for the Incarnation of God.

John uses the same preaching methods on the-folks-who-have-a-handle-on-religion as my former Baptist ministers used. Repent! He calls them disgusting names to shame and shock them. Repent. He tells them not to get smug thinking they've got a corner on God. Repent! He tells them in graphic detail the consequences of ignoring him. And then he points to Jesus. Turn around. Repent means "turn around."

Hebrew theology said that repentance was necessary for the Messiah to come. For some Jews, professional repenting was their business. They were the Truly Religious of their day, whose job it was to repent - and do it so well that the messiah would come for sure. That's not what John meant about repentance - a cause-and-effect thing: I repent so that the Messiah will come. Then, as today, how we wait for the advent of the Messiah says something about the Messiah for whom we wait. This is where we get our banner. Hope. My theology says "hope" needs "repent" before it is really hope. "Repent" means more than feeling bad about what one has been doing. "Repent" means change. John's call to repentance was a call to doing justice as proof of repentance. It was a call to stop treating others unfairly and to act fairly. Repentance and justice go together. That's what got John the Baptist so steamed up at the brood of vipers who came out to hear him preach. "You say you feel bad," he says. "Now show how bad you feel by changing how you act. How repentant are you," John rages, "when you go back to business-as-usual after you get wet, because you think being a child of Abraham means you don't have to do anything except get born into the right family?"

It's the same question we have to face. How repentant are we? How do we repent? The Message puts it well, in the passage I read from Romans. This Messiah, anticipated by John, the one whose life Paul is looking back on, this Messiah says, "I took on the troubles of the troubled." Isn't that an interesting way of putting it? Justice is about looking out for fairness towards others. Here's an example. I know a woman named Mary who is married to a man who didn't like Christmas. He thought there was a real competitive edge to gift-giving, and it gave him the creeps. So they decided on a different way of gift-giving. Mary called a church and asked for the name of a family who needed help. Sound familiar? She got the name of a family, found out what they needed, and she and her friends started shopping. But Mary was puzzled, because all the kids asked for sleeping bags. Something didn't make sense. So she asked what gives. No one had beds. Sleeping bags were an alternative to sleeping up on the floor under their jackets. Mary bought beds and sheets and blankets and pillows. We know about this kind of gift-giving. Springwater has been doing this for years. The Bible has a name for what Mary did - for what we are going to do - it's called justice. It's not the kind of justice that might (or might not) take place in the courts of law. It's the kind of justice that gives everyone an equal share. Those of us from larger families have a highly developed sense of equal shares. One pie, cut into seven exactly the same size pieces. That is justice, family style. Warm clothes, a dry house, a safe place to live, enough to eat - that's justice, distributive economics style. This is what John tells the brood of vipers will be the style of the Messiah who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and with fire. And this is about hope? You can't have hope without repentance. Repentance calls for a mighty act of integrity that requires that we face our sin and call it for what it is. You've heard me talk about the two first sins. The first is that we think we can act like God. "I can eat this fruit." The second is that we refuse to take responsibility for our acts. "Not me, I didn't do it! She made me eat it!" If we didn't need a Savior, why would we be longing so much for the Messiah who comes to establish justice and peace? If there is no sin, who needs Jesus?

Who needs Jesus? This is about hope, and the way God's economics work, this hope is that we get the Messiah we long for. If what we long for is a chubby baby in a manger on Christmas Eve, that's pretty much what we'll get. Something to sweep up with the crumpled wrapping paper after everyone has gone home Christmas afternoon. If what we long for is a Messiah who will bring peace and justice, part of our longing for a Messiah is that mighty act of integrity that faces our sin and calls it for what it is: repentance. When we do that integrity, there will be places in our lives where we need to turn around. Where we need to work hard for fairness - not just with the seven exactly the same size pieces of pie, not just with Christmas gifts for ESL families. Things like mending relationships that have been broken. Being kind to the kids at school that nobody likes. Going with less so you can share more. Inviting folks over for lunch after church. Making decisions about how you spend your time that includes volunteer work. Learning Spanish with someone who needs to learn English. This is making room in our lives for this hoped-for Messiah.

This hoped-for Messiah is One who offers to save us from our sins. From what will this Messiah save us, if we don't take a brutally honest look? He will baptize with fire, but the Holy Spirit is also promised. At the end of today's passage from Romans, we find out what this Holy Spirit will do: fill us with joy, fill us with peace, fill us with life-giving energy so that we brim over with hope. The sign of the times: Hope. Thanks be to God.