Isaiah 40:1-11
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13

This sermon was preached on the Second Sunday of Advent, Dec. 10, 2023, by the Rev. Canon Beth Tjoflat at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Jacksonville, FL.

May I speak in the name of God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

This time of year can be challenging
for many people.
There can be so much pressure
to keep up.
To go the right parties.
To give the very best — and most expensive or
carefully curated– gifts.
But the simple pleasures of the season
can give us so much.

My son Daron and I have been a family
for seven years now.
We have enjoyed creating our own traditions.
I’m grateful that even as he turns 13 this week,
he still enjoys these simple pastimes.

One of our favorite things to do is to have a
picnic dinner in front of the TV, as we watch
the movie The Polar Express.
We’ve already watched it twice this year and
I doubt that we are done.
We know most of the dialogue by heart.
It is a story about the Spirit of Christmas,
and while Christian themes are not overt,
they are there to be found.

A young boy, who has begun to doubt
the existence of Santa Claus,
is visited by the Polar Express late on Christmas Eve.

After some hesitation, he gets on the train
headed to the North Pole, along with a carful
of other kids, and a persnickety conductor
who looks suspiciously like the actor Tom Hanks.

They have an incredible adventure as they make
their way to visit Santa Claus, and learn that
one child among them will be chosen to
receive the “first gift of Christmas.”
This story — and in fact many stories of faith
often resonate most strongly with young children.

The very young are able to suspend their disbelief with
an ease that can be lost on us as we age,
as we live through disappointment and maybe become
a little cynical about things of the world,
a little cynical about life itself.
It is only human to want to protect ourselves
from potential disappointment.

But this innocent acceptance must be one reason 
Jesus treasures children and draws them to himself.
He doesn’t have to explain or hope they get it.
His presence is enough.

When I was a baby – even while I was
in my mother’s womb,
my family became close friends with another family.
Their youngest daughter Missy and I would become
life-long friends: “Sisters from another mother.”
When we were tiny, we swore that we spoke to each other –
knew each other well — before I was even born.
We didn’t need to convince ourselves (or anyone else for that matter)
of the veracity of this idea.
For us, it was simply a fact of our young lives.

Today we have the familiar Gospel story from Mark,
the story of One who cries out in the wilderness:
Jesus’ cousin John the Baptist.
His appearance is foretold by the prophet Isaiah.

I want to step back now to an even earlier time,
when Mary has been visited by the angel Gabriel,
After agreeing to God’s call on her young life,
she finds herself, still a virgin and yet with child,
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
She rushed to visit the home of her kinfolk
Zechariah and Elizabeth.

When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
her baby leaped in her womb, and 
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 
These two women had been blessed with children,
who would do extraordinary things –
all foretold by the prophets.

Fast forward: today we meet John – a crazed-looking
fellow on the banks of the Jordan river –
preaching repentance and forgiveness of sins
through a simple baptism.

I wonder what Elizabeth thought about her
sweet son, decked out in animal skins,
subsisting on a diet of honey and locusts,
preaching to thousands who kept coming to see
what the fuss was about.

The idea of being a supportive parent is
not a difficult prospect to sign on to.
But the choices our children make can give us pause.

Still, Elizabeth was full of the Holy Spirit.
I suspect she knew her son was exactly where
he was supposed to be,
doing exactly what God called him to do.
In spite of the tremendous risk,
And in spite of the ultimate cost.

All of these individuals –
Mary who was just 13, Elizabeth who was
way past child-bearing age, and then John —
each said yes to seemingly unreasonable and grossly
illogical requests from God.

You and I are not Mary.
Neither are we Elizabeth, Zechariah or John.
How are we able to bring ourselves to say “yes”
when God calls?

When we feel that nudge to change course,
to do something that perhaps does not fit into
our plans or vision for the course of our lives?
Or, for that matter, even for the week ahead?

In these moments of disruption,
the Spirit invites us – if we will –
to suspend our disbelief.
To come as a child.

This can be incredibly challenging,
especially when the brain chatter starts,
with all the reasons telling us why not,
with our lived experience posing convincingly
as evidence to the contrary.

If we turn back to that wonderful movie
The Polar Express, we can find some practical wisdom.

The young man, who is at the center of the journey,
has a transformative experience.
He is visibly in awe of what has occurred.
As the train drops him off, in front of his house,
he has a parting conversation with the conductor.

These are wise words for us too,
especially in moments when we struggle
to suspend our disbelief.

As he struggles to make sense of what has happened in him,
the conductor tells him:
It’s not the journey that matters so much as
deciding to get on board.”

We don’t have to makes sense of the whole story,
We don’t have to fully understand.
As the persnickety conductor says,
we simply have to decide to get on board.
Amen.