In the Gospel passage for the Second Sunday of Advent Matthew talks of the message of repentance that John the Baptist offers (Matthew 3:1¡12). The people come en masse to John, asking for baptism, and as they are baptised in the river Jordan they confess their sins. John has a warning for the Pharisees and Sadducees, and calls them "a brood of vipers". But he does offer them some hope if they repent and are prepared to move away from their old ways.
In Greek the word repentance means "thinking in a different way". When it comes to saying sorry to someone or being regretful for something we have done, we have to see something in a new light. It is so easy to trap ourselves in a frame of mind that blinkers us.
It's easy to sit down and write about the idea of sorrow and repentance. It's easy to run off the Christian viewpoint on the notion of repentance. It is much more difficult to be sorry for what we have done and to repent for our wrongdoing.
The key in helping us to take this new direction might well be the idea of "thinking in a different way".
All his life Jesus was at odds with the Pharisees and Sadducees. They were burdened with rules and regulations that had become a god in themselves. They were unable to think "anew", to break out of their straitjackets and discover other ways of doing things.
We are all creatures of habit. We have fixed ways of dealing with issues and can be extremely slow to change. We are scared of doing things differently and the older we get the more difficult it is for us to change our ways.
When it comes to saying sorry we have the added disadvantage of being hurt, and a sense that our pride has been injured. If we continue to look at things in "the old ways" we will never get out of the cycle.
We will find every possible answer to justify what we have done. We have built up the belief that being sorry and repenting are signs of weakness. Pride sets in, but with pride we can end up lonely and isolated.
Making an effort to say sorry involves taking a risk. It means looking into the past, seeing we have done something wrong and are now willing to move into the future and do things differently. It is akin to telling ourselves we are going to turn over a new leaf. It is a real statement about trying to do things better. And anyone who is happy with his or her lot and does not want to change is surely not facing the challenge entailed in living life to the full.
The people were impressed with the power of John the Baptist, but he was quick to tell them that the one who was to follow him would be far more powerful than he.
Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is central to the Christian message that the grace of God helps us in our daily lives. It is our task to call down that grace.
It might seem at times near impossible to see things in a new light, to say sorry and to repent for our wrongdoing. But the Christian message that God's grace is at our disposal should be a source of comfort and support, even in the darkest of days.
M.C.