Second Sunday of Advent
December 10, 2006


Are you an SUV kind of Christian?

About 15 years ago, Ford Motor company, among others, began a marketing strategy for a product they wanted to unfold. The SUV. The vehicle for baby boomers come of age that would allow them to think they could go anywhere, even if they never would actually go there. It was a huge success. A market was created (and I was sucked into it like many of the boomers.) of “No Boundaries” – no limits on our freedom. We could drive wherever we wanted to go, on road or off road. And the way would be easy because we had the tools, the power and the machine.

It has been a very successful marketing campaign, (I became an owner – but mostly [I tell myself] because my cousins own Long Ford, and I get a great deal there…) but I think one that has subtly influenced my spiritual journey, and perhaps not for the better. You see, it creates a kind of SUV Christian – the kind that is used to having the spiritual journey be an easy thing. We can drive wherever we want, however and whenever we want. Religion should also be about what we want when we want it as we want it… SUV Christians – people who want the easy road to discipleship.

Baruch, writing centuries before the advent of the automobile, much less the SUV, had the same kind of image in mind. “Make the lofty mountains low, fill in the age old depths.” When the predominant form of transportation was walking, this was as close as you could get to an SUV mentality. The hope for Israel was that the way to God would be as easy as walking a level road. The path to holiness and righteousness would be as simple as straight stretches of tree lined highways – plenty of shade, plenty of coolness – and all you had to do was put one foot in front of the other. Unfortunately, that reality never materialized. but the mentality stayed. The mentality stayed around.

Until a man named John stepped onto history’s stage. Luke is careful to situate John smack dab in the history of the world. Right there, in the middle of crazy emperors and corrupt rulers and corrupt religious officials (has anything changed in the past 200 years), comes God’s word: REPENT. Change the heart and soul and mind. You can’t SUV your way to heaven. It will take energy and commitment and decision. “Now is the time,” comes John’s call. Time to put your spiritual life into 4 wheel drive! Time to plunge that vehicle called your soul, not into mountain streams of water, but into the waters of repentance and baptism! Not tomorrow, or the next day, but NOW. Someone is coming! Someone is coming. SomeONE is coming! Be ready for that visit.

Yet, as we will continue reading John’s next week, you will find that John is eminently practical. He does not demand an heroic impossibility of action from us. Rather, he will tell the folks of his time: Take stock of where you are and what God has put into your concrete situation, and then act. That’s it. Act!

So this week, in the shopping malls, make sure you take a little ‘beauty check.” Instead of rushing by the mall decorations, gaze upon them, and let the beauty they reflect key you into the greater glory that is the reason for our advent season. As the Christmas appeal letters come in the mail, minimally, pray for each of those worthy causes. And then, if God has blessed you, ask, where should I give what God has given to me to give away. If a student is stressing out over exams, make an ice cream run for them, and offer them a 10 minute break from the studies.

And when all is done at the end of the day (or in the am if you are a morning person) ask if you’ve spent the day preparing for someONE not something.

You see, it is easy to be an SUV kind of Christian – presuming repentance for the forgiveness of sins is as easy as putting the car into 4 wheel drive at the punch of a button. Maybe it is for you. Or maybe not. For all of us, let us make sure we have our souls and spirits in overdrive this advent – preparing for the one who comes…