Advent: Spring cleaning our spiritual home.

Presented to Boolaroo Uniting Church 7th December 2025

Focus text: Matthew 3:1-12

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On this second Sunday of Advent, we are here again on the shores of the Jordan with John the Baptist. All of the Gospels agree that they need John to help prepare the way for Jesus himself. John was the quintessential opening act for what was to come.

Today, John proclaims, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” All of these people from Jerusalem and around the neighbouring areas gather and are transfixed by what John proclaims as they come, just as they are, with all of their histories, and doubts, their shame and fears to be baptized by John in the river.

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Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan observe that the scriptural interpretation of the word “repent” is profoundly influenced by the Jewish encounter with exile. To repent, to return, is to go along with the ways of God that call us out of our disconnection and back into a vital relationship with our Creator who delights in us and calls us into life in all its fullness.

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We might think of moments in our own lives right now where we are living in a spirit of disconnection and perhaps even a spiritual desert. What might be some ways God is calling you back into right relationship with your Creator? Into a vital, vibrant relationship of daily receiving manna for your soul, whether you find yourself in the desert or not? What are some of the spiritual practices you could lean into as we begin this new year in the church’s liturgical cycle? For John, it had to do with leaving some of his distractions behind. He went ahead and left everything behind, but what about us? What are one or two things that God may be asking of us to leave behind this coming year in order to enter into Advent and indeed life itself more fully?

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Today, John is in the desert, and he has isolated himself from all vestiges of distraction, influence, and authority. He looks at life through his experience of the desert, and recognizes the reality of what the people had endured in there – the desert, with all of its uncertainties, chaos, and upheavals– as they escaped from Pharaoh’s grip. For decades, these people had wrestled with Yahweh’s call to remain faithful and to trust, often failing to live lives worthy of the Gospel, and often times missing the mark as we all do. But, John is the prophet who won’t stop warning these beloved of God of the realities of their spiritual infidelity, and the roads such actions may lead us down that we fear to tread, because God is faithful to us even in the midst of the desert experiences of our own lives and constantly calls us back, wanting only the very best for our souls.

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John, in his prophetic, unsettled, yet completely grounded state, chances the sufferings the desert may produce and enters it fully. The desert is that location where death draws near – where the basic necessities for life are hard to come by. It should come as no surprise that his diet consists of locusts and wild honey. There was barely anything else available to him. And so today as the people come forward to be baptized by John, maybe they are actually submitting to the call of the desert experience of their descendants as they too fully enter into this new state of being, embracing the prophet’s call to make the crooked pathways straight, a call to return to their roots, a call to return to their spiritual home.

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So this morning, we are called to really live into this new season of Advent that is unfolding with hearts filled with expectation and wonder. We are called to wake up to the reality of Christ coming in our midst, and to be prepared for what his arrival means for our world and for our own lives today.

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This morning we are being called to wake up to the things that truly matter, we are being reminded to tend to our soul’s inner well in the desert and drink deeply from its cool spring waters. The rope we might use to reach the water might be taking up a daily Advent devotional, it might be creating space in your life for regular prayer. It might mean taking up a new act of service and devotion in the Church or in the wider neighbourhood. Whatever rope you may use to go deeper this Advent, we’re encouraged through the words of John today to be intentional about keeping our spiritual lives at the forefront of our awareness and to remain awake to the presence and coming of Christ in our lives and sensitive to what his coming would ask of us.

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Today we are being called to enter the desert, to tend the soul, the inner world and allow that transformative process to permeate every aspect of our lives. Where we have felt a part of us has been in drought, we are encouraged today to drink deeply from the spiritual depths of the cool waters Jesus offers us this Advent, and to be reawakened to the reality of his presence ever beside us, filling us with all joy and peace in believing.

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There is something to be said about the dramatic language employed in this morning’s Gospel that is instructive for all of us as we journey this Advent season. Namely, that when we are not awake to the Spirit of God in our midst, we can grow complacent, we can get a bit lethargic and stuck on our spiritual journey. It’s nothing to be ashamed about, it happens to the best of us from time to time, but we do need to be aware of the false sense of security such complacency brings. This morning’s Gospel really does wake us up to God’s call to be prepared and fully engaged in Christ’s mission in the world today.

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This is part of what the season of Advent wakes up in us – an awareness of a deeper reality lying underneath it all, and an invitation to wake up and engage this deeper reality more fully. As we prepare for Christmas, let us make good use of our time in these precious weeks proceeding it, by asking ourselves, “Am I awake or asleep when it comes to the level of my engagement with my spiritual connection with God? And what might be one step I could take this Advent to bolster my engagement as I prepare for Christ’s coming with a spirit of intentionality and joy?”

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If we think about Advent as an opportunity to do a good spring clean of one of the rooms in our spiritual home. Which room in your home needs the most attention right now? Spend some time today reflecting upon which room that might be, then covenant with God to spend some intentional time going through some of the old boxes that you’ve packed away and forgotten about and see if you can’t discover a spiritual treasure in there worth dusting off and engaging with again. Similarly, there may be many old boxes full of stuff you no longer need, you might have so much stuff, it’s actually taking up valuable room in your house and you may decide it’s time for a few boxes of distraction to go in order for something new to fill that space in your life. Again, take some time this Advent to do a spring clean of just one of your rooms, and be surprised by what new possibilities emerge in this season of expectation, wonder, and awe.