By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
December 29, 2024
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Luke 2:41–52 (ESV)
41 Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom. 43 And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, 44 but supposing him to be in the group they went a day’s journey, but then they began to search for him among their relatives and acquaintances, 45 and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.” 49 And he said to them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” 50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Here we are once again, continuing the celebration of Christmas. I hope that if you learn nothing else from me, that you will learn that the holidays we celebrate are more than a day. Instead they are seasons. The church year begins with advent. Advent is the season of longing, of expectation. It is a season where we recognize that things are not exactly the way they should be and we look forward to the redemption and restoration that is found in God. The second season is Christmas. Today is the first Sunday after Christmas. And the season of Christmas will continue through the New Year holiday and will come to a close on January 6th with Epiphany.
As Friends we do not really keep the traditional church calendar, I am an oddity in that aspect, but I find it interesting. I like that those of ancient days used the natural light of the seasons as an illustration to share the wisdom of God. It intrigues me because we live through the seasons, we have different experiences at various times of the year. And those seasons can remind us that God is with us through each change within life.
As the days darken in the autumn our bodies respond. We begin to get a little nervous, anxious. Sure we like the light jacket weather, the hot tea and the falling leaves. But there are other things that weigh on us as winter approaches. We enter that last quarter of the year, we begin to run the year end reports we look at the budget and decide what we need to do the last few months of the year and we begin to plan for the year to come. As this occurs the days shorten, elections are run, we turn on the heater so our utility bills begin to change. Anxiety increases, darkness begins to creep into our lives.
We may not fully realize it but we live the reality of advent, or as I call it Holy Anxiety, every year. We long for light, we pray for change, we want to hope. Then winter set in.
It is cold, at least its supposed to be. There is more night than day. Its dark when you go to work or school, its dark when you come home. But on the darkest day, something remarkable happens, Christmas.
We sang about it last week. We shared scriptures filled with the hope that is revealed. Light has come into the darkness. And that light will enlighten mankind. The Word become flesh, and dwells among us.
When we think about Christmas, our attention usually is redirected to the children within our community. We remember the Christmases of our youth, the traditions we establish with our children, and of course the presents we give and receive. Christmas can be both dark, and light. It can be filled with hope and despair. It can be a season of blessing or pain. Christmas is life in so many ways. And that is why I want us to remember it is more than a day but a season.
It is a season of newness. A season of change. It is a season of reconciliation and redemption. It is an opportunity begin again. Christmas is for the children, the children among us and the children within each of us.
This week as I read and prayed with this week’s passage I was struck by the story. Jesus is a child. If we look around our meetinghouse this morning we will see a few people at the age of Jesus in this story. He was twelve years old. This is an important age. It is important because around this age the child begin to become who they truly are. In the Jewish traditions they call this Bar or Bat Mitzvah. They become a son or daughter of the commandment or covenant. It is around this age where each child stands before their community not as children, but as participants.
Jesus went to Jerusalem with his parents for the feast of the Passover, they went up according to the custom. The custom they speak of is what eventually became the Bar Mitzvah celebrated in Jewish tradition today, but in the second temple period of history they did not have a big birthday party when the child got to the age of twelve or thirteen they would begin offering sacrifices for themselves instead of being included under the father’s offerings. Jesus was seen that day as a member of the community and he according to the traditions of his day brought his own offering to the temple.
For many of us we wonder why the gospel accounts speak of Jesus’s birth and then jump twelve years forward with this story. We want to know what Jesus did as a child, because that is what the biographies of today will do. That is not how people wrote back then. They did not write like that because everyone knew what the children were doing. They were kids, it is only after they become a member of the community that they begin to take a closer look. But there are clues to what Jesus did in today’s passage.
“And when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the group they went a days journey.”
For so long I did not take much notice of this. I have heard sermons about how Mary and Joseph lost track of Jesus, and how we should as parents give ourselves some grace because even Mary forgot Jesus once. But there is more. Why were Mary and Joseph not concerned when they left?
This what grabbed my attention. Jesus was not with them and they knew he was not with them. They knew, and they supposed that he was among the people of their community. This tells us that Jesus was not acting out of the ordinary. They were used to Jesus not being right there with them. They were used to him being off with someone talking. They assumed that he was curious or that something had attracted his attention at that time which kept him occupied when their relatives began their journey back north to Nazareth. And they were not worried.
I want us to take a moment to reflect on that for a moment. Jesus was curious. Jesus was engaged. He became engrossed in some activity enough within those past twelve years that his parents were not worried. And they were not worried because he always made his way back home. He would go out, he would follow some curiosity, he would go chat with someone just because and would make his way back home as the sun began to set.
Jesus was curious. He observed, engaged, studied, and explored.
Jesus was a child, just like the children of our meeting. Like every child that has ever lived. Mary and Joseph were not bad parents because they left without their son, but they were good parent. They allowed their son the freedom to explore. They instilled in him a sense of awe and wonder, and encouraged him to interact with those within his community as well as nature.
This season, Christmas, is for children. We wrapped presents and put them under a tree. There is a mystery within those packages and every child is beckoned by that mystery. We chide them for being snoopy and chase them away, yet we still put the presents there. We tempt them with the mystery and make them wait. It might be a bit cruel, but with that tradition we are encouraging them to explore, imagine, to brainstorm the possibilities. We are creating an environment of curiosity.
This is important. God wants us to be curious. He wants us to explore. The job God gave our first parents was to name the animals, to go into the world and bring it into submission, and to be fruitful and multiply. That idea of submission we often think of as being almost negative but this is our contemporary understanding of a word bleeding into it. To bring something into submission is to know and understand it. To be able to utilize it for mutual profit. God, with that command, was challenging us to explore, to study, to engage with the world around us so that we could flourish.
We often forget this as we become adults, because we take on responsibilities. We once explored, we once lived with curiosity as our guide, but now we work and labor. Some might say that this is the curse that resulted from the fall. It is true to a degree. We get distracted by our responsibilities and we lose that sense of curiosity.
But we get a glimmer of it in our children. And this is a blessing of Christmas. We watch their eyes light up when they are finally allowed to dive into the gifts. We join with them as they figure out how to make the remote controlled car work, or as they try on their new shoes and see how fast they can run in them. We engage with the curiosity. Everything is new. Everything is bright and hopeful. We explore and try. We play the game and enjoy life.
“And when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, searching for him.” This is the day after Christmas, when you return to work. The responsibilities of life once again return, and we are concerned. For three days, Mary and Joseph search for Jesus. For three days they are worried and anxious. They had one job to take care of this child and they are failing.
We have all been there. Maybe not losing our child for three days, but we have felt that pang of inadequacy, that little voice within telling us we are not good enough. I am not ashamed to admit that I experience it quite often. I get frustrated. I worry. I often catch myself sitting in my chair contemplating and praying, but instead of praying I am wondering if people will see just how much of a failure I am. I often find myself struggling with impostor syndrome.
Mary and Joseph are with us in this feeling. God entrusted them with Jesus, the God that created Heaven and Earth entrusted them with taking care of Jesus, God incarnate. And they lost him. And out of their frustration and relief they lash out at Jesus, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.”
The past few days, I have been thinking about my grandpa. I watch TV shows and I remember him. And then I pulled up my plex account and found that my brother uploaded MASH. I sat for a while watching it with tears in my eyes because that was the show I used to watch with my grandpa after ate supper. As I thought about my grandpa, I remembered a few things. My grandpa was wise, witty, and calm. He had a song for everything, and very rarely did I ever see him get anxious. I thought he was superman.
Rarely did my grandpa get upset, I never heard him raise his voice. But then I remembered the few times I saw a different side. There was a time when my sister, brother and I were outside playing and my brother hit my sister with garden hoe. It was an accident but it was the only time my grandpa spanked any of us. And yes my brother is the only grandchild ever to have been spanked by my grandpa. Later my mom told a story of the only time she was spanked by grandpa, it was when she did not follow him to the cab of the truck and was hanging on to the back when he began to drive away. Both stories have something similar. My grandfather spanked when he was scared. When he felt as if he failed to protect. It sounds terrible when I say it, but in his frustration when he failed to protect my sister from harm he lashed out, not in an abusive way but just enough to let my brother know that it was dangerous and not to do it again. And he only did so when it was terribly dangerous.
As parents we can sometimes respond to our children in our frustration. And it is sometimes out of our fear. Our sense of inadequacy. We can lash out at them because we do not know how to express our emotions of fear and relief. It is not right, and I am not encouraging you to let loose, but I am telling you Mary and Joseph know the feeling. We can feel defeated and we can respond poorly.
But I do not want us to focus too much on this. Instead I want us to focus on where they found Jesus. For three days they searched within the city of Jerusalem. Even then this was a monumental task. And they found him in the temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking questions.
They found him doing the very thing they taught him to do. They found him doing the very things they encouraged him to do. They wanted him to be free to explore. They wanted him to let his curiosity guide him and lead him into a deeper understanding of the people and world around him.
As they came near, they listened to the people talk about their son. Everyone who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. We often assume that this is because Jesus, being God knew everything, but it think there was more to it. They were amazed at his ability to hold a conversation, they were amazed at how he was able to communicate with the teachers who were so much older than him. They were amazed that Jesus was willing to engage at such a young age.
They walk up to Jesus, they rebuke him. And like so many times when we discipline our children they saw the confusion in his eyes. Mary and Joseph were good parents. My grandfather was amazing as are my parents but at times we as parents are unable to express what we feel to children. They rebuked and disciplined him. And Jesus looked at them, and I imagine he had tears in his eyes, and he answered them, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my fathers house?”
This phrase is difficult to put into English. The King James Version translates this as “my father’s business.” instead of house. A literal translation would be closer to, “Did you not know that I must be about my father’s things?” What it is implying is that they should have known that Jesus was doing the very thing he was always doing. He was right where they left him. He was doing the very thing they had always encouraged him to do. He was talking with the people he found interesting. He was asking and answering questions. He was living into the person they were raising him to be.
The passage ends by saying, “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” I sat this week with this passage. And I was filled with emotions as well as thoughts. I thought about the many Christmases I have celebrated. I reflected on my grandfather, my parents, my children, and my own grandson. I had little pangs of homesickness and self doubt, as I reflected on it all. But one thing stood out above all.
God wants us to explore. He wants us to be curious, to engage with the world around us. He wants us to get to know the people next door, to understand the intricacies of science, to wonder how the toys work that we received on Christmas. He wants us to be like children. God wants you to ask questions, and seek out answers. He wants us to increase in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.
For those young students among us, those that are just beginning to learn who they are and want to be. God is calling you to stay curious, to come seek and find. And God is inviting you to become sons and daughters of the covenant. But this is not only a call to them. He is calling those of us who have already matured to remember what it was like to be curious.
Jesus once took a child from among the people and told those that were listening to look upon that child, and he said, that we must all be like the child if we wanted to enter the kingdom. I have thought about that a great deal. What does Jesus mean? Is it the trusting innocence of a child? Is it the energy? I think it is many things, but most of all I think it is curiosity. It is the ability to be amazed and the desire to figure out how it works. It is the sensitivity and willingness to express the full range of our emotions, and empathy for those around them. We must be like children, and children grow. They learn, and become who they were created to be.
God is calling the young to grow, to become children of his covenant, to live according to his teachings and commandment. He wants you to be curious, to learn, to find and become the person you were created to be. But this call is not only for the young. We adults are also sons and daughters of that same family. We too are children in the eyes of God the ancient of days. He is calling us to continue to be curious, to explore and grow. To laugh and to cry. He wants us to live within this community encouraging those around us to be immersed in the life and lifestyle of Christ.
Christmas is more than a day, it is a season. It is a season of hope, and curiosity. It is a season to enjoy being a child of God. Because God is with us. And as we go deeper into this season into the newness of a new year I want us each to be curious and to grow. I challenge you to learn something new. I encourage you to make a new friend, and to engage them in conversation. I dare you as you make your new years resolutions to be like Jesus. To be about the things of your father in heaven. And become a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and living the love of Christ with others.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
December 15, 2024
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Luke 3:7–18 (ESV)
7 He said therefore to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 9 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” 10 And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” 11 And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” 12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” 13 And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” 14 Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” 15 As the people were in expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Christ, 16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” 18 So with many other exhortations he preached good news to the people.
I have reflected a great deal on John the Baptist over the past few years. The more I consider him, as I reflect on what his life might have been through the study of the culture during that era of history, I have come to realize just how counter cultural he truly was.
We focus on his attire and his diet. We consider his proclamation about being the voice in the wilderness crying out to make a path for the messiah. But have we fully considered his ministry?
I know we have read the words that are attributed to him. We read them often at this time of year, because like those ancient people we too long with anticipation for the coming of our king. But there is something interesting about the ministry of John that we might over look as we rush forward in the story to see Jesus.
John was a reformer.
I have often likened John to the almost monastic sect of Jewish faith called the Essenes. There are many similarities from my limited research of the group but there are also differences. Who were the Essenes?
This religious group we are only recently finding more about. They were the community that is believed to have lived in the area of Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. They believe this because they have found a settlement, and the documents found in the caves around Qumran contain writings from this religion faction. As scholars have studied the writings of this group they are finding similarities to many of the early teaching in Christianity. Some have even stated that the topics and structure of many of Paul’s letters follow one of the more highly regarded teachers within this movement.
Yes, I am sure you all think this is pointless knowledge, but what this tells us is that the early teachings of the church were not as controversial to the Jewish community as we might be led to believe by our own contemporary culture. But there is something significant. Many of the Essene teachings were similar but due to their sanctified lifestyle, sanctified in the sense that they lived separated from the wider culture, their movement may not have had much recognition outside of ancient academia.
This is one way that John is important. The Essenes taught that the current religious class within the temple system were not worthy of serving. Not only unworthy of serving but they went so far as to say the people themselves were not worthy of living in the land promised to their ancestors. This is why they lived just outside Israel proper. They lived there in the wilderness in a sort of symbolic reenactment of the Exodus. And as they waited in the borderlands, they considered the activities of their ancestors prior to crossing into that holy land.
Joshua stood there overlooking the land as he mourned the loss of their leader Moses. God came to him telling him, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses.”
They had just spent forty years wandering through the wilderness. Learning to be a people, a nation, they were gaining their identity. But they were also becoming a people devoted to God. Ancient Israel during the Exodus did not have a formal religion. They did not have any organized faith structure until Moses received the teachings of God on the mountain. They did not know how to approach God, and because of this they often carried the ideas of the surrounding cultures into their worldview. We see this as they began their desert wanderings. God did not initially intend that they spend a generation in the desert. After they received the teachings of God at the mountain and confirmed the covenant between them, becoming the people of God. God led them to the border of the land, they saw the fields, vineyards, and groves. They knew that God was indeed leading them to the land of promise. But there was a problem. Moses sent twelve into the land to scout it out. Those twelve came back and ten said there are giants in the land and we are like grasshoppers to them.
We can debate if there were actual giants. Science does not support the claim as they have not found any ancient remains of people of that stature. That being said, after thousands of years there really is not much remaining of most bodies. It would be highly unlikely to find any remains unless they were purposefully preserved like the mummies of Egypt. What we can find though is teaching and theological understanding. Giants is a term that is large, but there are other ways of being large without being tall. They could be great, powerful men. And more likely like Egypt, their leaders could be seen as being the offspring of the gods. These ten spies came back and said we cannot go into the land because they have divine help, they have supernatural aid. And we are just grasshoppers, we are insignificant puny humans.
They lacked faith. They did not believe that the God that led them out of Egypt, the God that took on and defeated the gods of Egypt, could do the same with the smaller kingdoms of Canaan. So God took them into the wilderness to teach them for forty years. And now they sit upon the borders once again. And God tells Joshua, “this is yours, go in and take it.” But God knows Joshua. He knows that Joshua has some doubts. “I am not Moses.” Will they even listen to me? Who am I?
Be strong and courageous God urges Joshua multiple times. And he then sends him to the people to prepare. They prepare by consecrating themselves. They remembered the teachings they received from God through Moses, they washed themselves, abstained from intimacy, so that they as an entire people could stand before the Ark of God, which was regarded as the footstool of his Heavenly throne.
This is what the Essenes were doing out in the wilderness. They were consecrating themselves. They were attempting to rediscover who they were as God’s people and how God wanted them to live. And John was out there in the wilderness also. Maybe he was a member of their community, we are not told. But the baptism he shared was a baptism of repentance and forgiveness of sins. He was telling the people that came out to hear him speak, to consecrate themselves, because the kingdom of God is near.
John was a reformer. He urged people to examine their lives. And just see if they are truly reflecting the teachings of God.
He stands out on the banks of the Jordan and the crowds come out to him. He watches them as they come to be baptized. He proclaims at the top of his lungs. “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”
I have to admit that I do not like snakes. To me every snake is harmful to my health and potentially venomous. So I do not take a great deal of comfort in contemplating a brood of vipers. Yet this is important to do because the image of the snake runs deep within our human experience. Some scientist actually believe that humanity developed the ability to see color because it gave us an advantage to see snakes better.
I think those scientists need to try a little harder, because snakes often have the most effective camouflage in nature. But they would say they developed that because it would protect them from us. But there is deeper spiritual connection to snakes. Who is said to have deceived our first parents? A serpent, a snake. This is interesting because it shows us something about ancient thought. The term for this particular serpent is also used for vipers. And they use this term because of the burning sensation one feels after being bitten, and it can also mean bronzen or shining.
I have not been bitten by a viper and I do not plan on it. I have been stung by a wasp, and as the venom from that sting moved through my body I did feel as if that part of my body was on fire. In my case it was on the top of my ear, and I was ready to just cut it off it burned so badly. This idea of burning, fire, or shining is what is important in regard to snakes, and vipers in particular. Israel emerged out of Egypt, out of Mesopotamia, out of the lower Hittite regions. Each of these ancient pantheons have spiritual beings of various rank and many of the guardian beings were depicted as vipers. And this has led some to think that what we know as serpent could have been called a serpent because it was dangerous and shining. Meaning Eve and Adam were deceived because a being they thought was a messenger from God’s very throne. Yet this shining one did not deliver God’s message but instead tricked them into joining the spiritual rebellion.
“You brood of Vipers.” John yells across the valley. You spawn of the serpent. You worldly and rebellious people, “Who warned you to flee?”
Who warned you to flee? This is an interesting concept. In Christian circles there are basically two main schools of thought on how we are saved. We all believe that it is through Jesus’s life, death and resurrection that we can have salvation, but who is saved is what I am meaning. Some would say that God has predestined us from the dawn of time to come to repentance, while others say that we choose. Every denominational believe falls somewhere between those two extreme positions. I do not really think they are extreme but they are on two ends of the spectrum. Each of these positions will list and quote references from scripture to defend their case. As Friends we do not necessarily take a hard stance on either side of that debate. We really do not take a hard stance on many theological concepts, instead we ask questions. And when it comes to who is saved many Friends have from the very beginning of our tradition have had a both and response to who can be saved. Their main teaching was that everyone has the opportunity through Jesus to be saved. They call that opportunity the day of Visitation. This is a moment within your life where you have some leading that is urging you toward God, but at the same time there seems to be an opposite urge that is pushing you away. It is as if there is a battle waging for your very soul. And we are left there in the crossfire to wonder which direction to run.
This I believe is that John is speaking about when he yells across the Jordan valley. He is telling that crowd that you are of a rebellious nature. You are a people that has been raised among people that are unclean, unfit for the presence of God. We live in a world where we are only concerned for what I can get. We only associate with people that will be able to advance my standing within a world that focuses on exploitation and excess.
These are the same teachings that Jesus spoke about just prior to his trial. How does the world view power, success, and achievement? This is not how it is with you, Jesus told his disciples. If you want to be first you become last. If you want to become the greatest, you must become the slave to all.
John looks out at the crowd, who are compelled within their hearts to come out and listen, and he cries out to them you brood of vipers. You children of this corrupt and sinful world, living among the deceptions of the serpent. Who warned you. What compelled you. Why are you here?
Why are you here?
I can make a list of things I would rather do on any given day. But there is something that compels me to be here at this time every week. Some might say that’s easy you are paid to be here. No that is not it. I left a decent job with great benefits to become a pastor. I was a branch manager of a rental car location. Not the greatest job, but it paid well. Something compels me to be here. It is that visitation.
I look at the world around me, and I know that there has to be a better way. We should not live in a world that is at constant war. We should not be in a world where the air in some places is so polluted you cannot go outside without a mask. Our soils should be able to produce enough food to feed us all and yet there are people that go to bed hungry. There must be a better way.
We can succumb to the pessimism of the world. Saying that fate just gives some people much and others little. We can hold to the idea that we live in a world where everyone is battles for resources and the one that has the most wins. What good is that way of thinking? It just gives us a justification to be selfish, to take what we deem is ours individually or collectively. But there is always a day of reckoning. Those that were exploited will rise up against their oppressors. It might take a thousand years, or a few decades. Every empire will fall. Yet people remain, this is the point John is trying to make.
We are not great because we come from this or that country or people group. I am not saved because I went to some church, or was born Jewish. There is no Christian Nation on this planet, because the kingdom of God is not of this world. This is what John means when he speaks of stones for Abraham. The culture was saying that we are good and great because our father was Abraham. They put their faith in their heritage not in their God. God can raise up children for Abraham out of the dust of the earth and that is what we are dust.
“What must we do?” They cry out to John. Notice his answer to this question. The baptizer does not tell them to be baptized and everything will be fine. He does not say this because baptism is only a sign or symbol. It is a tangible sacrament that points us to a greater reality. We must be changed. You cannot be a child of God, a stone of Abraham if you are dwelling in the brood of vipers.
You cannot live like them. You must take on a different life and lifestyle. The world says get more stuff. Buy the latest fashion, get the new pair of Jordan’s, or that nice apple watch. And there is nothing wrong with those things, but now you have two pairs of shoes and a closet full of clothing that you never wear. You have more than enough to satisfy you needs. The world says who cares you deserve it. But the kingdom of God says to be mindful of others. To regard them more highly than yourself.
If you have more than you need share it. I do not want you to take this too lightly either. I mention two pairs of shoes. There is at times a need for two pairs of shoes. You do not want to go out and scoop snow in the shoes you need to wear with a suit, and you definitely do not want to wear dress shoes to a construction site. There are needs for more things as we journey though life. And at times our needs may look like excess in the eyes of another. That is not the point, they do not know your needs and you do not necessarily know theirs. If someone is using guilt or shame to manipulate you into giving something you need to them it is just as wrong as living a life of excess. The point is living contently with what you have. And using what you have at your disposal to become a blessing for others.
John was a reformer. He went out into the wilderness, we are not told why. Maybe he joined that religious group living in the borderlands. But what we can see from his life, his lifestyle, his teachings and his actions is that he saw something that was not quite right with the world of his day, and that things really needed to change.
We see thing same things today. We complain about taxes and tax collectors, just like they did back then. We complain about CEO’s and their multi millions or billions of dollars, well they had rich and poor too. Jesus even said that there will always be poor among you. There is always more work to do. And we should be compelled to participate.
Each of us are unique, we have different personalities, and passions. Yet when we look at the world in which we reside, are we compelled to do something? Not everyone is called to be a pastor and not everyone is gifted with the intelligence of business. Not everyone is able to host a party and not everyone is patient enough to listen while someone shares the struggles of their life. The world needs men and women of business to provide jobs and goods and services. We need counselors, lawyers and retailer. We need scientists that are driven to find the cure to cancer, we need teachers that inspire students to learn, and artists to challenge us to look at things from a different perspective. What is compelling you? Are we being driven by the teachings and ways of this world living in a brood of vipers, or are we bearing fruits in keeping with repentance.
I have reflected quite a bit on what John had to say on the banks of that river. Are we listening? Are we willing to respond to that Spirit’s day of visitation? Are we willing to turn from the lifestyles of this world which we all know are filled with corruption and greed. Are we willing to embrace and follow the one that comes not only washing the dirt but refining us with fire? Advent is a season of anticipation, of longing, and of hope. Will we join with Christ to become instruments of hope in our world today?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
December 8, 2024
Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Luke 3:1–6 (ESV)
1 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, 2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 4 As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. 5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ”
There are times when being a pastor can be pretty fun. As you know I have the privilege of teaching the students’ bible study before our Meeting for Worship. For quite a while we have been utilizing the Right Now Media video streams to do this and we used to mainly watch bible based cartoons. I would like to say the kids picked it out, but the truth is I wanted to watch them too. And yes the kids do pick out what we study, at least to start with. When we get to the end of a series I ask them to pick another one and we will watch it and discuss what they thought was interesting.
Some of the series we have watched are great, some of them I could have been better. But what I find really awesome, is that recently they decided to venture out of the animated realm and we have been discussing the Bible Back Roads. This series goes through various books, it gives a history of who wrote it and then it gives a general overview of what is in that book. The discussions we have had are deep, fun, and at times completely off topic.
I mention this because a few weeks ago we finish a series on the letters by Peter and John. It was very good and I encourage you to go to my website and create a password so you can watch it at home, because it is worth while. But the past couple of weeks we started a series on Luke’s Gospel.
In this video the host took the time to tell us about who Luke was, and how he came to write this Gospel. When we think about how we obtained what we now call the Bible, many of us may not know how the books were chosen. Some have said that a council of Bishops decided what was right and wrong and pushed some out. That is not really how things happened. It was much more organic. The ancient church before the Protestants and Catholics and between the East and the West occurred splits occurred the church was organized in regions under a bishop. Each bishop was equal in authority and they obtained their position from the blessing of the previous bishop.
As Friends we do not have bishops, and the leaders we have are more directors or advisors as the Meetings, the monthly, area, or yearly meetings make decisions based on a sense of the meeting instead of individual directives. But it is important to know history, and how we got to the place we are today.
Each bishop of this ancient church was the main pastor or leader for a geographical area. At the council of Nicaea in the year 325, the first Ecumenical council there were between 250 to 320 bishops, but most will say that there were 318 because that is what one of the most influential early church theologians counted. That seems like a pretty large number, but there were nearly 2000 bishops invited. These bishops discussed many things while they met together. They came up with what is called Church Cannon Law at this council, which established how the organization would function on a larger scale. They also discussed the nature of Jesus. They discussed this in length because there was a great deal of confusion in the early centuries of the church. Do we believe in one God, three Gods, one God with three manifestations? Oddly enough that council took place nearly 1700 years ago, and we still argue about similar things. And this discussion got heated. Many of us might know one of the Bishops that participated in this council a bishop by the name of Nicholas from Myra which is in Turkey. This is the saint who eventually became known as Santa Claus. We often think of St Nick as being a jolly man, but he took theology very serious. And it is said that he got pretty riled up during the council and actually punched someone in the nose. Obviously this story makes me laugh so he became my favorite saint, even though as Friends we tend to shy away from calling people saints.
I also have an affinity for St. Nicholas because he was the patron saint of sailors, and because of this he became the saint the city of Odessa Ukraine picked to represent their city. That was the city in Ukraine I spent time in and one of my students gave me a St Nicholas Icon that I still have today. I have gotten a bit off topic, but St Nicholas has a place in this season.
That council that St Nicholas attended came to the conclusion that there is one God, in three persons. They explained this by saying that Jesus is fully human and fully God, that he is of the same substance as the Father. I bring this up because history is important, but mainly because there were nearly 2000 bishops in the church 318 made that trip to the council. They met for three months from May to July and they came to an agreement. Some say that agreement was close, but according to the historians twenty-two came opposing the contemporary majority teaching but after the three months of discussion only five refused to sign.
Another side note on this council. I said that it established cannon law. This organized the over 2000 bishops into regions or patriarchates, they recognized that Rome, Antioch, Alexandria, Constantinople, and Jerusalem as being the five Patriarchates. Each of these were equal at that time and each of the 2000 bishops could trace their succession through one of those five churches.
Now the real reason I mention Nicaea is that many say that the books of the bible were chosen in this council, they were not. Each bishop had their own listing of the books they thought was authoritative as scripture. And they chose these works based on certain criteria. The first was if it was in the Old Testament. If it was in the Old Testament it was included, but that brings up an issue. Some used the Greek translation, while others used the Hebrew. These differ which is why Protestant bibles do not include some of the books some of the other churches use. The second criteria is if it was written by or directly influenced by one of the Apostles. Matthew was said to have been written by the Apostle Matthew, John was written by John. But then there is Mark and Luke. They do not appear in the lists of the twelve apostles. Traditions tell us that Mark and Luke were written by close friends of Peter and Paul.
Luke though is a bit different. Luke begins by saying that he wrote these words, after taking an account of the many eyewitnesses to the events that had been happening among them. He wrote a two part story the Gospel and the Acts of the Apostles and he wrote them to a man named Theophilus. We are not completely sure as to who Theophilus was, but some scholars believe that Luke wrote to provide case notes for Paul’s trial. Luke, as tradition tells us, was a physician so he was a man that studied and worked with people as he tried to provide ancient healthcare. But he wrote details that are important, like in today’s passage. “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Ceaesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Phillip tetrarch of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas.”
Luke lists off a bunch of names, and a year. He did not list these off to make me look bad as I attempt to pronounce them, but he lists these off because these were names people in Rome would have been aware of. They could look back through the records and see that these names were on a list at the same time periods. He does this because Luke is a man of research, he needed evidence of some sort for him to believe. He was a man of primitive science, so he needed a reason to believe. And he begins by saying this happened at this time while these people were in government offices over these areas. And these were the high priests during that time so if you were to look at the religious trials under these people’s reign you can verify aspects of this story.
I say all of this because Luke asked questions. It is important to ask questions and to take those questions and find answers. If we are afraid of questions this tells us something profound. It means we are afraid, it means we have deep seated doubt in our lives that we do not want to admit, and because of this we are afraid that our lives will crumble if we question anything.
I have a lot of questions. I have had questions that threatened my faith, and questions that I have never found an adequate answer for. Yet here I am. I am here because people like Luke showed me that we should have questions, we should seek answers, and at times we cannot find them. What do we do then?
What do we do when we cannot find an answer?
We each have this struggle. We need to examine it in prayer and contemplation. Is my believe in God and evolution something that I can find some sort of harmony in? Is my understanding of human nature and scripture something I can rectify and if not can I continue to live with myself? These are scary questions because they shake our foundation, but I have looked at others that had faced doubts and what they have done to come through them. People like St. Nicholas, George Fox, Dr. Francis Collins, and people within my family. Each of these people have holes in their logic, but I have noticed something with each. When they cannot find an adequate answer to their question, they resort to hope.
Luke said, you can look up these people. You can look at the timeline, these were real events. And during that time, “the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness. And he went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”
I have taught about John in the past. So I will not go into detail today. John was the son of the priest that went into the holy place and came out unable to speak. We today do not fully grasp how important this was, but the priest that entered that portion of the temple went in carrying the prayers of the people to God. They entered representing all of Israel. And they came out representing God, as they spoke the blessing over the people. Zechariah entered and came out unable to speak the blessing on the people. This was scandalous, reports would have been made. Why has God withheld his blessing?
This son of a priest, went out into the wilderness. He left the priesthood. I really want you to remember this. John left what we would call the dominate cultural religion. He would have been taught and trained to become a priest like his father, that was his vocation and his calling. It was his inheritance and blessing from God. Yet John walked away and instead took everything he learned out to the isolated and some might say unclean places. And as he taught he quoted the words of Isaiah.
“The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’”
We have seen these words many times throughout our lives. We read them often as we prepare our hearts for Christmas. They give us hope. But why? What do they mean? Is John just identifying himself as the one Isaiah said would come or is there something deeper?
I think there is a lot to these words. There are two commanding verbs in this section, “prepare and make.” Prepare the way and make his paths. These words are indicating discipleship or a righteous lifestyle. This is why I think it is important to note that John left what his contemporaries would have said was the righteous lifestyle. We would think that the best way to prepare the world for the coming of the messiah would be to be a leader within the religion the messiah was going to bless. But John left that behind. Which takes us to the descriptive portion of the passage. The command is to prepare and make the way and path, but how do we do this?
“Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low.”
What do you think about when you hear of valleys and mountains?
The ancients of the areas surrounding Israel regarded mountains to be holy places. Their gods lived atop the mountains. We do not have to look that hard to know this Zeus lived on Mount Olympus. They believed this because it is difficult to get to the top of a mountain. In their minds it was impossible to make it to the top and they obviously reach to heaven so that is where the gods live. Even the teachings of the Hebrews point to this commonly held belief. Moses received the commandments on top of a mountain where he met God and when he returned his face would shine. Elijah took the prophets of Baal up to a mountain top to prove which God was real. They went to that mountain because it was closer to the divine realm. And even today we speak of mountain top experiences. Are we pagan when we say those words? No, we are understanding that we felt close to God.
The mountains and hills will be made low. Isaiah is saying that God will come down to us. What was once dividing God from humanity will no longer keep us apart. The mountains will move.
But what about the valley? Civilization begins in valleys because that is where the rivers flow. The cradle of civilization is found along the Nile, between the Tigris and Euphrates. It is along the Ganges, the Dnieper, the Amazon. If there is a major river system flowing through a geographical region, that river system most likely had some important civilization emerge along its banks. We might know of them or we may just be learning about them, but they are there. Even the Arkansas River had an indigenous civilization that emerged in the area by Camp Quaker Haven.
John and Isaiah are telling us humanity will be lifted up to and God will come down to meet us. This is a powerful image. One that my theology professor would describe as the vicarious humanity of Christ. Where Jesus brought God to us and Jesus lifted mankind to God. With us and for us.
There is even more to this mountain and valley concept. Where did the fall of humanity occur? We say the Garden of Eden. We do not know exactly where this Garden was but scripture often says that it was on a mountain. And from that mountain flowed the rivers that irrigated the great ancient civilizations. And some have taught that it was on a mountain that the rebellious angels came down from to corrupt humanity prior to the great flood Noah survived in his Ark. And the languages that divided our nations were initiated when humanity attempted to build an artificial mountain to make a name for themselves by taking a seat within the heavens.
Isaiah and John are telling us that the strivings of humanity to become great, to obtain the wisdom and knowledge of God for their own gain, will be reversed. We strive to go higher, and we end up digging a deeper hole. I have mentioned this often over the past few weeks as we discussed the where and how power is used in the kingdoms of men. Those that seek the power want to be on top. They want to be CEO, they want to be president, king, or god. What happens to the kingdoms of men? Turn on the news. A CEO was shot. You might have heard that there are a few wars being waged, and one in particular has a national leader on the run. The kingdoms of men often seek power for themselves, everyone around them are only there to make them greater. I recently saw a shared tweet from a CEO, that spoke in anger about the recent murder of a CEO saying that this is what happens when we do not contain the greed of middle management and their staff. I read that in shock. I was in shock because that particular CEO is deemed the richest man in the world.
Are we here to lift the leaders of the Kingdoms of Men up to the top of the mountain? I want you to really think about that. That was the mindset of Pharaoh, of the leaders of Persia, of the Kings and Queens throughout Europe, of the Tsars. These were and are men of renown, either the sons of god or people that have Divine right to rule. They are above the law and untouchable by the common individual. They live on the mountain, but the mountain shall be made low. It is being brought down as the valley where the common individual plants their crops live. And those valleys are rising up.
“And the crooked shall become straight, and the rough places shall become level ways.”
Where do we feel most unsafe in our world? In the places we cannot see. In ancient Israel the road between Jericho and Jerusalem was treacherous. You had a rapid ascent in elevation and as you climbed through the steep path, there were switch backs and outcroppings where bandits would often hid. Jesus once told a parable about this pathway.
John and Isaiah are telling us that there will be a leveling of society. And as there is a leveling there will also be a decrease in criminal activity. You might think that is a stretch, but think about it. When cities focus on making areas safer they can do two things. One is increase law enforcement. This is force against force. But there is a second way to reduce crime. We mow the lots, replace the lights, we actually clean up the places that were once in shambles. This cleaning ushers in hope, it encourages people to take pride in their community and this often spreads. There is a third option. And this is a leveling of force and service, where the first two work together. We saw this in Europe after the second world war. We used force, but we followed it with assistance to rebuild. We did not force our former enemy to repay the damage. We instead made an effort to work with them as they rebuilt their society. That method ushered in the longest period of peace in Western civilization.
I feel like I am spreading my own propaganda here, but this is what I believe. Hope.
We grow by asking questions and finding answers. We grow by helping the people around us instead of exploiting them for our own gain. We grow by giving hope and showing a different lifestyle. We prepare the way and make a path. We love God, embrace the Holy Spirit and live the love of God with others.
I see this hope in the students that are among us. I see it in their desire to have fun and ask questions. I hear it as we let them process what they found interesting and we talk together. I see this hope as our Congolese Friends come to worship with us, and as those that were here already tried to help them feel welcome and at home, and I hope you all feel at home here. I have hope because we have face trials and have found a path forward. I have hope because when one of us is sick, we call our friends to pray with us. I have hope. Not because I am on the mountain or in the valley, I have hope because I am with you and we are with God. I have hope.
“And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.”
What will they see? Jesus said as the disciples marveled at the sight of the great temple of God in Jerusalem that not one of those stones would be left standing. The rubble of that great building would be so scattered that generations after could not even imagine the splendor. It is not our buildings or our tanks or bombs that make us great. But the people. People desire hope. They will move toward hope if they can catch a glimpse. Or they will fall deeper into the despair of the rough places. What type of world do you want to live in? One predicated on fear or hope? One where we hate or encourage? One where we oppress or one where we liberate?
I have been in the darkness of doubt. I often find myself in those places. But as I walk though those valleys I see or read about people that were in similar places. They saw tragedy and they thought if I just did this one thing maybe one person might not be forced into that tragic lifestyle, so St Nick tosses a coin into a stocking to provide a dowery so a girl can get married instead of being sold into slavery. Or George Fox returning to jail after being given a pass to walk around the community because he wanted to honor his word. Or my dad praying over his morning bowl of cereal reminding me that we do not move through this world alone. I see the salvation of God because it lives in each of us. We are the instruments God is using to shine light into the darkness, we are the bearers of the image of God that right now shines dimly but in the last days will be as the sun. We are the hands and feet that carry hope to the hopeless. Let us embrace and live that life this week.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
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