“In those days John the Baptist showed up out in the desert yelling, “Repent! Repent! Repent!” He’s a young man with a muscular body shaped by a diet of locusts and wild honey and life in the desert. He’s covered in camel’s hair (which is scratchy), and his own hair is wild. His stare is intense, and I mean seriously intense. He probably doesn’t own anything other than the clothes on his back. And I guarantee you, you’re not going to hear one itty-bitty, teensy-tiny word about him on your radio, or on your TV, or in the mall as our culture prepares us for a secular holiday in which the message is “Spend! Spend! Spend!”

No. To repent means to turn around, to change direction, and John calls us to repent, to confess that we are sinners, and to confess our actual sins. John calls us to focus our lives on God — God, God, God, and only God — and to burn away anything that is not fruit of that focus on God and our resulting willingness to turn, to actually change our behavior.

No. You won’t be hearing about John at the mall. Repentance is hardly consistent with the mall’s Christmas message.

And it often is viewed as inconsistent with the Episcopal Church’s message. We pride ourselves on being open, on being non-judgmental, on being the “big tent” that doesn’t turn anyone away. And those things are, for the most part, true, and I for one thank God that I’m part of a Church for which they are true. But I think we often afraid that we’re going to be seen in the same light as closed, judgmental, small-tent kind of Churches that do turn people away, and we sometimes overreact to that fear by being hesitant to articulate moral standards.

So sometimes our message of Christmas isn’t the culture’s “Spend! Spend! Spend!” and it certainly isn’t John’s “Repent! Repent! Repent!” but it becomes a kind of sentimental message of “Feel good! Feel good! Feel good!” that asks absolutely nothing of us.

And so we silence John by saying, “You know, he was wrong about Jesus. He said Jesus would come wielding fire and fear, but, for the most part, Jesus came wielding hope.” And, we’re right about that. As we’ll see next week, Jesus has to correct John. John did have it wrong about Jesus. But Jesus also praises John as the greatest of the prophets. So maybe we Episcopalians shouldn’t be so quick to throw out the message of repentance with the bath water of fear and fire.

There is, of course, a danger when we start talking of the need to follow moral guidelines. In our reading from his letter to the Romans, St. Paul calls us to “live in harmony with one another . . . so that together [we] may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” In some areas, we don’t agree on what our moral guidelines should be, and lately we’re certainly experienced the cacophony that can result. I’m sorry to report that there is a priest in the diocese who won’t speak to me because we disagree with regard to the Church’s treatment of homosexuals. People have left St. John’s over that issue and over other issues. (There will always be an issue.) That kind of disharmony is serious and tragic.

But I’ll tell you what I think is even more serious and tragic. George Gallup (the pollster) has noted that his data show that:

[t]here's little difference in ethical behavior between the churched and the unchurched. There's as much pilferage and dishonesty among the churched as the unchurched. And I'm afraid that applies pretty much across the board: religion, per se, is not really life changing. People cite it as important, for instance, in overcoming depression--but it doesn't have primacy in determining behavior.

Now, I worry about us not speaking with one voice, and I lament the divisions within our Church, but this, this! scares me to death! Religion is “not really life changing.” It “doesn’t have primacy for changing behavior.” I remember a study that was done in Europe after World War II. It showed that whether or not someone sheltered Jews was statistically unrelated to what religion they were, or whether they had any religion at all. My God! We’ve got to talk about moral standards.

And we can do it in a way that will avoid the “hot button” issues. I sincerely believe that there is plenty to talk about without getting to divisive issues.

Here is what God wants from us and expects of us:

Love nothing more than God.

Do not lie and do not mislead others by your silence. Studies show that most of us lie at least once a day. (I think what we most often lie about is whether we love something more than God.)

Do not steal. In any way. Be honest and fair in all your dealings.

Do not covet material things (see “Love nothing more than God”).

Do not gossip. A good rule of thumb is to say nothing about a person that you have not already said to their face.

Respect the dignity of every human being, seeing every person, even the worst, especially the worst, as a child of God whom God loves.

Use your sexuality responsibly. Don’t be promiscuous. Respect your vows and others’.

Go to church regularly. (I know you think I made that one up, but I didn’t!)

Give generously.

Do not promote violence.

That’s a list of ten things put together from the Bible, the Baptismal Covenant, and the Prayer Book. Just ten things: love nothing more than God; don’t lie; don’t steal; don’t covet; don’t gossip; respect everyone; use your sexuality responsibly; go to church regularly; give generously, and don’t be violent. I don’t think there would be much controversy about that list. Of course, the list could go on, but I think that’s enough to start with, don’t you?

If you find that you ever love something more than God; or are not completely honest or trustworthy; or you covet; or gossip; or don’t respect everyone; or don’t use your sexuality responsibly; or don’t go to church regularly, or don’t give generously, or are ever violent in action or word (or, Jesus would say, thought), then John’s message is for you. You need to repent, to change.

If you find it difficult to live by this short list of moral guidelines, then I’d like to welcome you to a club — that has six billion members – the human race. You are not alone, and I am certainly with you. But the fact that it is difficult does not excuse us from doing our very best to change.

Not because God will burn us up if we don’t. John was wrong about Jesus using fear as a primary motivation. We shouldn’t repent because we’re afraid. We should repent, change, strive to be more Christ-like,

because Christ came as a baby

into this profoundly screwed-up world

to show us how to live in it,

and to forgive us our failures.

And so it seems to me,

that trying to change,

is the least we can do.

The Rev. James H. Pritchett, Jr. St. John’s Episcopal Church, College Park, GA