I went out last week to buy Christmas cards. You know how that goes... First I had to shoulder my way through the crowds to even get to the rack of cards. Then I had to sort through Santa Claus and reindeer for a religious message and picture. Thankfully, there are lots of choices. How about a picture of the city of Bethlehem from a distance with the star shining overhead... Or maybe the Holy Family at the manger... Shepherds with their lambs... Angels singing...

But how many Christmas cards have you ever seen with a picture of John the Baptizer on the front: "Greetings from our house to yours?" Our thoughts of you at this time of year are best expressed in the words of John the Baptizer. And inside it says, " Merry Christmas, you brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"

No Christmas cards with John the Baptizer on the front and his strident message of impending doom inside. John is not a popular figure for Hallmark cards or tree ornaments. He is not found in ceramics or creches.

John the Baptizer is dirty and dusty, with his camel's hair coat and leather belt. He smells of poverty and desert discipline. He refuses to live in the big city, up in Jerusalem with the powerful and the educated and the religious high muckety-mucks, preferring instead the dust of the desert, the wildness of the wilderness.

And yet, all the gospels have him there, at the beginning, as if to say you cannot meet Jesus until you have met John. You cannot be prepared to hear the angels sing Gloria in excelsis Deo, until you hear John the Baptizer say, Merry Christmas, you brood of vipers.

John intrudes into our Christmas preparations and celebrations with his blunt Advent announcement of an impending crisis, the wrath to come. John is adamant about the coming kingdom of God, the powerful one who is coming, the one who comes to baptize with the HS and with fire.

John the Baptizer wants to wake us up, to shake us out of our complacency, to make us sit up and take notice. Time to expect a crisis, John says. And if he has to call us names to get our attention, well, that's OK. Whatever it takes. The kingdom is coming, you brood of vipers.

All kinds of folks made the 20 mile trek into the wilderness to this madman of a prophet dunking folks in the river. Who knows why so many came. Were they cynical about the religious establishment in Jerusalem and looking for an alternative spirituality? Did they really believe his forecast, the crisis of the coming kingdom? Were they hedging their bets, going to John just in case he was right?

And what did they think when he greeted them at the river, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?" You get the mental image of snakes slithering quickly away to escape an approaching fire. And you think, "Good! He's giving those snakes their due! Those drug dealers and terrorists, fraudulent politicians and unethical corporate types, gang members and internet predators!"

And then John turns to you and says, "And don't you dare to say, 'Abraham is my ancestor. My family and I are longtime members of this church and we always pay our pledge on time. I serve on the altar guild and we go to Sunday School.'"

John the Baptizer raves, "You are not indispensable to the Lord. God can raise up a people out of the stones in this river if God wants." Everyone must face the impending crisis - even the chosen ones, the insiders, the morally upright. The kingdom is coming! And it's crunch time. On Jordan's banks the Baptizer's cry announces that the Lord is nigh. John stands on the river bank shouting, "You brood of vipers! Bear fruit worthy of repentance! The kingdom of heaven has come near."

Actually John is doing more than just calling us names to get our attention. John is hitting us over the head with the club of change. John is screaming at us, "Change, or else! Repent, you brood of vipers! Change, or else!" And John is pretty explicit about the "or else" - Change - or else the axe will be laid to the root of the tree. Change - or else every tree not bearing good fruit will be thrown into the fire. Change - or else. Repent - the kingdom of God has come near.

John was right, of course. The kingdom of God had come near and the impending crisis called for change. But John was dead wrong about how the change would happen. John's call to repentance by itself is a burden none of us can bear. We simply cannot change enough by ourselves to usher in the kingdom of God. We can't do it. We cannot change enough by ourselves to usher in the kingdom of God.

John was right when he shouted, "Repent, for the kingdom of God has come near." A crisis is imminent. Change is demanded. But John was dead wrong when he thought the change was all up to us. John underestimated how far God would go to redeem the world. John thought it was all up to us. John rants and raves for us to fear the wrath to come, to do more good works. to be more committed. John thought it was up to us to be better people in order to usher in the kingdom of God.

But John misread the signs of how far God would go to redeem the world, of how much God longed for repentance and reconcilation, even with the likes of us. John shouts, "Change, you brood of vipers. You're as deadly as snakes!" God announces, "I will change fear into love, violence into peace. The wolf will live with the lamb, and a child will play over the viper's den." John shouts, "Change - be baptized to get ready for the kingdom, to prove your commitment to clean living." God announces, "I am bringing about the kingdom in my Son. I will change you through the water and the word. I will change the power of sin to newness of life." John shouts, "Change - the axe is laid to the root of the tree." God announces, "I will bring forth a tender shoot from the root of Jesse, a rose blooming in the desert."

John shouts, " Every tree without good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." God announces, "See my Son hanging on the tree? I will change death into life." John shouts at us to change, calls us names, threatens us. And then God brings about the change we need. God inaugurates the kingdom with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. God drowns the power of sin and death through water and the word, and raises us up to new life. God changes our hearts and minds to new ways of relating to others out of love rather than fear. God changes the world and life as we know it, and invites all those who believe to participate in the kingdom.

Today we are forced to stumble over this desert prophet; crazy, spiteful, abrasive John the Baptizer and his call to recognize the coming crisis.

You won't find John the Baptizer on Christmas cards, but you will find him in the Gospels, as if to say you cannot get to Jesus without meeting John, you cannot enjoy Christmas without encountering Advent. The road to Bethlehem goes through the wilderness of Judea.

Believe the good news. The kingdom of heaven has come near. And God has claimed you as one who can embody that holy change in your life, and in our lives together as the Body of Christ.

God has changed the world. The kingdom of heaven has come near. Merry Christmas, you brood of vipers!

Amen.