I once went to a friends’ wedding which was quite a spectacular occasion – I have the Video to prove it was a bit like an Hollywood musical.  At the reception there were the inevitable photographs.  The curious thing was that when they were developed, no matter who the subject was, including shots of Bride and Groom, I appeared on most of them. I became known to the couple as The Man in the Background.

And that’s the kind of role St. John the Baptist had in the story of Jesus – at the beginning of our Lord’s public ministry. He was there in the background.

He is called the ‘Fore-runner’- the one who, coming before Jesus, prepared people for our Lord’s ministry and message.

It was a position he accepted with humility.

At the end of today’s Gospel he said to the crowd that “One who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to carry his sandals.”

It would be easy therefore to sideline John as the gospel writers seem to do – to relegate him to the background of the Gospel story but that would be a mistake.

A distinguished writer from the Orthodox Christian Tradition, Sergius Bulgakov, prefers to give him another title – a kinder and more accurate title than ‘Forerunner’ - that of ‘The Friend of the Bridegroom.”

There is a recognition in that title of John’s real role which was to make the way ready for his Friend and second cousin – Jesus.

In so doing he also bridged that gap between the Old Testament Prophets who looked forward to, and spoke about, the coming of God’s deliverer and the New Testament fulfilment of those prophecies in Jesus himself.

John the Baptist was the pivot on which two ages turned. He was compared to the great Old testament Prophet Elijah because he spoke with the same prophetic authority – and the New Age – the Age of God’s Kingdom which was inaugurated by Jesus Christ.

This New Age was so radical that the people had to be prepared for it and that was John’s task.

His fulfilment of that task can be summed up in one word and it is the first word we hear him utter at the beginning of today’s Gospel – REPENT.

The central message of John’s ministry is that of the Old Testament Prophets – a call to ‘Repentance’ and this is the ‘bridge’ word which moves us from one kind of life to a completely different one.

The word ‘Repent’ is both uncomfortable and challenging. It is also a necessary word and one we need to both hear and act upon.

However, in general, it tends to be treated in three particular ways.

The first is what we might call the way of GUILT.

Few of us believe that we measure up to what we believe God requires of us and we know that there is often a lot wrong with our lives.

This can lead to guilt which is fed by the negative feelings we have about ourselves when we actually sit down and are honest with ourselves.

The problem with guilt is that it actually prevents growth and some people who wallow in it can feel so hopeless that they end up being destroyed by it.

Encouraging guilt in people is something that the Church has been particularly good at and it is the stuff of hell-fire preaching much favoured by certain sorts of preachers. It is also, it must be said, how parts of the Church throughout its history and even today, keep control of people.

This is particularly insidious because it masquerades as a call to Repentance – which it actually prevents.

Guilt is ultimately a self-centred emotion and quite alien to the Christian Gospel because it actually is a denial of Jesus Christ. It says that he didn’t do anything, and can do nothing, to change and save people. It is therefore a denial of what His life, death and resurrection achieved and can go on achieving for us.

A second way we can treat Repentance may be more palatable.

This way is the opposite of Guilt and is the way of SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS.

One of my favourite cartoons in a series by Hugh Burnett, taking monks as his subject, has a monk making a list and his brother monk stands behind him and says, “No, No, my dear brother, you are supposed to list your OWN sins!”

The Way of Self-Righteousness tends to view sin as something somebody else does. And we might agree.

After all, we’re decent, upright pillars of the Church, who, whilst we might just acknowledge some general, unspecified sin in the general confession at the beginning of this service, don’t really let it bother us too much.

Of course, no doubt we follow the teaching of the Book of Common Prayer which insists that we should spend some time on Saturday evening in an examination of our conscience. Naturally, when we do so, we might come across one or two minor flaws in our life and possibly the odd tiny sin but then, we are only human after all, and anyway, compared to some we could mention we are really blameless and good-living.

It is always best for the self-righteous person to turn the spotlight away from themselves and onto others. That really in fruitful ground because we can always, always, find fault with them.

If neither of these two ways of looking at Repentance is for you, may I suggest a Third way which I can assure you will put you on really safe ground.

This is the THEOLOGICAL approach.

The way to really get to grips with a word like ‘Repentance’ is to treat is as a Theological idea and so discuss it philosophically. That way, we don’t have to act upon it at all.

The best way is to begin by looking at what the word MEANS and linguists amongst us can have hours of fun with that one.

Theologians will recognize that before Repentance there must be Sin – and Sin is wrong-doing and wrong-doing is what we see a lot of in our world.

We can then quickly get into a discussion about the trouble spots of our world – Iraq and the Sudan and Pakistan could divert us for a long time as we investigate the global consequences of sin. Or we can look at the short-comings of politicians – always fruitful ground. That keeps things fairly general and at a distance from ourselves.

We can then move into pondering how sin came about and that can lead to a deep discussion about the nature of good and evil – hours of fun to be had!

Whatever way we do it – we can soon make sure that Repentance has very little to do with our own lives. Leave it to the Theologians. They can wrap anything up in cotton wool so dense that it need never trouble us again.

So there we are – that’s repentance all sewn up.

Nothing in John the Baptist’s message need make us feel uncomfortable or challenged.

The strange, young and slightly forbidding man who rushes from the wilderness crying ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near!” needn’t spoil our preparations for Christmas. We can simply concentrate on decorating the tree, writing the Christmas cards, planning the Christmas meal and leaving very broad hints of what our nearest and dearest can buy us for Christmas.

A very satisfactory outcome.

But as we walk away from the cry of John the Baptist to ‘Repent’ we might just have the occasional backward glance at this lonely figure.

Perhaps, after all, there is something in what he says that we might be missing.

OK, here it comes – the sting in the tail.

How about this : Without Repentance we will never make sense of Christmas nor discover the true meaning of the Christ-child in Bethlehem’s manger.

At the heart of Christmas is a turning point – that moment which overturns all those values and attitudes and practices which prevent us finding God and prevents God from finding us. The meaning of Repentance isn’t found by wallowing in Guilt nor by self-righteously turning the spotlight on others nor by consigning it to the depths of Theology.

Repentance involves us in turning round – in turning back to God.

It is a positive action and a deliberate choice to live our lives as God longs for us to live them.

What is at the heart of John the Baptist’s message, as he prepares us for Jesus Christ – is – BE FREE.

Be Free of those things inside us which are not of God.

Be free of any self-image which prevents the image of God from reflecting in us.

Be free too from Guilt because when guilt flows into Repentance, it disappears. It is healed by God.

And turning of our lives back to God frees us from concentrating on the faults of others because really free people don’t need to bolster their self-image by being negative about other people.

We can then be Free to approach Christ and accept that life lived with Him at the centre – is real life; joyful life; proper life – Christ-like Life – a life always turned towards the Love of God which then rules our lives and gives them true purpose.

Repentance is an action not a doctrine. It requires us to do something – to turn around and face God who in Jesus Christ offers us not only the good News of the Kingdom but a way in which we can share in its life.

That’s what is at the heart of John the Baptist’s message and what he yearns for as he points people towards the One who comes after him.

By turning ourselves anew to God in this time before Christmas we can discover afresh – and with renewed joy – that Jesus IS OUR Good News – the Gospel on which the whole of our life turns around if we Repent because the kingdom of Heaven really is near – in Jesus Christ – and through Him in our own hearts.

If that’s the sting in the tail of repentance – then let it sting us into action.