About this time every Advent we meet John the Baptist – he looks very savage.  We have a picture of him out in the vestibule – you’ll notice that.  In fact, I remember years ago when our cathedral was St. Francis de Sales and they had a creative liturgy every Sunday.  The preacher was a Jesuit, and he decided that he would come as John the Baptist.  He would dress poorly, he would look seedy, he would act strange, and he would stay out of church until the gospel was proclaimed.  Then he would walk down the main aisle, turn around and start preaching, like John the Baptist.  Well, they had the opening song, they had the opening prayer, they had the first reading, they had the second reading, they read the gospel and no one came in; no one appeared.  As I said, he was poorly dressed, looked seedy, and was acting strange and the ushers wouldn’t let him in.

There are three striking things to me about John the Baptist.  The first is he was an amazing draw.  People of all different social castes and classes went to see him and listen to him.  People of different races and nationality, people of different ranks in the military went to listen to him.  That is one thing that was striking.

The second thing that is striking, when you think about it, he was very ordinary.  He was supposed to be announcing the coming of the Messiah, that everything would be changed.  But there were no chariots, there were no weapons, there was no army.  He was just dressed a little funny and preaching.  Dressed a little funny and preaching.  What could be more ordinary than that?

And finally, there was his message.  His message was not about the government, not about nations, not about the world.  It was, “You people change your heart, get your own act together.”  That was his message.

This weekend and this season during Advent we reflect on waiting for blessed times and we ask the question:  “What are the signs?”  We are waiting for blessed times.  At one point we were saying that we were waiting for better times.  Well, if we were waiting for better times, we know what the signs are.  We know what to look for.  We’re looking for better retail sales after black Friday.  We’re watching the stock market to see if it won’t come up a little more.  We’re watching the unemployment rate – it’s up to 6.7%, the highest in 30 years.  And we’re hoping that will go down.  We’re watching the number of foreclosures and hoping they will be less.  We’re watching our home value and hope that it will come back up again.  Those are the signs we are looking for.  What are the signs?

But, what are the signs if we are waiting for blessed times?  Well, first of all when did the blessed times happen?  John the Baptist said, “The kingdom of God, the blessed time, is near.”  And Jesus came along and said, “John, you are wrong; it’s not near, it’s here.  It’s not tomorrow; it’s today.”  The kingdom of God is within us right now.  If the kingdom and the love and the power of God is already present, blessed times are present, and there should be some signs.  There should be some signs.

What are the signs?  I love a little booklet one of our parishioners who is a poet gave us, and in one line he asks the question:  “How does Jesus know the difference between the sheep and the goats?”  And he says, “The sheep have a sense of humor.”  Not too much different than John the 23rd, that pope that Father Dibble talked about a few weeks ago.  He was asked, “What is the Church supposed to be doing in the world?”  And he said, “The role of the Church is to make the world a little bit less sad.”  To make the world less sad.  In other words, we are to be a people who notice that God is near - we can smile and lighten up - who notice that God is near and give thanks.  In other words we are to be a people of joy and a people of hope, and that is the sign.  If we are a people of joy and a people of hope, that’s the sign.  Without us there may be no sign.

I like that first reading. It talks about comfort. It says, “Give comfort to my people.”  In fact, the oratorio, Handel’s Messiah, the first song in it, the first piece by the tenor is “Comfort ye, comfort ye my people.”  Great Christian word “comfort.”

When I was at a parish in Berkeley, St. John’s Presbyterian Church on College Avenue had a pastor, and his name was very Christian.  His name was James Comfort Smith.  I haven’t baptized any kids lately called Comfort, but that’s not a bad name, James Comfort Smith.  Because as believers we are called to be a people who find comfort, and even more important, a people who give comfort, who bring comfort to others.  And you do that through all our ministries, through our volunteers, through your presence, your participation, and your financial support.  We are able to bring comfort to a lot of people who are hurting.  And that’s very important.

Those are the signs – joy and hope, thanksgiving and comfort.  Those are the signs we need.  But more importantly, those are the signs we have to be.  We have to be a people of joy and hope, of thanksgiving and comfort.  And there are some of you today who are going to join us, who are called to be people of joy and hope, of thanksgiving and comfort.  These are the ones about to become catechumens.  Some are preparing for baptism for the first time; others have been baptized and are preparing for the sacraments of confirmation and Eucharist, all the way off at Easter.  But today we welcome them, we sign them with the sign of the cross, we meet them and then you know what we do after that?  We dismiss them; we say, “Get out of here; go out and study.”  And we’ll be asking them to do that every Sunday from now until Easter.

I’m going to ask Al Garratto, who is our director of our RCIA, and has been working with his team and with them to come up and introduce them and their sponsors to us.