SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 30 2025 - PREPARING THE WAY
Notes From Congregational Meeting
Notes From Living Room Conversation
November 30, 2025
Deborah Laforet
“Preparing the Way”
Let us pray. May the words from my lips and the meditations of my heart be guided by your
Spirit and be words of wisdom for this day. Amen.
Our world right is saturated with superheroes. When I was growing up, we had Christopher
Reeve’s Superman, Lynda Carter’s Wonder Woman, Lee Majors’ Six Million Dollar Man and Lindsay
Wagner’s Bionic Woman, and even William Katt’s Greatest American Hero. There are more that I’m
sure many of you can name, but the fact is that we could probably name them all if we tried. If you look
at all the superheroes in the past twenty years, I’m not so sure we could.
I’m not sure when the explosion started, possibly in the 90’s. Michael Keaton’s Batman came
out in 1989, and from there, the movies have increased, with several iterations of one superhero,
superheroes lifted from several different comic books, and new original superheroes. Everywhere you
look, there are superhero movies, television shows, books, songs, costumes, and more. The amount of
money just in marketing is probably staggering.
So, I thought, hey, let’s do a pageant around superheroes. I’ll have the kids choose what
superhero they want to be, and I’ll create a pageant around those heroes. It was fun to write, and you’ll
get to see the finished product in two weeks.
So, why the explosion of superheroes, characters with super powers and an extraordinary urge
and obligation to save the world? Have we moved into an age where we don’t feel capable of changing
the world, where we don’t feel like anyone, except those with super powers, is capable of saving the
world? Are we feeling helpless and overwhelmed by the problems in our society, whether it be crime,
the climate crisis, racial struggles, nuclear war possibilities, mental illness, and so much more? Have
we, subconsciously, decided that the only way to save our world is through a superhero with super
powers? Or, maybe seeing these people - those with supernatural powers or otherwise, those people
attempting to save the world, with their flaws and their hopes and their struggles and their longings to
create a safer and braver world - maybe all of this is meant to inspire us to let out our own inner heroes.
As followers of Jesus, we have our own superhero of faith. One who was miraculously born,
with angels singing of his coming and magi paying him homage, who had his own superpowers in the
form of walking on water and calming storms, healing people, foreseeing the future, and even raising
from the dead, one who was or is 100% human but also 100% divine. As Christians, we also recognize
so many other biblical heroes who did not have the powers of divinity, but still stood up to power, fought
for the oppressed and marginalized, bravely shared the good news through threat of persecution, and
who longed to create a safer and braver world.
Through Advent, we will be exploring ordinary heroes in our gospel stories, in particular those
characters who prepared the way for Jesus, with John the Baptist being the first of those characters. We
don’t often recognize John as part of the birth story, but Luke’s gospel gives us both a birth story for
Jesus and for John, born to Zechariah and Elizabeth, an aging couple who had given up hope of having a
child, a common theme throughout our bible.
John the Baptist is an interesting figure. He’s always portrayed as quite a scruffy fellow. We
heard in our scripture reading that, “John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his
waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.” (Mark 6) It’s not explicitly stated, but most theorize that he
was a Nazirite. What’s a Nazirite, you ask? A Nazirite is one who takes a vow, which includes
abstaining from wine and other fermented drink, refraining from cutting one's hair, and avoiding contact
with dead bodies. According to Luke’s gospel, John was a Nazirite at birth, with the angel instructing
John’s father that John “will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink;
even before his birth he will be filled with the Holy Spirit,” (Luke 1:15), which directly connects with
another of our biblical heroes, Samson, who was also a Nazirite at birth, and reportedly had super
strength.
Mark’s gospel begins with John the Baptist, at the River Jordan, proclaiming his message of
repentance. Mark’s gospel is the oldest of the four we have in our bible, and it does not have a birth
story of Jesus, as do the gospels of Matthew and Luke, but in all the gospels, John is essential to the
story of Jesus. He paves the way for the ministry of Jesus. He brought people to the River Jordan,
proclaiming repentance. Would we even have the sacrament of baptism without John? John isn’t
usually mentioned in our celebration of baptism, but it is John who was baptizing people and who
baptized Jesus.
John’s message, when he immersed people in the river, was of repentance, of turning from an old
life of sin, towards a new life of truth and justice, which is, in essence, what Jesus will preach when he
talks about the coming kingdom of God. Some of the disciples of Jesus were first disciples of John.
Some theorize that Jesus started as a disciple of John’s, and that Jesus learned a lot from his experience
as a disciple of John’s. John and his outspoken views of King Herod was what ultimately got John
arrested and then killed, another lesson for Jesus as he did his ministry throughout Galilee, where Herod
held his tyrannical power. Jesus was always very careful as to how he criticized those in power, not
letting them off the hook, but definitely more subtle than John.
John was abrupt and direct. He had hair that had never been cut. He avoided alcohol during a
time when that was the traditional drink. He was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around
his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. What do you think? Is this Hollywood superhero material?
Big screen or maybe straight to streaming on Netflix? Who might play this scruffy character? Russell
Crowe might be getting a bit old. Maybe Ryan Gosling or the new sexiest man alive, Jonathan Bailey?
Maybe not. John might not be the right material for Hollywood, but John wasn’t paving the way
for celebrities, capitalism, or fame. Just the opposite, actually. He was preparing the way for the
coming Messiah, for Jesus, a man who was humble, poor, and dedicated to the people, especially those
who were marginalized and oppressed, preaching of the coming Kingdom, of which we are all a part of
creating.
And here we are today, like John, preparing the way for the Christ, in our own lives, and in our
world, a world that so desperately needs compassion for those hurting, a thirst for justice, courage to do
the right thing, and love, knitting us all together. In other words, we need heroes, and guess what?
You’re it. We’re it. And in fact, you’re already doing it. I see you. I see you caring for this faith
community, or in your neighbourhood, or in the city in which you live. I see you loving your family and
friends, supporting them and offering them what you can. I even see you caring for yourselves, your
own physical, mental, spiritual, and emotional well being, which, if you’ve seen the villains of these
superhero movies, that can be just as important.
We are the ordinary heroes of today. We are the ones preparing the way for the coming Christ in
our midst. We are the ones building God’s kingdom, one where all can be safe, where all can be free,
where all can be brave and courageous, one where we can all simply be. And for that, we say, thanks be
to God. Amen.
1 Corinthians 13:1-13
(Introduce yourself.)
The scripture passage I’m reading today is one of those passages that many outside of our
faith tradition would recognize. It’s often read at weddings, and sometimes at funerals.
It’s a description of love that seems to resonate for many. I am reading from Paul’s letter
to the people of Corinth, the first thirteen verses of chapter 13.
If I speak in the tongues of humans and of angels but do not have love, I am a noisy gong
or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers and understand all mysteries and
all knowledge and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains but do not have love, I am
nothing. 3 If I give away all my possessions and if I hand over my body so that I may
boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant 5 or rude. It
does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable; it keeps no record of wrongs; 6 it does
not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things,
hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they
will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. 9 For we know only in part, and we
prophesy only in part, 10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.
When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. 12 For now we see only a
reflection, as in a mirror, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then
I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. 13 And now faith, hope, and love
remain, these three, and the greatest of these is love.
May the Spirit guide our understanding of this sacred scripture. Amen.