Reading: Luke 3:7-18
I have become a big fan of Peter Mayer. He was the song writer you saw a couple of weeks ago if you were here, on the DVD Holy Now. He sings about God, a god found in all of creation, a god who is like a river to immerse yourself in rather than a rock to cling to. His God is a God of everyone and everything and the church he belongs to is a church of the earth. He sings to me about my God, who more and more is not found somewhere else but here and now and in you and me.

Yet this God also leaves me vulnerable. This God makes me realize that we are to share who we really are, with one another, removing the masks we use to hide and protect ourselves. Secrets are destructive, and can be used as a barrier to keep people out, when we should be letting people in.

So I am going to tell you a secret. It is not an earth shattering secret but it is one that has had a profound effect on me.

Many may have heard it already.

About a month ago we had some magpie larks nesting in the tree, when one of the little chicks fell out and ended up in our garden. It was so tiny and defenseless we didn`t really know what to do. We would have put it in a box and looked after it but the mother lark was still around so we left it in the garden. Well every day for about a week the mother would stay close, and feed the little chick, and even its sibling would fly down and sit with it. It appeared to have something wrong with it preventing it from flying but it began hopping around. Some days we would find it on the path, sometimes on the rose bush and sometimes too close to the road, so we got used to gently guiding it to safer territory. On the last day we saw it, it seemed very animated hopping here there and everywhere, and even onto Matt`s arm. Still the mother and brother or sister (who knows which) were around watching and feeding it. We went to bed that night determined to maybe move it to a safer place . . .

Unfortunately when we got up in the morning the little bird was lying dead on the path. When we looked closely there did not seem anything wrong with it, but it had been hot the previous few days.

I was absolutely devastated, and after I buried it the mother lark and sibling kept a vigil at our house for some weeks. When I was telling the Wednesday coffee group the story, Betty said something quite profound. She pointed out that the bird probably died of thirst, as there wasn`t any water readily available to it. We did every thing we could but did not think of the most basic thing, water, to help keep it alive.

I felt even more gutted. Devastated actually. How could I have been so stupid? I moped for days, thinking only of the little bird. You may laugh at my reaction, as there are so many people suffering in our world; what is one little bird? Yet for some reason that bird seemed to symbolize so much to me. The hope of new life, even under adversity, the commitment and loyalty and love shown by the mother lark, the joy of connecting to nature and bridging the gap ever so slightly. We somehow found a space for us all just for a moment, which was shattered by the lack of the simplest thing, the lack of water. We did the more complicated things and ignored what was the most obvious. Ah!!!

It made me really think about us and what we really need for a full and complete life. The answer is of course the most basic things, not just food and water but love, acceptance, compassion, justice, peace and hope. These are the things we need, not fancy cars, fancy houses, incredible high powered jobs, the latest technology, or lots of money and influence. We live in a society that seems to think that relationships can be bypassed on the way to somewhere, yet they are the most essential to life and living. John Lennon once famously said, life happens to us while we are doing other things. Well it`s time to stop doing other things and get down to basics.

So when we talk about what we are called to do as part of being in the river of God it is the simplest things that can change the landscape. That can transform people. One of the simplest, in fact the most basic component I think, is love. Because from love grows everything that a human being needs. Love is the root from which it all stems, a love that arises from God and is given to all of creation. A love that binds us all together, you in me and me in you and takes us on an amazing journey from an exploding star to a human being, from a young child to a fully grown and mature adult. Without love we are just empty shells, almost zombie like. With love our eyes are opened, and life can become rich and full of meaning. Or even just a little bit less isolated and lonely.

For us who may not be able to change the world, or find a solution to the problems in many of the most terrible places, it is comforting to know that we can still act in ways that brings God world just that little bit closer. We are reminded that the simplest things can be the most profound by just looking around us. I went to the Rainbow Christmas lunch on Tuesday, a time to see that ideal in practice. We have many people here with open hearts, patience and compassion, who are revealing that truth in our little corner of the universe. As they say a little bit of love goes a long, long way. I saw an abundance of it on Tuesday. And I saw it light the way for others to follow.

So what has this got to do with John the Baptist? John was earthy, steeped in the ordinary and everyday, what his people were doing and what they needed. Luke uses him to show that faith has to be lived, and this entails loving and being loved. A love of one another that is expressed in community as justice and peace, and a need for everyone to be invited to the table.

Yet John is just the precursor to the ultimate revealer of God`s love in the world.

We are waiting, in the time of advent, for Jesus. For Jesus represents the universal faith of God, the wisdom of God, the very heart of God. It is he who reminds us of the possibilities found in us all. And which we sometimes forget.

Just as I forgot to give that little bird a drink of water.