Open Wide and say Awe

 Ever wonder if dentists are lonely people?  Do they get invited out to Christmas parties and then get shunned because no one wants to talk about their work?  Do they have a hard time dating without staring at everyone’s teeth?  Do they really expect scintillating conversations from us when their fingers and tools are in our mouths?

When I was a kid, my dentist seemed scary and rough.  He was always pulling teeth.  I inherited my small jaw from my British father, and sturdy teeth from my Slavic mother.  The British were often lampooned as having the worst teeth, crooked and looking more like a picket fence than a denture.  My teeth were so crooked I couldn’t bite into an apple!  It hurt! 

So teeth got pulled and braces were attached, and even with all that, my teeth are still a little crooked but at least I can bite an apple now without even thinking about it.  No more picket fence!  It was painful and scary, but I was always glad when the dentist would say, “you’re done, time to rinse and spit”.

Prophets were not that much different in some ways from dentists.  They, looked at the culture of the time and took some soul x rays.  Then they would say where the cavities were, where the plaque had built up, where there needed to be more flossing, and where the cavities were. 

Malachi called things as he saw them, and what he saw was rampant corruption of the religious leaders.  They were cutting corners, making excuses, and putting their own interests first.  Malachi said they offered inadequate sacrifices and weren’t providing the best spiritual experience they could.  The priests were probably coping to the best of their abilities.  They were rebuilding the temple after it had been destroyed by the Babylonians and were working with the returning refugees as well as the people who stayed after the war. Two groups of people suffering from generational post-traumatic stress. The priests tried to shape them into a coherent team that could work together in a land where things were rough and bumpy, where things were rutted and crooked.  Every shovel of dirt to clear and rebuild a farm, a road, a home, a shop, had to be done by hand.  It was a time where the worry of another invading army would have been uppermost in their minds.  Where peace was a luxury only to be dreamed of but never attained.  But the priests had gotten a little complacent, a little lackadaisical, a little sloppy.  Malachi called them to repent.

John took his call to repentance a step further.  He didn’t target the priests specifically, he called everyone.  His message wasn’t to the elite but to everyone.  Now John is a puzzling character.  When I picture him in a modern-day context, I imagine him in tatters and rags, a street person standing on a soapbox.  The surprising thing is that people actually listened to John, despite his odd eating habits and bad wardrobe.  They could see that he had lived through tough times and respected him because of it.    He must have been a tough son of a gun.  But why is he in our Advent readings?  Aren’t we supposed to be reading about angels and babies and peace and hope?  This passage sounds more like John is coming as a threat not a blessing.

Did you know that John the Baptist is mentioned in every gospel except John?  He is mentioned more than the shepherd which are only in Luke, more than Mary and Joseph, who are not in Mark, and more than the wise men who are only in Matthew.  Yet we don’t have a lovely statue of toddler John the Baptist at the manger!  John is missing from the picture of Christmas.  But we ponder his words and actions every Advent as we ponder his call to us to make things straight.

Advent is a time to do our yearly checkup and have our spiritual teeth cleaned.  Are our dentures fitting properly, do we need to floss more, why is that tooth hurting?  It’s not easy going to a Godly dentist, but just like going to an earthly one, we head off way more problems when we go regularly.  That’s what our time of self-reflection and confession is, an opportunity to reflect on our souls and scrub them before God.  Get that ungodly plaque off before we start getting cavities of our thinking and feeling.  Some people make a habit of doing this daily, through meditation or bedtime thoughts.  I journal every morning.  Some of you get a daily devotional e-mail. What do you do to keep your spirit clean and sparkly?

If Malachi is the dentist that cleans and scrapes our teeth, maybe John the Baptist does the root canals and the cavity filling.  And Jesus is the one who does the bridgework and builds the braces.

Taking my crooked teeth and making them straight was not easy, it was not cheap, it was not fast, it was not painless.  And it was not something I could do myself.  I needed a dentist and also an orthodontist.  I needed my parents to drive me to appointments.  I needed the Alberta Teacher’s Union who instituted dental plans.  I needed a good anesthetist to put me under so my impacted wisdom teeth could be extracted.  And I needed time.  I could help by brushing and flossing regularly, avoiding gum and popcorn, and getting regular checkups. 

Our spiritual help comes from God, who is calling us to partner together.  Some of us have never brushed our spiritual teeth and just coming to church is enough.  Some of us brush after spiritual sticky stuff get on our souls, a couple of times a month.  Some of us brush daily.  Some of us add floss after eating spiritual corn on the cob, and some of us are diligent at both brushing and flossing daily.  Even that does not always prevent spiritual cavities and pain, but knowing we have a good dentist to turn to when the going gets rough, helps us turn to wonder and awe at the gifts of our loving Dentist who helps us grow straight and smooth.  Thank you God, for your holy checkups that lead to peaceful souls! Amen.