What do you know about chaff?

I have never spent time on a farm.  I suspect that this is probably true of most of us in this church.  So when John talks about Chaff, I have only an intellectual appreciation of what it might be from the context.  However, in our internet age, Dictionary.com defines chaff as: the husks of grains and grasses that are separated during threshing; straw cut up for fodder; worthless matter, refuse.   Chaff is what is left when all the good is taken away,  - the refuse that falls from what is grown.  The useless leftover when the threshing floor is cleared.  Yet, like the stalk that grew the ear of corn, what at the end is called chaff at one point played a crucial role in the producing of the ear of corn, or the grain, or whatever. 
   
So when the fiery preacher John the Baptist appears on the scene and invites people to repentance, one of the images he uses is chaff.  I admit, in my prayer with this passage over the years, I had not paid much attention to the chaff.  I thought it more along the image of the process of purification that John are urging people to go through.  But this year, the chaff itself caught my attention.  What is the worthless refuse that is left from my growing?  What are the bits of life that sustained me for a while and helped to produce fruit in me, but now must be left behind?  It has been a helpful question for me as I try to hear John’s call to repent.
   
So let me share three forms of chaff in me, in the hopes that they may trigger an awareness in you of the same.  The first is the chaff of judgment.  It surfaces in impatience at people around my listening to them.  I work pretty hard at listening to people – college students, co-workers, peers, and parishioners.  When I perceive that people don’t listen back with that same intensity, sometimes that comes out in impatience.  We don’t have to agree (and sometimes we don’t) but you better well be able to tell me what I said and what I value.  And If I perceive that you don’t – this chaff of judgment shows up – and rather than listen to what you are trying to tell me that is different from what I think, I find I can just judge your input as not nearly as reasoned and good as mine.  Obviously I am right!  And then I judge you negatively because of that belief.  It is, perhaps, my worst chaff – stuff that I need to burn away from the good fruit of listening well.
   
Second is the chaff of Liturgical arrogance.  I like to think that I preside and preach well.  It is a set of skills that I have worked hard to hone.  I still have much to learn in the way of presiding.  But the pride I take in my preaching – ah, that is another matter.  As I prepare for each Sunday’s homily, I read about 4-5 different sources.  Among them is homilies.net – which is a collection of homilies from various sources.  Though I start with the best intentions – to prime the pump of my own prayer, my thought process becomes pretty quickly: “I can do so much better than that,” or “Why did they go there with the Scriptures?”  Instead of letting the homilies of others affect my heart and move me deeper into the mystery – I let them become a source of pride and arrogance in me.  Of course I can do better.  Suddenly I am aware there is more chaff for me to burn…  Perhaps your variation of that chaff is your calculus skills.  Or your work ethic.  Or your proficiency in connecting people.  But instead of letting what we do best lead us to a deeper in love to the God who gave us these gifts, the chaff appears as a deeper appreciation of my own importance.  I’m no longer tutoring for its sake, but for what comes back to me.  I’m no longer connecting people to others, but to me.  It is a chaff that needs to be burned in an unquenchable fire in me…
   
The third chaff I find comes as I get caught up in the Christmas shopping mania.  There is very little that I need that I don’t have.  A roof over my head.  Gainful employment.  Good health.  Food on the table.  And more than enough clothing.  Beyond that, everything else is a luxury.  So when I head to the stores to do my family and friends Christmas shopping – I get torn.  There is SO MUCH STUFF out there – just waiting for me to purchase for someone.  And I get a little cynical.  I am pretty sure I don’t need the 28 piece male grooming set, including the additional beard trimming device.  But how about the latest TREO 750 – hmm – now we are talking.  And suddenly what I need to grow and keep doing my ministry and what I merely desire become a bit more confused.  And there is plenty of chaff there, in the ads that try to seduce me into wanting more.  And a whole other type of chaff wondering whether what I give to people who matter in my world will be “enough”… 
    
The good news this Sunday, is that Jesus stands by the threshing floor of our lives, winnowing fan in hand, and is ready to brush aside the chaff from what is essential – to burn away what gets in the way of the kingdom that Isaiah foretold.  So, instead of fearing the threshing process, may we welcome it as the way our Lord keeps coming into our lives as our savior and messiah.  Bring on the fire, I say…