Mark 1: 1 – 8 Jill A. Kirchner-Rose, MDIV, DMIN – Every year on our way to Christmas we confront this strange-looking man in the wilderness with his uncombed hair, uncut nails, wild honey dripping off his scraggly beard and the smell of insects on his breath. His diet consisted of locusts. John the Baptist clothes himself in camel’s hair. He wore clothes that even the church rummage sale wouldn’t have handled. When he preached it was fire and brimstone every time. He is a lunatic in the wilderness who hollers, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is coming.” Yet, John the Baptist was a dreamer…a dreamer of peace. He knew well the adage, “No justice, no peace.” May we work toward a just and peaceful world for all, too.