Sermon: Advent Sunday

Date Preached: Sunday 29th November 2009

Today is Advent Sunday – “advent” - derived from the Latin word ‘adventus’ meaning (?) ‘coming’ or ‘arrival’ – because it’s all about the coming of the King.

And each of our readings seems to point to the importance of waiting. And it’s not like waiting in Tesco either in long queues while they decide who’s on duty; or at the badly named express self-service checkout where it waits for you to put the item in the bag – and that voice tells you several times to do what you’ve already done, but then the item wasn’t heavy enough to register in the first place, so you try fooling it (and then get tempted to get inside the bag yourself) – but then you’d probably get the “unexpected item in the bagging area”! No, thankfully, not that kind of frustrated waiting. But anticipating something that’s going to happen and being intelligently informed and prepared because of the confidence and anticipation that it’s actually going to happen – like the times I’ve met friends flying in to Heathrow - armed with flight times and numbers – and hopefully the correct terminal – and having received messages that they’re in the baggage handling area, soon to appear...Waiting in anticipation and readiness – Advent!!

Jeremiah, the Old Testament prophet passes on what he hears the Lord saying: “that the days are surely coming… when I will fulfil the promises I made.” Rowan Williams’ wife Jane (the theologian) comments that it’s hard to believe that this reading comes from Jeremiah, because he’s usually such a prophet of doom. You can read him cursing God for the message he’s had to deliver: that the people of God are about to be taken off into exile in a foreign land. Not exactly the kind of message they want to hear – and obviously they all hate him for saying it. He’s even imprisoned by his own king for being right – because he was spot on and the enemies of Jerusalem are besieging the city. But then here in this wonderfully lyrical piece where Jeremiah is full of hope and trust; “that if they will just wait, watch, endure and try to see the hand of God at work, they will be preparing themselves for a time when Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety.”

Our psalm is also full of expectation. ‘Show me your ways Lord, and teach me your paths.’ The whole point of Advent is to learn what God’s like so you’ll be able to recognize him when he comes – and not to be so frightened by events going on around you that you never get to experience his goodness.

You see this in Paul’s prayer for the Thessalonians, which in the Message version goes like this:

May God our Father himself and our Master Jesus clear the road to you! And may the Master pour on the love so it fills your lives and splashes over on everyone around you…May you be infused with strength and purity, filled with confidence in the presence of God our Father when our Master Jesus arrives with all his followers.

But there’s no time for being complacent; every minute is vital. So there’s a note of warning that we would do well to heed as well.

And then the gospel writer Luke seems to have taken on what would have been the normal, familiar tone of Jeremiah on a customary ‘bad day’. As we’re beginning to discover in our bible study, Luke is normally associated with heart-warming stories of women and children - like Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mother – and Mary’s song – the Magnificat; stories of shepherds and sheep, a stable and a manger (‘all the props of the nativity play’). But that’s getting a little ahead of ourselves. There’s much more to Luke than meets the eye. And here it’s this strange language about the fig tree that’s actually the real key to understanding today’s readings.

Just like we know how to watch for the signs that warn us about changing seasons, so we have to train hard to be people who can recognize signs that God is still involved in the rescue business: that coming redemption that he’s been promising all along. Of course there’s a huge irony here that we were thinking about last week as we celebrated Christ the King. Here’s Jesus talking to his disciples about the kingdom of God being near – and it’s just a short time before his arrest and death. What kind of king is this who ends up on a cross? No matter how many times Jesus tried to tell them this was the way God had chosen to reveal his amazing glory, it was something they were wholly unprepared for – they just didn’t get it.

So this task of interpreting the signs of the times is no easy thing to do.

I don’t underestimate the difficulties and pressures of this time of year. We all know that Tesco et al started its big Xmas sell in the summer – and with the difficulties of economic recession the expectations are still huge. There’s a telling sign in a Morriston butchers shop every year which always gets to me because it’s something I read as I stop at the lights after conducting services at the Crematorium. It reads: “Ease the burden of Christmas – join our Christmas club.” (!) And truthfully so may people see this as a burden. I used to work with a lecturer who ‘hated’ Christmas with a vengeance, because of all the family pressures.

So let us begin this Advent with a fresh perspective. Let’s refocus this year because the Advent season presents a unique opportunity to meditate on the coming of Christ the King.  Let's see how the Holy Spirit can set alight our liturgical services – and our own hearts. And let’s – for goodness sake - reclaim the meaning of it all.

(& by the way) just a quick historical point: it wasn’t actually until the 6th century that Christians in Rome began linking the Advent season explicitly to the coming of the baby King in a manger. At that time, and for centuries after, the "coming" that was celebrated was not the birth of Jesus, but his Second Coming to sort things out (hence the meaning of the gospel readings that are set for this time of year). So Jesus’ insistence that we need to stay awake and keep alert was taken seriously – and Advent became a rich mix of muted, Lenten-like penitential preparation alongside the joyous anticipation of Jesus' birthday.

And (here’s the thing) if we let them, every year these rich Scriptural reminders and the traditional prayers that accompany them can set the blood rushing a little faster and bring a rising sense of excitement.

Christ came with plenty of prior notice! Prophets and angels joined to proclaim his coming! But this first candle of our advent wreath - dedicated to the Patriarchs of the faith - also says “wait and see! There’s more light to come” (almost – ‘you ain’t seen nothing yet’!) And so here in Waunarwlydd (God’s meadow after all) we’re able to join with the cloud of witnesses stretching back not just to 1888, but to apostolic times, proclaiming the same good news about Jesus! But the real dynamic of God’s kingdom is looking forward. It’s good news is that we’re not caught in a cycle; not consigned to Groundhog Day repetition. God’s time is linear – fixed in the future of his guidance and his promises. The coming of the King is inexorable – it’s going to happen. When you ask children about Christmas it’s the one coming up that they’re excited about, they’ve usually forgotten about the last one.

So let’s bow and prepare our hearts to receive more fully the One who is always present, but who can seem so distant, peripheral and shouted down in the frenzy of the season. Perhaps we need to acknowledge how secularized, even paganized we’ve let ourselves become. And let’s hope again in his grace that transforms us from the inside.

Is this all unrealistic I wonder? Are we really capable – on the brink of December's commercial rush of lights, decorations, present-buying, and saccharine-sweet piped-muzak carols – of finding just a moment or two to properly listen with the help of our Advent services?

I pray so, however difficult...

The key to it all is to know the One we’re preparing for. In Advent we are waiting for God’s arrival, so our task is to make sure we will recognize him when he comes.

And let’s rejoice, wonderful people – the king is coming, Let’s get ready shall we?!

Amen