Sermon at St Peter’s Church, Pitton
- Morning Worship – Sunday 4th
December 2016
Isaiah
11:1-10; Romans 15:4-13; Luke 3:1-12
May I speak in the name
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Amen.
Well, today sees us only three weeks away from Christmas! 21
days away. How has the year gone by so quickly?
Are you prepared for the celebrations which always accompany the
event? Cards written, gifts purchased,
dinner plans in place, invitations sent out to relatives and so on. All done
and dusted! I have to confess that each
and every year Christmas creeps up on me quicker and quicker despite knowing
full well that it is celebrated on the 25th December each and every
year and the shops seem full of Christmas decorations and gifts as soon as the
summer holidays are over to remind me.
This year, in particular, it has come exceptionally fast for me because
I shall be celebrating a most important event in my own personal life only four
days later!
Advent, is a time in our Christian Calendar which often seems
to be neglected because of all the rushing about and planning associated with
the secular festival – which is a pity, as I think it is one of the most
important seasons of our liturgical year – as important as Lent. After all, it is the wonderful anticipation
of God’s incarnation in the form of Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins.
Jesus, the Messiah, was long awaited as he was the subject of the Jew’s long
wait as foretold by Isaiah in our first reading. Advent is a time when we dig
out the Old Testament prophecies to re-affirm our own faith as Christians. For
this reason it should be a time when we reflect on our own frailties and
limitations remembering with certain hope of the incarnation and Christ’s
coming to redeem us.
Today we lit the second of the four Advent candles on our
Advent Wreath – the Candle of Preparation – in anticipation of that celebration
of God’s coming to Earth. A light to the
Gentiles, as both Isaiah and later Simeon in the Temple put it. Isaiah, in our first reading is making it
clear that Jesus is not coming simply as the Messiah of the Jewish people but
also for all humankind. Isaiah, and also
later prophets, declare : “Prepare the way of the Lord”. Prepare, prepare,
prepare – a theme which clearly leads from and links the prophecies of the Old
Testament right up to the ministry of Jesus’s cousin, John the Baptist.
There is something unusual about our Gospel reading
today. It is one of the few passages of
scripture, other than the Passion, which occurs both in all the synoptic
gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke as well as John. Its significance cannot, therefore, be
underestimated and is such a pivotal point between the prophecies of the Old
and the ministries of the New. Isaiah is
clearly prophesying the coming of Jesus when he says “A shoot shall come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch shall grow
out of his roots”. The genealogy of
Jesus does indeed go right back through David to Jesse and back further to
Ruth.
Back in the days of Isaiah it was usual, when any king was
proposing to make a state visit within his kingdom or outside it, for roads to
be smoothed for his passage and the route made easily for his transport – hence
Isaiah’s analogy of making the paths straight and rough places smooth as quoted
by John the Baptist in our Gospel reading.
Isaiah is clearly talking about the coming of a king but not a king as
they would know him.
John the Baptist repeatedly used the word “repentance” which
is our English translation from the Greek word metanoya (metanoya) meaning “a change of mind; forsaking old patterns,
habits and priorities; a new way of life”.
In our second reading, Paul, in his letter to the Romans starts by
saying
“For whatever was written
in former days was written instruction so that by steadfastness and by the
encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope.”
Paul implores his readers to take on board God’s
encouragement and live as Christ would have us, in harmony with one another
welcoming each other as Christ welcomed us. For many of us, we need to change
our ways, to repent to begin a new way of life; to think primarily of others
before ourselves. What a wonderful world
if, as Paul hoped, all of Humankind thought and acted like that!
I am sure that many of us make New Year’s Resolutions. I expect many Christians make Resolutions
during Lent and maybe even on Easter Day as we think about new beginnings in
the Spring season. However, I wonder how
many of us use Advent for this purpose?
Our Scriptures are full of the message of waiting and repentance. Unfortunately, we live in a world of “having
it now” and not waiting. My mother
always had a phrase she used “If it’s
worth having, its worth waiting for”. I have, by bitter personal
experience, learned the wisdom of those words.
Here is a time for us to take time out, to reflect on the past year and
to think where we could have done better.
Repentance is about turning away from our sins and turning to God. We can’t repent though unless we reflect upon
what it is we are turning away from and how, by changing our life, we can be
better followers of Christ.
Jesus didn’t just descend from Heaven one day, he was
born. There was a period of gestation
following the Annunciation. At the first
miracle in Cana, Jesus told his mother that his time had not come – in fact
following his birth in Bethlehem it took 30 years before his ministry
began. We know little about his life
before then but can surmise that he was in a period of intense preparation for
his short yet equally intense ministry. Likewise, Advent is a time for intense
reflection and preparation.
I was reminded a few days ago of a quotation from one of my
favourite theologians – the famous and very brave Dietrich Bonhoeffer. He said
“…our whole life is an
Advent season, a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time when there
will be a new heaven and a new earth”.
I think that is an absolutely lovely phrase. Within it is encapsulated the whole essence
of this season – the season of waiting.
We lead a life of waiting – waiting to be called to a better place. It
also reminds us that whilst we wait for that final time, we should be in a
constant state of readiness. Jesus
himself tells us that we do not know the time or the place of his next coming
but we should be alert and in readiness.
We can
become so complacent. I am also reminded
of the taking of Singapore by the Japanese in the Second World War. The British had always assumed that any
attack by the Japanese or other force would come from the sea. Accordingly all
the colony’s heavy guns were pointed seaward.
The Japanese mounted a land attack across poorly defended marshland to
the north. The British were not prepared
despite thinking that they were. During their
period of waiting for the inevitable attack, they could have taken steps to
prepare stronger fortifications to the north.
Likewise, we cannot assume that we can gainsay God’s plans for us. His timing is not our timing – just as the
British timing was not the Japanese timing.
Bonhoeffer’s
phrase also reminds us that we are here on earth for just a limited time – as
Paul reminded us, we are here to help others and not think just about ourselves
all the time. We are here for a relatively short time, as the hymn reminds us
and then we are borne away (O God Our
Help in Ages Past) . We are here just for a season and in that time we
should spend it living the Christian way – the way of Christ. John the Baptist is telling us that the best
way to prepare ourselves for his coming is to change so that we become more
Christ centred, more theocentric. But do
we really prepare ourselves fully?
One of my
favourite stories at Christmas is the short story by Charles Dickens – “A Christmas Carol”. I am sure that sometime and somewhere over
the Christmas period, on our multi-channelled TVs, there will be a screening of
it again. It struck me a few days ago
that here is a really great illustration of metanoya or repentance. I am sure I don’t need to tell any of you the
plot of the story but it is worth remembering that scene towards the end of the
book when, after receiving visitations from four spirits, Ebeneezer Scrooge
shows how that terrifying experience has changed him so completely. Instead of
being the mean miserly businessman we met at the beginning of the story, he now
brings joy and hope to the poor Cratchet Family. He has truly repented.
Scrooge
needed to be visited by four spirits, we only need one – the Holy Spirit, which
was left for all of us after Jesus’s ministry here on Earth was completed. That same Spirit which John the Baptist saw
descending during Christ’s baptism, that hovered over the waters at the
beginning of creation and which inspired Isaiah.
As you leave
today pray that the Holy Spirit will show you the best way for you to prepare
for his coming this Christmas and help you lead the Christian life throughout
2017.
Amen
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