SERMON 198 - SUNDAY 28 JANUARY 2024 - CANDLEMAS

Sermon delivered at All Saints’ Church, Winterslow – Sunday 28 January 2024 – Candlemas (Adapted from Sermon 144)

Luke 2:22-40

“Master, you are now dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples;

A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel”

I think everyone here is very familiar with this passage – it has been sung over the centuries in its King James Version under its Latin heading “Nunc Dimittis” meaning “now you are dismissed” and this morning, later in our service, we will stand around the font, the symbol of our first entry into the Christian family, and recite it.

We call this Sunday “Candlemas” and I think it is important to understand why the presentation of Jesus in the Temple has been given this name.  The early church leaders recognised and spoke of Jesus’s presentation as being the presentation of the light of the world – as we have just read “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of the people Israel” and services, especially in the Eastern Orthodox Church, still use a great many candles in their services at this time – hence Candlemas. When preaching on this passage in the past I have concentrated on those two elderly dwellers in the Temple – Simeon and Anna and their importance in this story; but this morning I want to talk more about bringing the light of Jesus into the world and concentrate more on the future rather than the past, something which I think worries us all as we see parts of the world in flames and important elections just around the corner in important western democracies.

On Saturday 7^th October the Holy Land was shaken by the savage attacks, murders and kidnappings of civilians in Israel by Hamas terrorists and since that date, we have observed, through the media, the devastation of the people of Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force as they seek to eliminate those terrorists – with immense civilian casualties. Added to that, the war in Ukraine has intensified, within again substantial destruction and loss of life to civilians and we have also seen the situation in the Red Sea worsen at the hands of the Houthi terrorists against western shipping and the bombing of Yemen by British and American forces. As the situation in the Middle East continues to escalate with Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Iraqi becoming involved the world seems a much sinister and darker place than even it was on 6^th October. For most I think we feel darkness descending upon us all.

But there is a greater light amongst any darkness and that is the light of Jesus who, as God incarnate, came upon this Earth some 2,000 years ago and died on the cross for us.  God, in the form of Jesus Christ, his son we are told in the bible, came to heal the sick and to bind the wounds of many – both Jew and Gentile. 

I often reflect on how it must have been for Mary, the mother of Jesus to present her little bundle of joy in the Temple as was the custom.  A small helpless baby swaddled up close to his mother’s breast.  Possibly his little hands were opening and closing, clenching and unclenching as I so often saw in my little grandchildren; a precious bundle of love. And then I think of those same hands, 33 years later being stretched out by brutish foreign soldiers for massive nails to be driven through the palms as that same little child is prepared for the cruellest of executions; his only crime – being the light of the world.  That story will be told again in March when we remember and celebrate the events in Jerusalem during that Passion Week.

For now, though, let us dwell on Simeon’s praise.  Let us remember that God so loved the world that he came down and was made flesh amongst us.  That he became wholly human as well as wholly divine. He cried like any child and gazed into his mother’s eyes like any child does in its mother’s arms.  He came for all of us, again I repeat - not just the Jews, but for the non-Jews as well; all of humankind – whatever our race, colour or political persuasion.  We are all children of the same God.  We were all innocent babes at one time and we are all created in God’s image.

Back in 2020 I quoted James Finley and I think it appropriate to do so again :

“When God eases us out of God’s heart into the earthly plane, God searches for the place that is most like paradise, and it’s the mother’s gaze. In the mother’s gaze, she transparently sacramentalises God’s infinite gaze of love, looking into the eyes of the infant. And when the infant looks into her eyes [they are] looking into God’s eyes, incarnate as her loving eyes.”

Simeon was able to prophesy the future for Mary. A sword will pierce your very soul too. Sadness and despair would descend upon Mary some 33 years later but; also, so would joy and gladness at the resurrection.

That is the promise for us all.  Whatever our lives might be like now, however we might feel about ourselves or our situation, by trusting in God’s light, the living Christ and the Holy Spirit we can get through all the darkness and shine his light in the world.

We are told that the Holy Spirit rested on Simeon. The Holy Spirit leads us today, as then, into the future with hope, because the future is God's and God will always give us hope. The challenge for each of us is to put our trust in God in the same complete way that Simeon and Anna did when they glimpsed the divine face of that small baby in the Temple.  Simeon knew that this small child would be tested and eventually die a cruel death – but he also knew that he had seen a great light and that he could now die himself a peaceful fulfilled death.  As we light our candles later on in this service, let us remember that as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ and blessed with the Holy Spirit we carry that light within us all the time – sometimes it is only a little pilot light flickering away almost undetected, but at other times it whooshes up and fires us to do great things in his name.  If you come here this morning and don’t yet feel that you have Christ’s light within you, still leave your candle here at the front and pray that the Holy Spirit will enter your life and turn on that inner flame.

We live in an ever increasing humanist world. We think we can take control of our own lives and destinies.  During the Brexit campaign, we heard much about gaining our own sovereignty. The word means “over all reigns” – in other words a supreme control over a kingdom.  In this modern day and age it has come to mean taking control over ourselves but without understanding and realising that there is one to whom we must all obey and venerate – to the true ruler over all, the Universe and everything in it – God.  Nothing happens without it being part of God’s plan – when we stray away from his plan he will gather us up, like the lost lamb of the parable, and return us to His flock like the good shepherd He is. Our life may have many cul de sacs or dark valleys but He  will, if we believe and trust in Him lead us to the bright uplands and hill tops.

We should, therefore, like Simeon have the faith to recognise God at work in this world; have the faith to trust that God has a plan for his world; we must, like Anna, be able to look to the dawning of a new age however dark the dawn may be for some today.  Look again into the face of the person or persons sitting next to – you are looking into the face of God’s created image – a glimpse of God himself who loves you and say to that person “God loves you today and always”. When later on we extinguish our lighted candles it is a symbol of the light of Christ now being transferred to be carried inside us.

Let us pray:

O Lord Jesus Christ, as a child you were presented in the Temple and received with joy by Simeon and Anna as Redeemer of Israel and a Light to all Nations: we ask that we, like them, may be guided by the Holy Spirit to acknowledge and love you until the end of our lives and that we might go out to others carrying your light to all whom we meet today and always.

 

Amen                                                                                                   MFB/198/26012024

SERMON 197 - SUNDAY 21 JANUARY 2024 - EPIPHANY 3

Sermon delivered at St. Mary’s Church, West Dean – Sunday 21 January 2024 – Epiphany 3

Genesis 14:17-20; Revelation 3:1-12; John 2:1-11

May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

I guess everyone here this morning is very well acquainted with our gospel reading this morning – the miracle at the wedding at Cana – a favourite of mine having heard it from childhood and, of course, a miracle involving wine – a favourite tipple, especially a good Medoc.  Indeed, it is rather ironic that first of all, I have never preached on this particular piece of scripture before, and secondly, I recall a rather cold and wintery Maundy Thursday held in this very church sometime before I was licensed as a minister when Nils took the Eucharist service and Richard Carter and me acted as chalice bearers.  As was Nils’ custom, we did not use communion wine but instead a rather nice claret.  So much wine was left over afterwards that Richard and I were asked to consume it at the end of the service.  I somehow managed to get home okay but if stopped by the police I suspect I would have been over the limit and that would have been an end of my ministerial career.  “I have only been to church officer” might not have been enough.

But back to the story of the Cana wedding.  It is interesting that an account of this event, described as the first miracle performed by Jesus, is only to be found in John’s Gospel.  You will not find it mentioned in any of the three other synoptic gospels and this might be significant in that John’s Gospel is to some extent more of a theological nature than the other three, Matthew, Mark and Luke, which are more biographical.  You would have thought that a recording of the first miracle would have been very much an event to be written down as a matter of biographical importance. I believe, therefore, as it does appear to have been of significant theological importance to John we must look very closely, again at the passage. As we do so, I would like you to see if you can note something extremely important and different from the accounts of other miracles performed by Jesus.

The first thing to note is that this story appears in the second chapter of John’s Gospel, after the baptism of Christ by John the Baptist and after the calling of the First Disciples.  Last week we looked at the calling of Philip and Nathanael and it has been suggested by some biblical scholars that the bride at this wedding might have been Nathanael’s sister.  Another suggestion has been that it might have been a relation of his mother’s, Mary. These suggestions have been made to give a reason why Mary was so concerned about the shame or embarrassment to the host family if the wine had run out and the party abandoned. Another suggestion is that Jesus bringing extra guests in the form of his new acquaintances, the disciples, might have upset the carefully budgeted catering arrangements. It really doesn’t matter which, if any of these theories is correct, or none, it is clear that Mary was concerned and knew that her son, Jesus, could provide a solution.  What this passage does show, though, as with other pieces of gospel scripture, Jesus and his disciples were very much part of the communities around them and that Jesus himself enjoyed convivial company and at times a party and this passage has been used on countless occasions to dissuade people that being a Christian is all about being miserable and a kill-joy.  In the right place and right time and circumstances Christians are encouraged to be as fun-filled as anyone else.

As we read on the wine did give out which, as mentioned earlier, would have been a very embarrassing moment for the host.  Weddings, at that time and place would have gone on for several days and therefore it was expected that the host would ensure that there was plenty of food and drink to last out that period. Mary seems to be the one to whom somebody has confided that the wine has run out – this leading to the earlier suggestions that the host was a close relation to her or to one of the disciples.  Mary conveys this news to Jesus who replies “Woman, what concern is that to you and me? My time has not yet come”.  We don’t hear or read of a response to that question and comment from Mary, instead turns to the servants and in a “fait accompli” tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do.  Until his Crucifixion, this is, I believe, the only time that Jesus appears not to be in control of any situation but, as with the Passion, he is being controlled by God the Father, on this occasion through his mother, Mary.

We are then told that there were six jars each capable of holding twenty or thirty gallons of water which would have been used during periods of purification. If we say the average was twenty-five gallons then this equates to 150 gallons or 682 litres. That is equivalent to 909 bottles of wine so, in all probability it might have been as much as 1,000 bottle of wine.  What an amazing party that must have been.

As we find out, the servants fill each of the jars with water and that water miraculously turns into the finest of wines – better than what had been provided earlier.

So, has anyone yet spotted what the interesting fact is surrounding this miracle? What did Jesus actually do? ……. In fact he did NOTHING!  He simply gave instructions to the servants.  It is them who filled the jars with 150 gallons of water, it was the servants who then transported the wine to the chief steward or “maitre d’” and drew out the wine. There is nothing in the passage anywhere to indicate that he took any part in the process unlike when he spread out his arms and stilled the sea during the storm.

This is where we can look carefully for messages of theology in John’s account. The steward does not know where the good wine came from or how it was made – indeed, he calls the bridegroom to compliment him on having given out the best wine last unlike what would appear to be the normal manner of providing guests with the poorer wine after they were already drunk on the better stuff. Only the servants, behind the scenes are aware of what has taken place, apart from Jesus and his mother.

So, who performs the miracle or more correctly who makes the miracle happen? It’s the servants who do all the work – and filling six jars with 150 gallons of water would have been quite a heavy task, just think of a two-gallon bucket full of water!

 

 Two things, therefore become, I think obvious from this event and reading of it in John’s account. First, under Mary’s instructions, not Jesus’s, the servants are told to be obedient to what Jesus is going to ask of them.  Secondly, on Jesus’s instruction, it’s the servants, not Jesus who undertake the work they are instructed to do by Him and are therefore obedient to his call resulting in the amazing miracle.

Likewise, as followers of Christ, we too are expected to be obedient to his calling however strange that may sound – I am sure the servants could never, in a million years, think that the ordinary water with which they were filling the jars would turn into a fine wine which normally would take years to grow and mature. Again, we might be called to do ministry in the strangest of places or in the strangest ways – even what might appear a casual encounter with somebody which could change their lives through the will of God.

In March we will once again celebrate the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday in this church I believe – possibly with a good wine again (I hope!).  We will also be reminded in that service of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples – a task given in those days to the lowliest servant in a house. Jesus took on the form of a servant – as Paul reminds us in Philippians 2:6-7 – “Though he was God, [Jesus] did not think of equality with God as something to cling to.  Instead, he emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.”

Miracles do still happen and we often provide the hands and feet to make them occur – just as the servants at the wedding in Cana did all the hard work. I think that I can do no better than leave you with that wonderful prayer of Theresa of Avila which I have quoted on many occasions because it reminds us that as Christians we still have much work to do, so many jars still to fill :

Christ has no body but yours,

No hands, no feet on earth but yours,

Yours are the eyes with which He looks with Compassion on this world,

Yours are the feet with which He walks to do good,

Yours are the hands, with which He blesses all the world.

Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are His body.

 

Amen                                                                                                   MFB/197/18012024

SERMON 196 - SUNDAY 7 JANUARY 2024 - FEAST OF EPIPHANY

Sermon delivered at All Saints’ Church, Whiteparish – Sunday 7 January 2024 – Epiphany Sunday

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12

May I speak in the name of the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen

May I start this morning’s sermon by wishing you all a Very Happy New Year and I look forward to continuing to minister to you in this lovely church and parish for many years to come.  As we enter this New Year let us continue to pray for peace and prosperity not only in our own community and country but throughout the world.  Jesus came into the world to bring light to a dark world and to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom of God and so, as we enter 2024 let us, as his Christian Family do all we can to make that dream a reality.

I am particularly fond of this morning’s gospel passage introducing the wise men who came from the east following the “star” which would lead them to Bethlehem and the birthplace of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.  As an astronomer I have always been fixated on trying to discover what this strange, and obviously unusual celestial occurrence might be and also intrigued by trying to figure out who these “wise men” were and where they had come from.

We are told in our gospel passage – and here it is interesting to note that they only appear in Matthew’s Gospel – that they came from the east and that they clearly knew their night sky as they had observed something distinct and interesting.  There have been many theories as what it was that they saw – some historians and astronomers believe that it was a comet, others a triple conjunction of planets, others a nova or supernova.  For me, I think that it was probably an exceptional comet because it was seen to move through the sky and the Renaissance painter Giotto, in his Adoration of the Magi, depicts a large bright comet over the roof of the stable. Indeed, a spacecraft which visited Halley’s Comet in 1986 was named Giotto after the painter of this depiction.

But to what extent does it really matter?  We know that God is capable of all sorts of supernatural acts and if we astronomers cannot explain this phenomenon then why not be content to accept that it was something supernatural from God?

The other mystery, where did the wise men come from? might not be such a mystery and clues may be found back in the Old Testament and the Book of Daniel.

We know, pretty accurately from historical records that the Jews were exiled in Babylon between 597 BC and 538 BC.  During that time the cream of Jewish Society, the wise intelligentsia, were taken into captivity and integrated first with the Babylonians and later their Persian successors.  The Persians, especially, relied heavily on the Jewish administrators and advisors to assist them in ruling Babylon and other lands incorporated into their Empire, and it is these same Jews who, despite being subsumed into Persian culture and religions would have continued to study and remember their own heritage and religious upbringing.  They therefore, as the court advisers and astrologers, would know of the prophesies and would be looking out for the signs of the coming of God incarnate, the Messiah.  It is highly likely, therefore, that these “wise men from the east” were indeed descendants of those same captured Jews serving the Persian Empire and would indeed have come from the east with knowledge of the prophesies of the Old Testament.

They were clearly wealthy – bringing with them three of the most expensive commodities of their time – gold for kingship, frankincense for divinity and myrrh, the bitter perfume used in time of burial to represent sorrow and suffering.  The wise men, expecting the “star” to announce the birth of an earthly king, assumed that Jesus would be born in a palace – hence their trip first to Jerusalem to the palace of King Herod to be told that this wasn’t the place they were seeking. In our nativity scenes we place the Magi with the shepherds in the stable whereas in Matthew we are not told exactly where they ended up except that it seems to have been in a house rather than the stable of Luke’s gospel – and possibly sometime after his birth. 

We have given them names too – Balthasar from Arabia, Melchior from Persia and Gasper from India yet nowhere in the bible are they identified as such, nor are we told their number; so they still remain a mystery.  What is significant, however, is that they are identified as foreigners coming from the east and together with the shepherds they represent the outcasts of the Jewish faith – shepherds being poor and lowly – the butt of many Jewish jokes of the time - and the wise men, albeit rich and well educated, being foreigners, identified as gentiles. Yet, here we have these two groups being especially chosen – one set with a heavenly Angelic host and the other with an unusual astronomical phenomenon - to be the first to hear the good news of Christ’s coming.

It always gives me such comfort that the light – Jesus – came for the poor and outcast of the world.  “The word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” as John puts it at the beginning of his Gospel.  “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not overwhelm it; but the darkness does not understand it”

This leads me to say something about how this story has such a great significance and relevance to us today – some 2,000 years later. Psychologists will tell you that people will always flock to their own kind – a type of herding instinct; something which the journalist James O’Brien has termed “footballing” - taking the example of the tribal nature of football fans for the way in which we stick to our own group come what may.  The birth of Jesus tried to break that mould as did his ministry.  He came for all – rich and poor, homegrown and foreigner.  We seem, today, to live in a deeply divided and ungodly world.  Once more a very dark world with war and conflict now also in Europe once more. Our culture seems to be one of selfishness and self-centredness. Instead of being in a state of self-awareness we seem to be living in a world of self-righteousness and blame.

God gave us his only Son so that we might be saved and receive eternal life; that we might see the light and understand it – just as the wise men saw the star and understood that. That process began with his birth in Bethlehem, a town which is currently seeing the worst of inhumanity surrounding it as the Israeli-Arab conflict continues unabated.

So, in conclusion, in addition to prayer for the world and the darkness of war, conflict, famine, climate change and natural disasters is there an area of pain and darkness in your life or the life of your family and friends or community?  How can you ask God to bring his light within it to shine away the fear which that darkness brings?  How will you seek out that light – be it bright or dim in your life just now?

Let us pause for a moment and reflect upon this – PAUSE –

Let us pray

God of light, we thank you that you are present everywhere, even when we cannot see you. As the Wise Men saw the unusual light in night sky all those years ago and followed it to Jesus please shine your light into the difficult places of the world and our lives.

 

 

Amen                                                                                                   MFB/196/06012024

SERMON 195 - SUNDAY 25 DECEMBER 2023 - CHRISTMAS DAY

Sermon at St John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead -  Morning Worship on Christmas Day Church, Farley – Morning Worship  – Monday 25^th December 2023  (Inspired by a Daily Devotional by Susan Larson).

Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may the words which I speak be a blessing to all who hear them. Amen.

Are you all prepared for today’s celebration? Turkey in the oven, potatoes and brussels pealed, presents opened already or under the tree waiting to be unwrapped? Prosecco in the fridge chilling?  Do you know what films you will be watching after the King’s Speech or games you will be playing?

Christmas is a time of great joy, expectancy and celebration. Yet, all too often, we lose ourselves in the preparations and miss the sacredness of the season. Why does it matter? Because it’s this holiday on which we honour the birth of our Saviour. It’s this time of year when people are open to the things of God. And it’s precisely this season when Christians most often lose sight of what’s available to them in Christ Jesus.

We are people created in God’s image. We have access to his presence and his promises. So why all the strain and stress? Dare we ask ourselves what honestly matters most to us this Christmas?

God invites us to push away the clutter, turn down the noise and offer him the sacred space in our lives so that the King of Glory may enter, take up residence and radically change us from the inside out. We can race through our holiday season more stressed than blessed or we can slow down, ponder the reality of Christ within us, and respond to his miraculous work.

So why not step out of the hustle-bustle of the season. Find a quiet place during this busy time to rest and reflect. What comes to the surface for you? How have the disappointments and detours of this past year impacted you? Are you mad? Sad? Expectant and glad? Most of us tend to loosen our grip when we lose heart, yet this is precisely the time to lean in, engage our faith and dare to believe that our Saviour is also a healer.

The king of the universe is not a tyrannical leader. He’s the saviour of the world. Although we hear the Christmas story every year, again and again, it isn’t old news. It’s good news. It’s now news! Salvation isn’t just an addendum to the end of our life and Christmas isn’t just a quaint little story with shepherds and wise men coming to a stable in Bethlehem. When Jesus was born, God’s kingdom came to earth! so we ought to celebrate with joy. Give meaningful gifts to those you love. Enjoy a good party. But refuse to let the commercialism of Christmas quench the true spirit of this earth-shaking holiday season. Jesus came, and he’s coming again. Let us worship the king of glory, for he has done great things.

As we continue in our journey following Advent season, may we remember that we live in a world of overindulgence, over-commitment, premature multiplication and shortcuts. And shortcuts almost always lead to compromise. What if we did something otherworldly this season? What if we slowed our pace and reduced our intake? What if we took in the sights, the scents and decided to be fully present? What if we gave God time and space to speak to us about our needs, our hopes and his intentions toward us?

Giving gifts to the already rich is, well, fine. But offering gifts to those who cannot repay you is sacred. In the period between Christmas and New Year why not give generously and thoughtfully to someone who doesn’t expect a gift from you. Perhaps somebody who hasn’t been kind to you during the year? Surprise them with the goodness of God. Scripture reminds us that he’s good to everyone and by doing this you are really showing God’s grace in action.

When we set out to be a serious follower of Christ, we’ll often find a thousand excuses to tend to temporary things as though they’re the most important things in the world. But eternal rewards come from eternal priorities. We need to think higher, see deeper. Repeatedly, Jesus urged people to open their eyes and see the coming kingdom. See the story God is writing on the earth through us because of Jesus. Our current season is packed with eternal possibilities to do so.

We can and should change our focus, determine our pace, adjust our priorities and this could be our most life-giving Christmas yet. Whether we already walk intimately with Jesus or see him more like a distant relative, we can be assured that he’s very near and that he came to redeem every aspect of who we are. That was the greatest gift ever given at Christmas – the birth of Jesus Christ, God Incarnated, in that humble stable in the Holy Land.

 

Now that is really something to celebrate and reflect upon over these coming days.

Have a great day, enjoy being with family and friends over this holiday period, and yes do eat, drink and be merry in celebration but do use this time also to tell somebody about the true meaning of Christmas and the wonderful good news which is there for everyone and is the real reason for our celebrations.

A very Happy Christmas to you all.

Amen

MFB/195/23122023

 

 

Susie Larson (who inspired this sermon through a daily devotional piece written by her) is a bestselling author, speaker and host of Susie Larson Live. She is the author of more than 20 books and devotionals, and her Daily Blessings reach over half a million people each week on social media. She and her husband, Kevin, have three children, a growing bunch of grandchildren and a pit bull named Memphis.

SERMON 194 - SUNDAY 10 DECEMBER 2023 - ADVENT 2

Sermon at St John’s Parish Church, West Grimstead -  Morning Worship and at All Saints’ Church, Farley – Morning Worship  – Sunday 10^th December 2023  (An adaption and extension of Sermon 87)

Isaiah 40:1-11; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may the words which I speak be a blessing to all who hear them. Amen.

Well, today sees us only just over two weeks away from Christmas! 15 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 25^th December each and every year and the shops seem full of Christmas decorations and gifts as soon as the summer holidays are over. This year, in particular, it has come exceptionally fast for me because I have been celebrating a great landmark in my life – reaching the age of three score years and ten in late September – as well as reflecting on my past decades and ruminating on what I have achieved and what it is that God still has planned for me.

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 the 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. Mark, unlike the two other synoptic gospellers, Matthew and Luke, does not start his narrative with Jesus’s genealogy or a description of Jesus’s birth or any visit by wise men from the east – he starts with a description of the ministry of Jesus’s cousin, John – the itinerant preacher and baptiser living in the wilderness eating honey and locusts and proclaiming the coming of Jesus – the Messiah.  The character of John is therefore most significant to our New Testament stories and cannot be underestimated.  John’s ministry is such a pivotal point between the prophecies of the Old and the ministries of the New.  Isaiah clearly also talks about Jesus, elsewhere in his writings, when he writes “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 and Boaz.

Back in the days of Isaiah it was usual, when any king was proposing to make a state visit within his kingdom or indeed 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 we heard read in our first reading and which was later quoted by John the Baptist. Isaiah is clearly talking about the coming of a king but not a king as he and those to whom he was writing would know or expect him to be. 

John the Baptist, during his period of ministry, 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”. 

I began this sermon this morning by saying something about how time seems to fly and also even quicken as one gets older. When I was very young Christmas seemed to take an absolute age to arrive. As with most children I was impatient for Father Christmas (as we called Santa Claus back then) to arrive and deposit my toys in the anticipatory empty stocking.  Peter in our second reading talks about the timelessness of God – his time is not our time and our time is not his!  As Peter puts it: ”One day with the Lord is like a thousand years and a thousand years just like one day”. It reminds me a bit of being at a football match with 15 minutes to go and one team winning 1-0.  To the supporters of the team winning those 15 minutes seem like one and a half hours and to the team losing the same amount of times seems like one and a half minutes!

We, who are bound here on Earth, measure everything in terms of the hours it takes for our planet to revolve on its axis (day) and the time it takes to complete one orbit of the Sun (year); but I can tell you, from an astronomer’s point of view, time becomes incomprehensible the further away from our solar system we observe and study. Time and distance being so vast does not to fit in easily with our own earthly understanding. The same with spiritual time – God’s time.  Peter writes :

 “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed.”

Finally, Peter references the words of Paul when he says “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.”

I am sure that many of us make New Year’s Resolutions of hope.  I expect many Christians also 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, it’s 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 – something which I have reflected upon quite deeply this year as I reached 70 years of age. 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 tells 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 2024 and may God’s blessing be upon all of you this Christmas and New Year.

Amen

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