Sermon for the 1st of December - First Sunday of Advent

Lectionary Readings for the First Sunday of Advent 2024

Jeremiah 33: 14-16
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfil the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called:
‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

1 Thessalonians 3: 9-13
How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith. Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.

Luke 21: 25-36
‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in a cloud” with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.’

Then he told them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.

Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’

Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent

 The passage from Luke today is about the signs of the times. How do we read the signs of the times?

How did the first Christians? How do we now?

 How human it is to want to have a sign! To know ahead of time what is going to happen, for better or for worse. Human beings have always wanted signs.

Tell us now, so that we can know what to expect!

 Augury was a Greek and Roman practice of observing the behaviour of birds for an omen. When an augur interpreted a sign from the birds, it was called taking the auspices. The auspices from the gods could be favourable or unfavourable (auspicious or inauspicious). For the Romans, factors to consider were the singing of birds and the flight patterns of birds: for example, the high flight of birds was an auspicious omen; low flight, not. There were other intricacies, other rules. Another type of an auspice was the interpretation of the eating patterns of chickens, generally used on military expeditions. When the time came, the chicken-keeper released the chickens and threw them bread. If the chickens refused to come out, or uttered a cry, or beat their wings, or flew away, the signs were considered inauspicious. If, on the other hand, a chicken left its cage to eat, and then, moreover, a piece of bread fell from its mouth and landed on the ground, this was considered auspicious. The chickens were often starved so that later the result would be in accordance with the wishes of interested parties. Sometimes augurs who had a political interest at stake would create unfavourable auspices in order to delay certain state functions, such as elections. It was a fallible practice.

 The attempt to interpret the signs of the times is an old, old practice: every age has tried.

 I remember when the year 2000, not really so long ago, was a cause of some foreboding.. the fear was that when clocks struck midnight on January 1, 2000,

computer systems, not programmed with the necessary zeros, would fail to operate and cause massive power outages, transportation systems to shut down, banks to close. Widespread chaos would ensue............ Some people were preparing for the end of

the world.

 And now, many events in our world, to some, seem to say that we are on the verge of catastrophe: our radically changed environment causing fires, floods, and famine; terrible wars with no solution and no end in Ukraine, Sudan, the Middle East; the disquieting rise of autocracy and virulent populism in Europe and the United States. Surely these are signs of the end time as the Gospels speak of it?

When Luke wrote his Gospel, he looked back at the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in 70 A.D. as a prophecy fulfilled. But Luke foresaw an even greater catastrophe: the crisis which Jesus and his message, Jesus coming as the Son of Man, was going to bring to all who live on the face of the whole earth---a judgement all- encompassing, the end of all that we know. Just as Jerusalem met its fate, so will all who dwell upon the face of the earth, at Jesus's second coming.

 Prophecy fulfilled, and unfulfilled.

Churchmen through the ages have tried to forestall calculations of the end. They took to heart the verse:

 But of that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven,

nor the Son, but the Father alone.

 The early church father Augustine said:

To calculate the time of the end of this world or the advent of God seems to me nothing less than wanting to know something

that God intended not to reveal to anyone.

 So we are not to waste time endlessly calculating the end-time. We are to continue to wait.

We wait for God's ultimate consummation of the life of this world, heralded by Jesus's second coming, spoken of in Scripture.

 In this season of Advent we are especially conscious of waiting.

It is a season, a waiting time, filled with the consciousness of both joy and judgement, and these are in tension.

Advent is a season of preparation,

as we wait for both the celebration of Jesus's birth at Christmas and the return of Christ at His Second Coming.

 How do we prepare for the birth with joy and the second coming without fear?

 The earliest Christians were exhorted to vigilance, perseverance, prayer at all times. Not in fearful anticipation of some final reckoning, but with conscious joy.

And so are we.

 All may seem dark. Too much has gone wrong.

 But what Christians have that others do not have is an active, living hope.

We wait not in fear but, held fast in the love of God, in faith that all shall be well in the longer, larger view God has of both time and the world.

 This past weekend, twenty-four of us from St. George's and St. John's travelled to Launde Abbey, in Leicestershire, to spend time together in prayer and study. We had carefully prepared to go there together, to think about, together, what this season of Advent means. We talked about what it means to wait in Advent.

 The most important aspect of all the time we spent there was that we were together. We shared our experiences, our thoughts, our questions. With one another.

 The church of Christ is a living, active body. We exist to wait together.

To love, support, encourage, and simply be, together. And as we actively wait, we actively give what we have---this faith, hope, and love---to others whom we meet along the way.

 As another of the readings for today, from Thessalonians, says:

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, and may He strengthen your hearts in holiness.

 Our redemption is indeed drawing near. Be of good cheer, the Lord is near!

Amen.