Last week we saw the beginning of the Advent Season; the start of preparing the way for the Birth of Christ and even though we are in difficult times and things may be down scaled then last year, there’s little doubt about what most of us will be doing in the next four week – the Christmas rush to get everything organised, cards written, gifts bought and sent, the preparation of food, plans about whose turn it is to go visiting, and anxieties about who’ll be offended if we don’t pay them enough attention…. The rush is on, and it’s not surprising that there’s often a hint of panic in people’s conversations – I’ll never be ready!”
In three weeks it’ll all be over, in four a new year will have brought us another set of resolutions, in five the decorations will have come down, the furniture of life will be back in place, and we will be back to – what? Will life be just the same, or will we be changed? If we take Advent seriously, I hope we WILL be changed, because we shall have had the opportunity to reflect again on what it means to say that God came into the world in the humility of the birth at Bethlehem, and that he still comes into the world in all its mess and pain and joy, longing for us to recognise him.
Advent is a godsend, a gift which stops us in our tracks, and makes us realise that we hold dual citizenship (of this world and of the kingdom) and we hold them in awkward tension. We are part of the scene – Christians sometimes appear to be rather superior about what we call commercialisation, and say that the real Christmas isn’t about that. But the real Christmas is about precisely that: it’s about God coming into the real world, not to a sanitised stable as we portray it in the carols and on Christmas Cards, but to a world that needed, and still needs, mucking out. Advent reminds us that the kingdom has other themes to add to the celebration, themes that are there in the Scripture readings for the season: Repent, be ready, keep awake, live in the light, He comes.
Advent reminds us that not only do we live in two worlds, the one that appears to be going mad all around us, and the one that lives by the kingdom of God’s values, but that we operate in two different time scales, in chronological time, and beyond it. And the point of intersection is NOW. Passages of Scripture read during Advent, and the Prayer Book Collect for Advent which is often used, remind us that NOW is the time when we have to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. NOW is when we meet God, because we have no other time.
Repent. It is not a word we use much nowadays, but there are few words that better express the message at the heart of the Gospel. To become a Christian is not just about accepting a truth or confessing our faith in Christ. Nor is it simply an acknowledgement of wrongdoing and seeking forgiveness. It is about a change of direction, a reorientation of life, pursuing a different course. The essence of the Gospel is that we need to turn from our old way to the way of Christ. For some that change, initially at least, may be more marked than others, their past life-style standing in stark contrast to their new-found faith, whereas those who have been brought up within the circle of the Church may find the outward change needed so negligible it is almost impossible to see.
Repentance, though, is not a one-off thing – if only it were! We go on making mistakes every day of our life, inadvertently going astray with monotonous regularity. Before we know it, we are on the wrong road again; in all likelihood heading back the way we have come, like a game of snakes and ladders, up the ladder, down the snake, hence the need to repent yet once more. The word may be archaic but the meaning is not. Whoever we are, whatever we have done, however many times we may have done so before, it is never too late to change course.
John the Baptist was telling people to prepare the way for the Lord when he spotted the Pharisees and the Sadducees and he called them a brood of vipers. Why? Their coming to be Baptised was just more of the same – one more religious observance for an already observant people. John knew the hardness of their hearts. John knew they could not repent because they didn’t believe there was anything wrong with them. John knew they couldn’t repent because they were quite happy with themselves just as they were. John knew they could not repent because they had no intention of changing, and John was not about to Baptised people who didn’t really believe that they needed to change. Maybe we don’t think we need to change, maybe there is nothing in us that we need to repent of, Ok, are we bearing fruit? Jesus is not going to work in our lives if we don’t think we need him in it. If we just play lip service about Jesus and His coming and about repentance, then he will not take us seriously. Just as John pointed out to the Pharisees and Sadducees when he called them a brood of vipers, we too can have the finger pointed at us when we pay lip service or our motivation is not in keeping with the kingdom values. John in so many words said to the Pharisees and Sadducees recognise your need for repentance and forgiveness, change the direction of your lives and when you have shown me that you are serious about repentance I will begin to take you seriously.
In the Romans reading, it shows us how we should be to one another, the strong must bear the weak and help them grow, and that takes love and patience. If we live to please ourselves, we will not follow the example of Christ who lived to please the Father and help others. God saved the Jews so that they might reach the Gentiles and lead them in praising the Lord. God has saved us so that we might win others. In order to do this we need to prepare for Jesus, we need to cobwebs swept and the dust removed so that Jesus can be in the nooks and crannies of our hearts to illuminate us so that others will see His likeness in us.
At whatever level we operate, Advent is a time for preparation. And what ever else we have to do, there are only so many PRAYING and REPENTING days to Christmas. It is prayer that gives us the opportunity to focus our recognition of God in every part of our lives. Prayer is not just what we do in what we call our prayer time. Prayer is how we give our relationship with God a chance to grow and develop and, just like any other relationship, it needs time. We don’t stop being related when we are not with the person concerned. We don’t stop being a wife, husband, child, parent or friend when that person is out of sight, or when we are concentrating on something else, But we become less of a related person if we never give them time.
So, Advent says, make time, pray and repent and create a space so that our understanding of God’s love for us, and our love for God in response can grow. The world is saying, ‘Get on with it – don’t wait for Christmas to hold the celebrations.’ Advent says. ‘Wait, be still, alert and expectant, light your candles and live by the light.’
Some people find it helpful to have a focal point for their stillness; perhaps a lit candle. Any candle will do, but there are candles with the days marked on them, so that we don’t have any excuses for not remembering. And using a candle like this reminds us that before there were clocks people used candles to measure time. Christmas is bound up with time as well as eternity. We’re celebrating God becoming involved in our world in Jesus, and God invites us to make time for him.
The shopping days will come to an end – there will come a moment when we really can’t do any more. But the point of the praying/repenting days is that we get into the habit of remembering God who comes to us every day, and longs for us to respond with our love and service. Amen.
Questions:
What have you given up on? (Not “What are you giving up?”)
What are you looking forward to?
What are you about? (If I asked this question to three men hauling wheelbarrows. One might say “Can’t you see I’m hauling rocks?!” The second: “I’m earning food for my wife and children.” The third: “I’m building a cathedral.”) What are you about?
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