Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent, December 3, 2023
Isaiah 64:1-9+Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18+1 Corinthians 1:3-9+Mark 13:24-37
If you arrived here this morning expecting warm words of expectation, of Christmas coming, and lightness and joy, let me introduce you to what is known as Mark's Little Apocalypse with its signs and portents of the end times.
...in those days, the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. (Mark 13:24-25)
Even Isaiah gets into the act:
O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,
so that the mountains would quake at your presence--
as when fire kindles brushwood
and the fire causes water to boil--
to make your name known to your adversaries,
so that the nations might tremble at your presence! (Isaiah 64:1-2)
Given the readings we have just heard, it should come as no surprise if I tell you that from the late Middle Ages, the themes for the four Sundays of Advent are the Four Last Things, or last four stages of the soul in life and the afterlife: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. That means we get to start with death today.
Or not.
For the past several weeks, our readings have been about getting ready, preparing ourselves, whether for a wedding banquet or a master's return or the separation of the sheep from the goats. In some parts of the Church, Advent is not four but seven weeks for this very reason. The lectionary readings talk an awful lot about the end times and the coming Day of the Lord for several weeks before we hear about the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary.
But, you say, what about getting ready for the birth of Jesus and holly and mistletoe and all that?
Well, that part needs to wait for just a bit.
Because that is not all that we are waiting for.
Every week during the Eucharist, we "proclaim the mystery of our faith" by saying together "Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again" (BCP 363). It's that last part that has not yet been fulfilled. We know that Jesus was born and lived and died and was resurrected from the dead and ascended into heaven. It is part of our Creed and has been a central tenet of Christian belief almost since the beginning.
That "Christ will come again" part is what we wait for, what we long for if indeed we long for all of creation to be restored to unity with God.
The constant drumbeat of preparing ourselves as we have heard over the past few weeks can cause unbearable anxiety. If we have to be on constant alert, if we live in fear that we will be left behind when those stars begin to fall, we will either drive ourselves to an early grave because of the stress of it all or we will project it outward in anger and judgment of those we believe are not preparing themselves very well. Gays, women in leadership, single mothers, you name it. Some folks will couch their own fear in self-justifying misinterpretations of scripture in order to make themselves feel better-prepared for some fictional rapture they expect to be part of.
So, what are we to do? If being hyper-vigilant will give us high blood pressure and projecting it outward will serve no one very charitably, how do we prepare? How do we make sure that we are ready for Christ to return?
I don't actually think we need to worry about it too much if we are doing those things we know how to do as followers of Jesus. We come to worship, hear God's word, receive the sacraments, go into the world in loving service, spend time in prayer and study, and create a rhythm in our life that is Christ-centered. If we have our minds fixed on loving God and loving our neighbor, we really don't have to worry about anything else.
I came across a sermon by the recently retired Dean of Southwark Cathedral in London reflecting on the Four Last Things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. The Very Rev. Andrew Nunn wrote:
So I was glad to read something written by the 19th century Danish Philosopher, Søren Kierkegaard. He said,
‘If others go to hell, then I will too. But I do not believe that; on the contrary I believe that all will be saved, myself with them – something which arouses my deepest amazement.’
As we stand at the advent of eternity that is something for me to hold on to. Heaven, hell, death and judgement, there is real truth in all of them but there is even greater and more fundamental truth in what we will be preparing for over these last days that lead us up to Christmas.
In a stable in a small town in way off Palestine a young woman will give birth to a baby. And she and her husband will name him Jesus, just as the angel had told them to, because he will save his people from their sins.
That is the truth come from above as we glimpse eternity in God’s gift of God’s self, heaven is open, hell is destroyed, death is defeated and judgement becomes the consuming fire of love.[1]
My friends, as you go about your Christmas preparations, remember to continue in those things that tune your heart to God and God's boundless love for you, a love made real in the person of Jesus who promised to be with us always. God give you the grace to spend time in contemplation of the gifts we have received as our hearts prepare him room so that, as Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, "you are not lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord" (1 Corinthians 1:7-9).
This is why we don't have to fret or be anxious: God is already making us ready.
Dean Nunn ended his sermon with a prayer, and here, I will do the same using his words:
God of our eternity, God of our now,
bring us to heaven
save us from hell
carry us through death
forgive us in judgement
and all for your love’s sake.
Amen.
[1] https://southwarklivinggod.wordpress.com/2019/12/22/the-four-last-things/