Fourth Sunday of Advent Luke 1:39-55 Micah 5:2-5aMary. You can’t get any closer to Christmas and the birth of her son, Jesus. It was a strange encounter, nine months earlier, when the Angel Gabriel announced his birth to Mary, an unknown virgin from a town in Galilee, and said that the child she was to bear would be God’s own Son, the Messiah, the promised Saviour of the world. Not just a bit unusual; totally different! When I am trying to imagine how she must have felt and what she might have thought in the days, weeks, months that followed, I know that I fail to comprehend completely what it must have been like for her. Society at the time did not look favourably on unmarried mothers; she risked even her life! But we can be sure here: God knew what he was doing and the man that Mary was engaged to be married to was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly. Also, as we learn from Matthew’s Gospel, he was told in a dream to still take Mary as his wife, for the child that she carried was from the Holy Spirit. Mary might have tried to explain to him what was happening to her but it was so inexplicable that Joseph needed the reassurance of God himself. I find it helpful to know that God speaks to people in various ways, possibly the way they can deal with best.And so we find Mary in today’s passage from Luke’s Gospel when she visits her relative Elizabeth, who is expecting a child herself, even though she had been ‘too old’, and beyond the age of childbearing. When Mary enters the house with a greeting, Elizabeth feels her own child leap in her womb for joy. And Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, it says, exclaims with a loud cry: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’ Mary stayed with her about three months, possibly witnessing the birth of Elizabeth’s son John, before returning to her home. As we know from the rest of the story, she and Joseph go to Bethlehem, in order to be registered there.Later still, after the birth of Jesus, when the Wise Men from the East are looking for him to pay him homage, the words from the prophet Micah are recalled with the reference to Bethlehem as the place where he is from. As we can deduct from all this, Mary travelled quite a bit, not even stopping in Bethlehem, but fleeing into Egypt, again inspired by a dream to Joseph, in order to preserve the life of baby Jesus from the hatred of king Herod. Mary. We consider her to be special, yet she was such an ordinary girl, with ordinary hopes of her future: to be a carpenter’s wife, to raise an ordinary family perhaps, not God’s own Son! Whatever her hopes and dreams of her future might have been before the angel Gabriel announced her unusual pregnancy, she is ready to give them all up and commit to God’s plan and bear his Son, as her response indicates. But even more so, she goes to see Elizabeth and share with her the joy of God’s work in and through her. Her words in the Magnificat – Latin for the first word of Mary’s song – praise God for this and encourage people to this day. They are about hope and God’s holiness, his help and his care for the vulnerable. Mary was willing to be an instrument in God’s plan of grace and as Jesus’ mother was closest to him on earth. We can learn from her and we can be encouraged by her story that God’s love is able to reach into the most obscure and insignificant by the world’s standards, to reshape our future and offer us hope. The hope of Jesus, Son of God and son of Mary. Amen.
Third Sunday of Advent Luke 3:7-18 Zephaniah 3:14-endThe third Sunday of Advent is also called Gaudete Sunday – ‘gaudete’ being Latin for ‘rejoice’. The theme of the day expresses the joy of anticipation at the approach of Christmas. There is a shift in focus: from ‘The Lord is coming’ to ‘The Lord is near’. The day’s theme is marked by an altogether lighter mood and the readings focus on rejoicing in the Lord and the mission of John the Baptist; one step closer to Christmas. The traditional colour is pink, so many Advent wreaths have one pink candle among the purple season of Advent, to mark the joy of the good news. The prophet Zephaniah, in the passage for today, calls out to the people to rejoice: ‘Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!’ There’s no holding back, it seems, in this proclamation that the liberation that the people have been longing for is near. In the season of Advent, we have been approaching this moment, first from a long way back, with the Patriarchs – beginning with Abraham – and then the Prophets, now focussing on John, the herald of the Messiah. We can now almost touch him, as it were, as he is so close to being revealed. Yes, in today’s reading from Luke, Jesus is to arrive on the scene shortly as an adult, not as a baby. But that’s not the point. The point is, that he is the Saviour whom the world needed to come and set us free from the power of sin and death and to give us hope for the future. Even if we may feel that it’s all wrong chronologically, for God that is no problem; he is not restricted like that, as time belongs to him. So at this moment in Advent, we are reminded of the journey towards meeting Jesus Christ, and how the story of his mission begins. I have used the image of a pair of binoculars before, to illustrate how we are seeing closer what was first far off and blurred, now coming into focus: the birth of Jesus that we are celebrating at Christmas. In this day and age, it may be a dark time; what with some upsetting events in the world, we may be wondering how his arrival – as we are looking forward to the celebration of his birth – may make a difference. How can we see hope and peace in a world that is so broken? Among all the clutter and noise of today’s state of affairs in the world, we may have lost the sense of hearing the still, small voice of God, revealed in a new-born baby. He is Emmanuel, God with us, offering peace in our hearts and restoration of our relationship with God and our neighbours. What about our longing for the healing of past hurts and failures? If we are feeling weary with the weight of today’s demands, God is saying, with this little baby, that he knows and cares and wants to carry us through. If we wish for change in God’s direction, if we want to have real peace, then we may pick up on the invitation to listen, and hear, to watch and see. He is on his way. God, in Jesus, is coming to be with us. So let us rejoice! Amen.
Second Sunday of Advent Luke 3:1-6 Malachi 3:1-4Today our focus is the prophets. We may remember the so-called Major Prophets, like Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, but the other prophets, like Malachi, should not be overlooked. The latter offer a complementary perspective of what God is telling his people. What about the role of the prophet? Prophets speak as they are led by God. Although they might speak of the dramatic intervention of God in historical events in all periods, their messages were more common in the time after an exile. Perhaps that has something to do with the condition of the people who needed intervention and transformation of their conditions. Some of the prophecies are about the end time but others are of more immediate concern or possibly both. In Malachi we find words about God’s reliability – with a call to repentance and returning to God. Its final words about Elijah as messenger are interpreted in the Gospels and in Christian tradition they foreshadow Jesus as the Messiah, the Christ. In today’s passage from chapter 3, Malachi announces ‘the messenger of the covenant – he is coming, says the Lord of hosts’. Then it continues with a promise of ‘sorting out the situation’, as it were. I find verse 6 very interesting: ‘I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished.’ In other words, God is reliable; he can always be counted on to welcome his people back. It is his steadfastness that has saved them. Like in chapter 4, verse 2: ‘But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.’ Today, when we are reminded of the prophets in an ancient world, telling the story of the new age that is to come with announcements of the Saviour, we do so against the backdrop of the present time, with lots of disasters and rumblings of them. That may make us wonder about the message for today. In Luke’s Gospel, we hear another announcement, echoing one from the book of the prophet Isaiah: ‘The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.’ John the Baptist quoting from the prophet Isaiah, as he proclaims a baptism of repentance. The Gospel writer, Luke, sets the events in historical context, with the names of the rulers of the day, under the Roman Emperor. The nation was oppressed, under foreign rule. Resistance movements had been crushed and people were struggling. What they did have, however, was the prophecies of the past, promising a time of renewal and hope. Those clinging to that hope, didn’t really know what it would look like, but John’s ministry at the Jordan made them interested. It had echoes of the Exodus, the famous moment when God led his people out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land. How could they now escape their new slavery – their oppression – and which the old prophets had declared was the result of Israel’s sin, worshipping idols rather than their true God. The baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins that John was proclaiming, was a way to escape their condition. As the prophets had said, the people had to ‘return to God with heart and soul’ which is what ‘repentance’ means: to turn around. John was preparing the way for the Lord, according to the prophet Isaiah, in the act of restoring the people to God. Just like the words of the prophet Malachi. God was going to act, in a totally new way, for the deliverance of the people, including the rest of the world, as all of humanity was in peril. We know what happened later: Jesus was born and performed his ministry of healing and reconciliation, culminating by his ‘enthronement’ on the cross and his resurrection. We are now in between that moment and Jesus’ return in glory. We have been given the hope of rebirth in Jesus through faith, and also the hope of God’s action in the future. His kingdom is here and not yet. We are living within the tension of holding on to the promise in the future, because we have already received it in the past. The season of Advent reminds us of that. And so we wait and we watch, for God to act in the next phase of his rescue plan. Advent is the time of watching and waiting for the Lord God to be with his people. The prophets had proclaimed the preparing of the way for the Lord. But, as with any journey, it begins with the first step. God has made his. So how are we going to respond? May we do so with faith and a new understanding of his love for us; a love that is never changing, even if undeserved. Amen.
Advent Sunday Luke 21:25-36 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13The Kingdom of God is near. That was the message that we heard in previous weeks, when we were moving towards the end of the liturgical year that has just finished. We go in cycles – not circles! – each year, beginning with Advent, when we are looking at how it all began, and ending with Christ the King, when we celebrate Christ on the throne. His work, that he came to perform as the living Word, the Way, the Truth and the Life, is finished. The liturgical years of the Church are reminding us each time of the particular cycle of our salvation history. His story, it has been said, God’s story in his redemption of the world. We don’t repeat everything each year, but we focus on the most important parts of the story, so that we may remember and not forget, and celebrate with joy what God has done for us. So now it is Advent Sunday, the beginning of a new year in the story of God with us.Advent is a season of expectation and preparation, as the Church looks forward to celebrating the coming (adventus) of Christ as a human being, and also to the final moment when he comes again as judge at the end of time. That is why the readings and liturgies not only point towards Jesus’ birth, but also spur us on to look further ahead to that final moment of his return. When we light the candles of the Advent Wreath, we are reminded of who went before us to proclaim the arrival of the Saviour; a different focus each week. Today we are reminded of the Patriarchs: Abraham, our father in faith, and David, the ancestor in whose city Jesus was born. Reflecting on where we find the roots of our faith is part of the process that Advent takes us through.The theme of today’s Gospel reading from Luke is the signs of the time. Jesus talks about the ‘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’. Metaphors from the natural world, are used to describe the changes that are to take place and that announce the arrival of Christ ‘in the cloud’. The question is how we prepare. If we didn’t already know that Christmas is coming, we’re sure to be reminded by TV commercials and decorations in the shops. So the trimmings of the festival are well-established. It’s fun, too, or it can be if we’re not too busy, to prepare for a celebration, to make the house look nice and anticipate special food and company. In the churches, the carol services will soon be under way. But, with all of that, where is Jesus? If we’re celebrating his birthday, while at the same time anticipating his return in glory and power, where is our guest of honour at the table? There are traditions that keep a seat for him, and make a physical point of reference to his presence. It’s just to say that he is included and the reason for the season in the first place.In a parable, Jesus tells us to be alert to the changes that are to come as signs of the new season: the fig trees and all the trees that sprout leaves to say that summer is getting near. ‘So, when you see these things,’ he says, ‘you know that your redemption is near’. He also reassures us: ‘Truly I tell you, this generation [this humanity] will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.'The present world is full of ‘rumblings’ in all kinds of trouble, near and far. We are told to ‘be alert and to pray’, to hold on to God’s Word become flesh and to trust in the good outcome as Jesus has promised. Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians points out that giving thanks has a positive effect. Thanking God for all his works, in all circumstances, all the time, helps build up trust, patience and kindness in our hearts. Whenever we see the signs of change and become fearful, let us be reminded of the peace of Christ and rest in it. As Paul says: ‘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.’ So, this season of Advent, may you see him in the build up towards Christmas, prepare him room, with thanks, and rejoice. Amen.
