Click here for Astrid's video messageJohn 1:6-8; 19-28 Isaiah 61:1-4; 8-endThird Sunday in AdventTraditionally, the candles in the Advent wreath are in different colours: 3 purple candles, one pink and the one in the middle is gold or white. The purple reflects the colour of the season, the white or gold one is for Christmas, and the pink candle stands for a splash of colour in the midst of the darker purple. Traditionally also, pink is for the Third Sunday in Advent, or Gaudete or Rose Sunday, when the coming of Christ is announced by John the Baptist, who is his messenger and who sees him approach with joy.Although I don’t have the coloured candles which are in the churches, I light the third candle with the following prayer:Lord Jesus, light of the world, John told the people to prepare, for you were very near. As Christmas grows closer day by day, help us to be ready to welcome you now. Amen.The old dunes at one of my favourite beaches totally block the sea from view, so that, as you approach via the path that goes up the dunes and then down onto the beach, the view opens spectacularly at the top, and there it is: the sea! Even now, on one of my very occasional trips to the sea, there’s still a feeling of excitement and anticipation. Of course, previous experience has taught me that the sea is already there, but the sight and smell still comes as a bit of a surprise.‘In the beginning was the Word’. The opening sentence of John’s Gospel echoes the first words recorded in the Bible, in Genesis 1. And the effect is just as dramatic. A changing scene, a different view, a new world, is announced. And all because of God speaking the change into the situation. ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ In the opening sentence of Genesis 1, God equally spoke and it was so: light out of darkness, and living beings, and the loving statement that ‘everything was very good’.Words matter. A kindness said is a kindness done. (If that isn’t a proverb yet, it should be!) We all know the impact of words: an encouraging ‘You can do it’ or ‘I love you’, makes all the difference. It changes a situation and how we feel. Likewise, derogatory remarks and name-calling are extremely harmful, and have an effect. Words change things, both for the speaker and the hearer. So the opening verses of John 1 continue to describe the dramatic change that the new light of life, who was Jesus Christ, was making. It was true life that was the light of all people. And then there was John the Baptist, who came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe. There is such depth in the account that it’s hard to be succinct. But the gospel writer John does try, and like peeling away the layers of an onion, he reveals the truth that John the Baptist is proclaiming. John is saying in effect that the Word of God is challenging and changing the darkness – and now the darkness of human existence – once more. It’s God saying again: ‘Let there be light!’ And now, too, the darkness has to flee as the new creation is brought into being. Yet there is a problem: when God sends the Living Word into the world, the world doesn’t want to know. Even when God is sending the Word specifically to the chosen people of Israel, they don’t recognize him. This is the central problem of the message of Good News for the whole world: that Jesus is not welcomed into the lives of those to whom he is sent. Many people have become used to their darkness; in fact, they prefer it to the light of life that is freely given. But the opposite is also true: that those who do receive him, who believe in his name, have become children of God. Those who accept the Good News of Jesus are finding themselves embraced in the light and love of God, so that they will never need to know darkness ever more. Verses 1-2 and 18 begin and end this passage from John’s Gospel in showing us what it’s all about: ‘No one has ever seen God [but] it is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.’As we are approaching Christmas, the offer of God himself in Jesus is being renewed. Like the opening up of a new scene, the revelation of a new vista, the light is beginning to shine. We can see it over the hilltop, shimmering and brightening as we are getting near. And then: there it is! So how are you approaching Christmas and the revealing of God’s Son? And how do you respond?O people of God: return! You are called to be God’s own. From the mountains announce the good news. God comes in justice and peace, to all who follow his ways. You are God’s children.So, Lord, make us one in the peace of Christ today and for ever. Amen.
Click here for Astrid's video messageMark 1:1-8 Isaiah 40:1-11Second Sunday in AdventThe second candle of the Advent wreath is lit with a prayer that is inspired by the prophets:God our Father, you spoke to the prophets of old of a Saviour who would bring peace. You helped them to spread the joyful message of his coming kingdom.Help us, as we prepare to celebrate his birth, to share with those around us the good news of your power and love. We ask this through Jesus Christ, the light who is coming into the world. Amen.‘Comfort, O comfort my people, says your God.’ I can never read or hear these words from the prophet Isaiah without hearing them sung in my mind, according to Handel’s ‘Messiah’: the salvation story set to music in the eighteenth century. It is a fitting message of good news in dark times, and even now we are in need of comfort in more than one sense. The journey towards Christmas is a journey through the Bible, from one specific pointer to the next. That is why the focus of the four Advent Sundays moves from the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to the prophets, like Isaiah and others in the Old Testament, to John the Baptist, who is the herald of Jesus Christ, and finally to Mary, the God-bearer. In this sequence we are literally approaching the birth of Christ from way back in history to the beginning of the New Testament and the revealing of God’s Son. This Second Advent Sunday, then, we have reached the stage of the prophets, with Isaiah announcing a new epoch, when light is dawning. This time of year, when the days are getting shorter and shorter and the nights are longer, the rising of the sun is a welcome sight in the morning. We know that the night is over and that a new day is promised. It’s a bit like that with the prophets, and with the beginning of Mark’s Gospel.The style of the Gospel according to Mark has been described as full of action; moving swiftly from one event to the next. It’s like pulling or pushing a light switch in a dark room; or suddenly, the curtain is drawn back upon the sun that’s streaming in through the window. We’ll know the wonderful things that God is doing by the light that falls upon them, and they are different indeed from the state of darkness that went before. We find John the Baptist, the herald of good tidings, as mentioned in Isaiah 40, proclaiming a new way of living with reverence to God for his purpose for us. This baptism of repentance is all about ‘turning back’ and being renewed in obedience and trust. There is a new way of life that offers true peace to all who respond, and it’s all because God is stepping in, by sending His Son.‘Comfort, O comfort my people!’ says God. I remember running home as a child, with an injured knee, to my Mum, who would either dress the wound or kiss it better, so that I could go out again to play. Or one of my children being in tears about a failed project or a fall-out with a friend, would come in need of comfort too. We can think of other examples when we give or receive comfort to family and friends in difficult situations. However, our human comfort can never go as deeply as God’s comfort can. His comfort goes down to our deepest hurts and failures that are sometimes never seen by others but always known to God. Therefore, he alone will be able to dress those wounds, and he does that by stepping into our humanity, so that we can take part of his divinity.The service of Night Prayer or Compline has a specific prayer of penitence:‘ Most merciful God, we confess to you, before the whole company of heaven and one another, that we have sinned in thought, word and deed, and in what we have failed to do. Forgive us our sins, heal us by your Spirit, and raise us to new life in Christ.’ The present state of affairs in our world is not something that we can lay at anybody else’s door specifically. Also, it’s not as if we never do anything wrong. Owning up to our own involvement in other people’s hurt or even our own failings, is the beginning of healing. God in fact invites us, calls us, urges us to come running to him to be comforted. He will inspect and dress the wound, and kiss it better in Jesus, so that we can move on. He will feed his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead the mother sheep. Comfort, O comfort my people! Amen.
Click here for Astrid's video messageMark 13:24-end Isaiah 64:1-9Advent SundayThe lighting of the first candle of the Advent wreath is accompanied by a special prayer:God of Abraham and Sarah, and all the patriarchs of old, you are our Father too.Your love is revealed to us in Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of David.Help us in preparing to celebrate his birth, to make our hearts ready for your Holy Spirit to make his home among us. We ask this through Jesus Christ, the light who is coming into the world. Amen.What are you waiting for? The word ‘advent’ comes from the Latin ‘adventus’, meaning ‘arrival’ or ‘coming’. The Advent that we are looking for in December is primarily the first coming of Jesus as a baby, born in a stable. But as we look back, we are also reminded of his second coming, as King, in all his glory.So, what are we waiting for, now, at the present time, in our present day situation? Sometimes it feels to me that most of December gets caught up in a busyness that hasn’t got anything to do with Christ. Or, rather, it doesn’t seem to be about the precious gift of God’s Son, but more about the trimmings of the festival: the tinsel and the turkey. A well-known Advent hymn is ‘Come, thou long-expected Jesus’. This year, it may be that for most it’ll be an unexpected Christmas, a Christmas that’s more subdued, even, in terms of shopping and inviting family and friends, and church services. In a sense, the unexpectedness of this year’s Christmas could be more in line with the Biblical version. After all, when Jesus arrived into the world, he was not expected as he was, and when he set out on his mission, he overturned and surpassed most people’s expectations as to what he would do and be. The Pharisees saw Jesus’ mission as subversive and did their best to get rid of him. The poor, the blind and the lame, on the other hand, saw Jesus as their only hope. Those he met were always changed and challenged – many were transformed unexpectedly by the experience. And yet, as people and as a nation we seem to have succumbed to despair and fear of the unexpected, often thinking that it’s better not to expect anything, so as not to be disappointed. How sad! How contrary to God’s word of hope for us, in Jesus. For he is the living Word, sent to set us free in every respect, and to change our lives from darkness to light, as different as day is from night.So, what are you waiting for? Jesus says: ‘But in those days, after that suffering, 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.’ Quoting from some of the prophets. And he continues to describe the arrival of the Son of Man ‘in clouds, with great power and glory.’ These words are a great encouragement, I think, for all of us in the present time, telling us that there is hope. Not just hope for the short term, for some sort of acceptable Christmas, or even more of a ‘normal’ life in the New Year, but hope for a radiant future that helps humanity to flourish as God has intended: with grace, and peace, with love and joy.What are you waiting for? For that day to arrive? For when all our troubles are over? For an easier life ‘some day’? Why not rather live now, in hope and trust – knowing that Jesus is both here and will come again. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit in the meantime, to help us cope. So why not put our trust in God now? Let us seek to serve without failing, while it is still daytime. It was Martin Luther King, who said: ‘If Christ should come tomorrow, I’d plant a tree today.’So, what are you waiting for?Let us pray:With love and compassion, come, Lord Jesus.With judgement and mercy, come, Lord Jesus.In power and glory, come, Lord Jesus.In wisdom and truth, come, Lord Jesus.Amen.
Click here for Astrid's video messageMatthew 25:31-end Ephesians 1:15-endChrist the KingThe feast of Christ the King falls on the last Sunday in the Church’s calendar year; Advent Sunday being the beginning. We can see why: Advent heralds the Saviour’s birth, while at the same time keeping an eye out for the Lord’s second coming which is anticipated towards the end of time. ‘Christ the King’, then, looks ahead to the final climax in history, when we are to see Christ seated on the throne. Over the centuries, there have been images made of Jesus in a position of authority, like the Christus Pantocrator, or Almighty or all-powerful. (There’s a Youtube link to explain this image at the end of this text.) Usually placed high up in church buildings which helps to remind us of Christ’s ultimate rule. Whatever else has happened or is happening in our lives and in the world, there will be a moment when justice shall reign, and God is the one who makes it come about.Justice is a theme that is deeply rooted in faith, and it is linked to Jesus, as the passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians explains: ‘God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.’It is a central theme in our faith that our passionate longing for justice comes from God himself, who is our creator. No matter how well we ourselves try to bring justice about, even at an international level, with the International Court of Justice in The Hague which was instituted just over 100 years ago, God will do justice on a world-wide scale, larger than all of our own systems put together. It is part of the biblical image of the Son of Man.The way Jesus describes it in his final discourse in Matthew’s gospel, is with another image: that of a scene in which Jesus, vindicated after his suffering, is put in the place of ultimate and fair ruler, who ‘separates the sheep from the goats’. The separation of the sheep and the goats at the end of the day is a picture that is still seen in the Middle East today: the goats have thinner coats than the sheep, and need more shelter, but as they are looking very similar, only their shepherd can tell them apart. The most likely interpretation of this scene is that those who haven’t followed Jesus as Messiah will be subject to an examination about the way they have treated Christians. As before, Jesus is speaking primarily to the religious leaders of the day, reminding them of God’s law for his people and which they had misinterpreted according to an inflated self-esteem and disrespect for others, as Jesus has pointed out several times.What an encouragement this message would have been for those followers of Jesus who in the course of time were going to be abused, tortured and even killed for their faith. The hope of salvation and future justice, coming from Jesus’ own lips, would have been like balm for their souls.We also, in our own present day situation, may be encouraged, knowing that there will be a final day in which those who suffer for the sake of righteousness will be vindicated and share in the glory of Christ. In the meantime, we are encouraged by his kingship, as God’s kingdom is both here and not yet; it is present and it’s on its way.As we are approaching the end of a year, we are also looking forward to a new beginning. Thinking of Jesus, whose birth was humble, yet changed the world, let us think of that carol: ‘Angels, from the reams of glory’, which has a final verse that sums up our longing for peace and justice in the truth of God’s love:Saints before the altar bending,Watching long in hope and fear,Suddenly the Lord, descending,In His temple shall appear.So, Come and worship, Christ, the new-born and everlasting King.Amen. Video explaining Christus Pantocrator - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gfMbRRFc30k
