readings: Isaiah 2: 1-5, Ps 122, Matthew 24: 36-44
In the
words of the old Curtis Mayfield song:
‘People
get ready, there's a train a’comin'
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
You don't need no ticket you just thank the lord.’
You don't need no baggage, you just get on board
All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin'
You don't need no ticket you just thank the lord.’
If
last week was the ‘end’,
this
week is the beginning:
The
church year has come full circle and we start again with the season of Advent.
The
word ‘advent’ means ‘the coming, or arrival, of something extremely important’
–
And,
for the church,
that
important something is a someone –
Jesus.
The
Advent season is a time of preparation and expectation as we ready ourselves
once more to remember familiar stories:
of
mothers and mangers,
shepherds
and stars
and
wandering, wondering wise men from the east.
They’re
all there – in the near distance –
but
before we recall those stories and remember Christ’s birth in Bethlehem
we
have several weeks ahead of us to wait and to watch
and as
we do so, to prepare...
...as
the song says: ‘people get ready’.
Our
three bible texts this morning could each be summed up in three words:
Reconciliation
Restoration
Readiness...
And
these help us to sum up ways in which we
might use this season of Advent to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ.
The
prophet Isaiah talks of peace:
of
weapons of war being reforged and reshaped –
into ploughshares
and pruning hooks:
weapons
turned from gathering in a harvest of blood,
transformed
into tools used
to
gather in a harvest sustaining life.
The
text tells us of disputes being settled and of a kingdom where there will be no
more war...
The
kingdom described here is a kingdom of peace
And,
as we look ahead to a few week’s time,
We
understand that this kingdom of peace is brought in by Jesus, our prince of
peace
who
reconciles us to God and to one another;
Who
calls us his brothers and sisters – his friends.
So
then, we’re called to be a community of peace – and as we prepare for Christ’s
coming,
we
symbolise reconciliation,
being
at peace with God and one another,
in the
bread and in the wine that we’ll share together shortly.
In the
peaceful, peaceable kingdom, free from the ravages of and distractions of war,
restoration can happen –
The
psalmist talks of Jerusalem as a city restored, in beautiful order and harmony
–
this
theme of creating orderliness out of chaos, would be something that the
reformer, John Calvin would pick up on:
for
him, orderliness was next to godliness –
and
you can hear his influence in the oft-used phrase in the Kirk of ‘doing things
decently, and in good order’.
But
back to the psalmist!
With
restoration comes the chance to flourish and prosper –
to
bring about new life because there’s the peace and the safety to do so.
As we
prepare for Christ’s coming,
we
remember and act upon the knowledge that we are called to be a community of
restoration –
creating
places of sanctuary and safety
building
up and encouraging ourselves and our neighbours
enabling,
nurturing and nourishing –
and
again,
that symbol of nourishing and
restoring found at the table of the Lord,
as
we ourselves are nourished and restored
in Christ.
And
what of readiness?
Our
reading from Matthew paints a picture of the end of all time, when Christ will
come again:
And
here, almost in the best tradition of Dr Who, time seems to be a strange blend
of past, present, and future weaving back and forth together:
At the
moment we’re looking ahead to the coming of Christ – the babe in the manger
And
yet, our gospel reading also reminds us that we are also to look ahead to that
final coming of Christ...
Time
here is both about beginnings and
endings.
Of
Alpha and Omega
Of judgement
and grace
and of
the time when God, in Christ, will make all things new.
And
this reading is less about trying to instil fear into us,
and
much more about hope –
it
reminds us that although we may not know the day or hour –
although
we don’t have any control over time,
the
God of all time is in control
and in
that knowledge, we can breathe easy, relax, and wait in hopeful, joyful
readiness.
And while
the passage is full of the signs of the end, we’re not called to sit and count
the days and hours
nor
are we called to nervously jump at shadows:
we’re asked to trust –
we’re asked to trust –
and
echoing the words of the Serenity Prayer,
to
accept the things we cannot change.
What I
find interesting here in the text is that Jesus himself seems to imply that
even he does not know the day or the hour...
If
Jesus can trust and accept and be hopeful, that’s our cue – all our hope is
founded on God.
As we
prepare for Christ’s coming
we are
called to be a community of readiness:
and in
that preparation, we are minded that the one who acts in the fulfilling of all
history is also present now –
we are
Christ’s hands and feet, his body here on earth
we are
to keep awake to the signs of things to come
but
also to the needs of others now.
One
day, Jesus may appear suddenly and unexpectedly
but
before that, he may appear in the queue at the food bank, or sleeping rough, as
someone needing clothed, as someone sick or in prison.
The
bread and the wine reminds us of time – this now and not yet in which we must
be ready
in
which we all come, as beggars to the table with our hopes and our needs.
Shortly,
as the community of God’s people here in this place and at this time, we will
look back and recall an upper room:
a meal
shared with friends
of
taking and breaking
and
blessing and sharing:
a meal
of kinship –
of
reconciliation and peace
of
restoration and nourishment
of
readiness, and of the now and not yet...
A meal
that has continued to take place for over
2 000
years
wherever
the friends of Jesus have gathered
or are
gathered
or
indeed, will gather.
The
meal we will share is a reminder of cost:
of
life lost;
it is
a reminder too, of promise:
of new
life for all.
In story and bread
and in wine we remember what God in Christ has done for humanity...
and in looking
back,
in actively remembering
through eating and drinking,
we are nourished
and strengthened so that we are able to walk – walk in the light that the Lord
gives us
and to prepare for
his coming this Christmas, and at the end of all time.
People
get ready, there's a train to Jordan
Picking up passengers coast to coast
Faith is the key, open the doors and board them
There's hope for all among those loved the most.
Picking up passengers coast to coast
Faith is the key, open the doors and board them
There's hope for all among those loved the most.
Amen.
[David Bartlett’s essay was most
helpful with regard to providing some structure to the sermon around the notion
of community – although we pondered differing communities! As well, his thoughts on God and time gave me
good food for thought and the occasional borrowed sentence. See that great resource, Feasting on the Word, YrA, Vol. 1 pp20-25
And going into vaguely reflective practice mode: it mostly works but I realise that I've got bogged down in the 3rd part regarding 'readiness'- that it's not as sharp/ succinct as it could be. Which is generally an indicator of not having quite finished working through it in my own mind. Ah well, the tyranny of time...but the knowledge that it'll be worked through as I preach it anyway!]
