Sermon preached at St. Alban’s, Spirit Lake, on December 3, 2006
(Year C, First Sunday of Advent, BCP Lectionary)
by the Rev. Carl D. Mann

Texts:   Zechariah 14:4-9
1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
Luke 21:25-31
Psalm 50 or 50:1-6

I have to confess something to you that didn’t come up during the interview last spring before you called me to be your priest. I would have come clean had I been asked but surprisingly the question did not come up. It may have made a difference in your choice but it’s too late now and we will all just have to deal with it. It’s the kind of thing that can split a Church in two but I firmly believe that we can work through this if you’ll just hear me out.

When it comes to this time of year, I am somewhat of a Grinch. Yes, it’s true! As soon as the turkey and stuffing are put away, and that first Christmas song is heard on the radio or over the store loudspeaker, and that first string of lights goes up in the neighborhood, and the political ads on TV change to ads for the latest gizmos that we just have to have, my hackles stand up on end and don’t usually recede until later in the afternoon on Christmas Day.

Now it’s not that I don’t want Christmas to happen. I’m not a total Grinch. It’s just that I want Christmas to happen when it’s supposed to happen! Contrary to the secular world’s view, Christmas does not begin the day after Thanksgiving, or the day after Halloween or the 5th of July. I kid you not; it wasn’t too many years ago that I delivered an entire truckload of artificial Christmas trees to a retail store in early July! Christmas begins on the 25th of December. I’ll even allow that it may begin on the 24th but only if one is attending the church of their choice. The period of time that begins shortly after Thanksgiving or more specifically, on the Sunday after St. Andrews’ Day, is the Christian season of Advent.

Advent means ‘coming’ or ‘arrival’ and is a season of preparation. Now the secular world’s understanding of this idea of preparation is getting all the gizmos neatly packaged and placed under the tree. And if you are a man, that means that twenty-four hour period beginning on the 24th and culminating in an unwrapping frenzy just seconds after you have put the scissors and tape away. And the secular world’s understanding of arrival is reflected in the lyrics of cute songs about a certain portly but jolly old elf coming to town or possibly even a trip over the river and through the woods to Grandma’s house. But that’s not what Advent is about. It’s about the preparation for and the coming of Jesus Christ!

Thanks for letting me get that out of my system. I feel cleansed. But now we have the problem of today’s Gospel. Most people think that Advent is about the coming of the Christ child. A cold cloudless night full of stars and one particularly bright star hovering over a stable in Bethlehem, where shepherds meet and angels sing. If this is so, what in the world is all of this talk about astronomical signs, and nations confused by hurricanes and tsunamis, and people fainting in fear and foreboding over global warming, and the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Which is it? Is it the tiny baby in swaddling clothes or the King of Glory? Is it a manger for a crib or a fiery throne? Is it the celebration of the birth of Jesus or the coming of Christ, the Messiah, the Lord of all creation who will judge both the living and dead?

Remember last week’s sermon? In Advent we prepare ourselves as we anticipate the celebration of another anniversary of the Incarnation, that amazing point in history where God intervened in His own creation to take on the flesh of humans in order to dwell among us, to live as one of us, to die for us, so that we might be reconciled to Him. And not only did He become one of us, He came in the lowliest form of us, a mere babe, born of a human mother, under very humble conditions.

But in Advent we also prepare ourselves as we anticipate the second coming of Christ when He will manifest himself in all of His heavenly majesty and glory as King and Lord over all creation. God will once again intervene in His own creation and it will be the end of the world as we know it. Not the destruction of the world but the end as we know it. When man disobeyed in the garden and fell from grace, the world became fallen, too. Just as man began the process towards death, so too did the world begin to decay and die. When Christ comes again, the world’s headlong rush toward destruction will be interrupted. And rather than receding into nothingness, the world will be made new. And just as we have been redeemed and will be restored to that which God intended for us, the world will be redeemed and will be restored to that which God intended for it. As the prophet Zechariah says today, “Living waters will flow out from Jerusalem. And the LORD will be king over all the earth; [and] on that day the LORD and His name will be one.

As Christians, Advent signifies our spiritual journey as we proclaim that Christ has come, that He is present in the world as we know it, and that He will come again in power and great glory!

You see, we live between the times. It is the convergence of the past and the future. We reflect upon and celebrate “God’s inbreaking into history in the incarnation,” and we prepare in anticipation of “a future consummation to that history for which ‘all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption.’”

As Christians, this is not something of which to be afraid. Yes, it is something to approach in holy fear; that state of reverential awe where we can neither withdraw nor move forward but we are not to be afraid. Why? Because Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel message to stand up and raise our heads for this is that event for which we have been waiting in anticipation. Why? Because by virtue of our baptisms the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, strengthens us to take on the responsibility to love the Lord our God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. Why? Because our redemption is drawing near; the process of our salvation is near completion.

Later on in the service we will hear what were known as the comfortable words when I was a boy growing up in the Church. These are scripture verses that are read immediately after we have been absolved from our sins and before the Peace of the Lord descends upon us. As you hear these comfortable words, one particular verse should stand out. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, to the end that all that believe in him should not perish, but have eternal life. These comfortable words describe how much God loves us. I would ask you to think about that when the rush and the hubbub of the secular season of Christmas becomes too much and attempts to turn you into a Grinch.

So to answer the earlier question of which is it; it is both. Advent is the celebration of when Christ was born to interrupt the destruction of mankind and the world. And it is the preparation for the time when He will come again to complete the restoration which began with his initial arrival. It is the time in between these two comings where we have the opportunity to be blessed by God, to grow into our faith, and to grow into maturity that will allow us to appreciate how very much God loves us.

Stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

Gloria Patri.