Sermon delivered on Advent 3B, Sunday, December 17, 2017 at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH.
We’ve tried and tried, but Father Bowser just cannot get the hang of writing so there is no written text for today’s sermon. To listen to its audio podcast, click here.
Lectionary texts: Isaiah 61.1-4, 8-11; Psalm 126; 1 Thessalonians 5.16-24; John 1.6-8, 19-28.
Thus, we have Christians in two parts of the world calculating Jesus’ birth on the basis that his death and conception took place on the same day (March 25 or April 6) and coming up with two close but different results (December 25 and January 6).
Connecting Jesus’ conception and death in this way will certainly seem odd to modern readers, but it reflects ancient and medieval understandings of the whole of salvation being bound up together. One of the most poignant expressions of this belief is found in Christian art. In numerous paintings of the angel’s Annunciation to Mary—the moment of Jesus’ conception—the baby Jesus is shown gliding down from heaven on or with a small cross (see photo above of detail from Master Bertram’s Annunciation scene); a visual reminder that the conception brings the promise of salvation through Jesus’ death.
The notion that creation and redemption should occur at the same time of year is also reflected in ancient Jewish tradition, recorded in the Talmud. The Babylonian Talmud preserves a dispute between two early-second-century C.E. rabbis who share this view, but disagree on the date: Rabbi Eliezer states: “In Nisan the world was created; in Nisan the Patriarchs were born; on Passover Isaac was born … and in Nisan they [our ancestors] will be redeemed in time to come.” (The other rabbi, Joshua, dates these same events to the following month, Tishri.)14 Thus, the dates of Christmas and Epiphany may well have resulted from Christian theological reflection on such chronologies: Jesus would have been conceived on the same date he died, and born nine months later.15
In the end we are left with a question: How did December 25 become Christmas? We cannot be entirely sure. Elements of the festival that developed from the fourth century until modern times may well derive from pagan traditions. Yet the actual date might really derive more from Judaism—from Jesus’ death at Passover, and from the rabbinic notion that great things might be expected, again and again, at the same time of the year—than from paganism. Then again, in this notion of cycles and the return of God’s redemption, we may perhaps also be touching upon something that the pagan Romans who celebrated Sol Invictus, and many other peoples since, would have understood and claimed for their own, too.
Sermon delivered on Advent 2B, Sunday, December 10, 2017, at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH.
If you prefer to listen to the audio podcast of today’s sermon, click here.
Lectionary texts: Isaiah 40.1-11; Psalm 85.1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3.8-15a; Mark 1.1-8.
Prepare the way of the Lord make straight His paths in the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit Amen.
Advent is a season of expectation and preparation, as the church prepares to celebrate the coming (adventus) of christ in his incarnation, and also looks ahead to his final advent as judge at the end of time. We note that the readings and liturgies not only directs us towards christ’s birth, they also challenge the modern reluctance to confront the theme of divine judgement.
Last week Fr. Kevin reminded us that the four last things – Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell- have been traditional themes for Advent meditation.
Advent means “coming.” I don’t need to tell good Anglicans that. This is a season of waiting, of expectation, for Christ’s coming on Christmas Day. So with the whole church, we wait: lighting candles, singing coming of the Lord songs, counting down each Sunday until, with Christmas joy, we celebrate God’s incarnation. Waiting, faithfully, for Christ’s coming at Christmas.
But there’s another side to Christ’s coming, one that, generally speaking, us mainline Christians get a bit nervous to discuss. This reason gives some of us hope to get out of bed each morning, and for others, it’s the farthest thing from our minds, a scary and strange idea that we just rather not consider.
Advent means “coming” in another way: Christ’s “second coming.” Christ’s return. Today’s lection is all about Christ’s coming again, Peter calls it “The day of the Lord” , but that day isn’t December 25th at all. It’s that other day, the timing of it is rather fuzzy, after all “with the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” but it’s that day, that second-coming-day, about which Peter is concerned.
I’ve heard a story told about one New Testament scholar who every day would wake up, stretch, and walk to the window of his bedroom and open the blinds. Then he’d pray the same prayer every morning. Short, succinct, longing. Every morning he’d pray: “Is it today Lord? Is it today?”
These are not new questions, they are the questions Peter’s community were struggling with when he wrote 2 Peter. It was then several generations after Jesus’ death, and the people were met with the hard truth: Jesus had not yet returned.
Their opponents said the delay was proof that he would not come. The doubters cemented their stances against the Christ-followers. And, like you and I might be, Peter’s community was worried. They found themselves asking, “Is he ever going to get here?”
Waiting is hard. Anyone who has checked the mail anxiously expecting an admissions letter or very important mail knows that waiting is hard. Anyone who has kept vigil beside a hospital bed, crying and worried, holding a loved-one’s hand knows that waiting is hard.
Peter gets it too, waiting is hard. Perhaps he was persecuted for his beliefs like other Christians of his day. Perhaps he had struggles along the way, but he knows his Bible and echoes Amos and Joel and Isaiah: “The day of the Lord will come.”
The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness” Peter writes, “but is patient with you, not wanting any one of you to perish, but all to come to repentance.”
Peter writes But the day of the Lord will come, like a thief in the night . And then he says the heavens will pass away with a bang, and the elements will be dissolved by fire, and all that is done on the earth will be disclosed. One translation puts it: “Then the earth and everything on it will be seen for what they are.”
Advent is a time of grace to remind us that Jesus is the reason for the season. We heard the beginning of today’s Gospel reminding us of the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled in John the Baptist, Behold, I am sending my messenger ahead of you; he will prepare your way. A voice of one crying out in the desert: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ (Mark 1:2-3) The season of Advent therefore being the time of waiting and anticipating Christ’s coming is like John the Baptist now, crying out to us to prepare. ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ (Mark 1:3) The Church longs for the Second Coming of Jesus because it will be Christ’s victory over all evil and Christ’s triumph in the world.
In the Eucharistic Acclamations we profess our faith in Jesus’ Second Coming: Great is the mystery of faith:
Christ has died Christ is risen Christ will come again
When we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim your death, Lord Jesus, until you come in glory.
In the Creed which we profess every Sunday too we also proclaim: “He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.”
Advent every year encourages us to reflect on the Second Coming of Jesus and to long for it because then Christ will triumph and all evil will be destroyed and God’s plans will finally be accomplished. As I said earlier like the church of Peter’s day we have been waiting two thousand years for Jesus’ Second Coming but Peter reminds us that for God that is only like a day because time for us is very different to time in eternity, “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day” (2 Pet 3:8) This time of waiting for Jesus to come again, this Advent of two thousand years already, is a time of grace for us so that we can prepare our hearts and do what we can to bring about God’s kingdom. As I pointed earlier Peter reminds us that this extended time, this long Advent, before Jesus comes again has been given to us because God is patient, “not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Pet 3:9) If this is the case what is to be our attitude as we wait? The gospel says prepare the way. Peter advices us to be “conducting ourselves in holiness and devotion, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (2 Pet 3:11-12) And the reading concluded, Therefore, beloved, while you are waiting for these things, strive, in other words be eager, to be found by him at peace, without spot or blemish (2 Pet 3:14)
My Brothers and sisters in Christ, during this Advent let us prepare our hearts for Christ by turning away from sin and evil and giving ourselves completely to God so that when Christ comes, or when we are called from this life, we are ready and prepared.
‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight his paths.’ (Mark 1:3)
In the name of God the father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit Amen.
Sermon delivered on Advent Sunday B, December 3, 2017 at St. Augustine’s Anglican Church, Westerville, OH. What better time to consider your present and future but now?
If you prefer to listen to the audio podcast of today’s sermon, usually somewhat different from the text below, click here.
Lectionary texts: Isaiah 64.1-9; Psalm 80.1-8, 18-20; 1 Corinthians 1.3-9; Mark 13.24-37.
In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Happy new year, St. Augustine’s! Today is Advent Sunday. We begin a new calendar year for the Church, a new lectionary cycle, and have lighted the first purple candle on our wreath that represents the patriarchs. Advent comes from the Latin word, adventus (parousia in Greek), and means coming or arrival. Advent is a season of expectation and preparation in which the Church prepares to celebrate the coming (adventus) of Christ in his incarnation and also looks forward to his final advent as judge at the end of history. Advent is not part of the Christmas season but rather a preparation for it. It is an appropriate time for us to reflect on the Four Last Things—Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. While none of us really want to talk about these things, talk about them we must because they remind us of the reality of our standing before God and no amount of denial or discomfort on our part is going to change that fact. Better for us to think clearly and soberly about the human condition and our relationship with Almighty God than to whistle through the graveyard hoping everything will turn out all right in the end.
Before we talk about God’s judgment, it is critical that we place it in the overarching story of Scripture so that we understand God’s judgment in its proper context. Recall that Scripture contains the story of how God is putting to rights all that is wrong with his good creation. God created everything good and created humans in God’s own image to be wise stewards of God’s good world. But human sin and the evil it unleashed thoroughly corrupted God’s world and us. We are hopelessly enslaved by the outside and hostile power of Sin and the forces behind it, unable to fix ourselves. Don’t believe me? How many of you are still keeping those new year’s resolutions you made back in January? How many of you are still trying to break those sins in your life you know you need to break but you keep on doing them regularly? Me too. So God’s judgment is an integral part of God righting what is wrong with God’s world and us.
The first thing then we need to observe about God’s judgment is that there is a positive dimension to it. God’s judgment is always wrapped in God’s love for his creation and creatures. If we do not understand this critical dynamic, we will never understand why God judges in the first place. God judges all in God’s world that corrupts and dehumanizes us, which is what Sin does to us as God’s image-bearers. If God really loves us, how can God not judge that within us and outside us that afflicts us and diminishes us as his image-bearers? What loving parent would stand by idly and watch evil afflict his or her child? We all understand this instinctively. That is why there is always a yearning in Scripture for God’s justice, even with its accompanying judgment. We see it in our OT lesson where the prophet yearns for God to rend the invisible veil that separates heaven and earth, God’s dimension and humans’ dimension respectively, to defeat God’s enemies who afflict God’s people. Likewise the psalmist yearns for God to intervene on behalf of God’s people to break the power of their enemies over them. Behind such a yearning, of course, is the recognition of God’s great love for and faithfulness to his people.
And we too have this yearning as we look at the world we live in with its increasing madness. It’s not necessarily that the world is more evil than before. It’s just that now we have the means to learn about the depths of human depravity almost as it happens. When we read horror stories about mass murders or racism or exploitation or addiction or the increasing scandal of sexual abuse and harassment among the famous and powerful, we know in our bones that something must be done about it. We know, for example, that murderers and drug dealers must receive justice because of the lives they ruin or destroy. But even if they do receive human justice, their victims are still lost. Those who loved them still grieve their death. Human justice will not and cannot restore the dead to life. Likewise for those who have lost loved ones to truly evil diseases like cancer or Alzheimer’s that ravage body and mind before destroying the victim. If God truly loves us, God must judge both the Evil and the evildoer as part of God’s restorative and healing justice. Otherwise Evil will always corrupt and destroy God’s good world and God’s image-bearers. How can a loving God allow that to continue?
And while we are all for God’s fierce judgment being pronounced on the bad guys, especially those we despise most, we are much less enthusiastic about God’s judgment when we find ourselves standing in God’s dock. When we hear the NT writers like Paul remind us that we all must stand before the judgment seat of Christ [to] receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body (2 Corinthians 5.10) it strikes fear in our hearts. We remember all the wrong we have done and we are mindful of God’s terrible wrath on all that is evil for the reasons we’ve just discussed. We, along with the psalmist, ask, “Who can stand before God when once God’s anger is roused? From the heavens God uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still” (Psalm 76.7-8). Think, for example, what fear Fathers Bowser, Sang, and Gatwood must feel when contemplating standing before Christ’s judgment seat and having to answer for all the mediocre sermons they preach. Or see Bishop Ames tremble as he realizes that he must answer for ordaining a loser like me to the priesthood. It is a fearsome picture.
On a more serious note, Scripture tells us we will all have to answer for the evil we have committed in our lives, great and small. As St. Paul makes clear in our epistle lesson, one day our Lord Jesus will appear again to judge once and for all the Evil that corrupts God’s good world and God’s image-bearing creatures as well as those who commit that evil. This is a very sobering thought, especially when we remember what St. Paul says about human sin in Romans 3.10-12. Echoing Psalm 13, the apostle reminds us that, “No one is righteous—not even one. No one is truly wise; no one [seeks] God. All have turned away; all have become useless. No one does good, not a single one” (NLT). It is here that we must stop and remind ourselves where judgment fits into the overall story of Scripture. This is God putting to rights all that is wrong in God’s world, us included. No wonder we hear the call to abandon our evil ways and turn to God. i.e., to repent.
But many of us, hearing the call to repent, lose heart and hope because we know how thoroughly enslaved we are to the power of Sin. We say we love God but we keep on committing the same sins. We say we believe the Good News of Jesus Christ but then set out to pull ourselves up by our own bootstraps so that we will be right with God when we stand before Christ’s judgment seat. So we resolve to read the Bible more, to pray more, to be nicer to the people we really don’t like, to come to worship more regularly. More self-help. That’s the ticket we tell ourselves. It must be. After all, the bookstores are full of self-help books. We can do it if we only try harder. Right. This is not believing the the Good News, my beloved. It is another form of self-worship and indicative of our inherent hostility and rebellion toward God. We don’t trust God to deal with the problem of human sin and God’s judgment upon it and those who commit it. We want to trust ourselves. But to trust ourselves is utter foolishness and folly because we are defeated before we ever get started. We are that thoroughly infected by Sin.
But if we really do understand and believe the Good News of Jesus Christ, we have nothing to fear. We hear Isaiah remind us in our OT lesson that God is our Father with all that is good about a father’s heart. To be sure we all must stand before Christ’s judgment seat. But we who put our hope and trust in Christ will hear the verdict of not guilty as St. Paul states boldly in our epistle lesson. Part of repentance, therefore, is learning to trust in the love and faithfulness of God the Father to do as God promises. Listen to St. Paul again:
You have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says, and he has invited you into partnership with his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord (1 Corinthians 3.7-9, NLT).
Did you catch that? As people of God gathered here as St. Augustine’s, despite our brokenness, despite our ongoing short-sightedness, sin, and folly, we as God’s people collectively don’t lack any needed spiritual gift to help us be God’s true image-bearing creatures. Why? Because we are empowered by God’s Holy Spirit to overcome our sin and folly. To be sure this is quite a long and messy process. But as St. Paul reminds us, it’s a done deal because it’s not about us. It’s about what God has done, is doing, and will do for us in Christ. As Christians, we will be held accountable for our good deeds and bad. But we will hear the verdict of not guilty pronounced on us. Why? Because of what God has done for us on the cross. If you want to know what God’s justice looks like, a justice wrapped in God’s love, look no further than Calvary. There you will see God’s only begotten and beloved Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, dying a criminal’s death in utter humiliation for our sake. As we’ve seen, God’s wrath must and will be poured out on Evil and evildoers. But God became human to die for us and take on his own terrible and just punishment for our sins so that we do not have to bear it. Are we worthy of such love and grace? Of course not. But again, it’s not about us. It is about God’s great love and perfect justice for us.
We are astonished by this and cry out that it’s just too good to be true. Well yes it is. That’s why we call it the gospel or Good News of Jesus Christ. God’s love for us is greater than our sin and hostility toward God. We deserve none of it but it is offered to us freely anyway. God offers it to us because this is how God has decided to put to rights all that is wrong in this world. On the cross of Jesus Christ, God has condemned our sin in the flesh and defeated the power of Evil. As we have seen, evil has not been fully vanquished. That remains for when Christ returns. But God has done what needed to be done to reconcile us to himself, even while we were still God’s enemies, and God has defeated the power of death by raising Jesus from the dead. All who are Christ’s will share in that new life. Then God’s restorative justice will be fully revealed. Evil will be annihilated, death will be no more, and God’s redeemed and fully healed people will be raised from the dead to assume their rightful roles as God’s wise and loving stewards over God’s new creation, the new heavens and earth. Amen?
This is why Advent is so important, my beloved. It gives us a time to reflect intentionally the midst of holiday madness on who God is and what God has promised to do for us. It is a time for us to get our house in order with the help of the Holy Spirit so that we act like we really do believe the Good News of Jesus Christ. God’s judgment reminds us that God is not indifferent to the suffering and injustice in God’s world and our lives. God hates all evil and will restore fully his good creation and image-bearers. So we watch and wait, firmly resolved to give our lives to the One who loves us and and gave himself for us so that we could have life. This is the Good News of Advent that we are to proclaim and live out as we await the return of Jesus our Lord and Savior. May we all grow in grace to really and truly believe the Good News, to take what God has done for us on the cross seriously and not just pay it lip service as we await his kingdom to come in full. To him be honor, praise, and glory forever and ever.
In the name of God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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