First Sunday of Advent 07; 2nd December 2007; Revd. Julia Boothby

9.30am Tewin
11.15am St. Michael’s


The first Sunday of Advent is here and our thoughts begin to turn increasingly towards Christmas, only 22 shopping days left! Everywhere we turn we are bombarded with advertisements for what we need to buy from decorations, to food, to presents…even to a new sofa…which seems to me to be a very strange thing to be advertising for Christmas! Still, the commercial world must have its day and so the advertising slogans tell us that this Christmas must be the best ever, that we will, if we buy x,y,or z fulfil the wishes and hopes of those we love.

I wonder what you are hoping for this Christmas. Maybe it is a new book or a bottle of perfume or perhaps a new golf club, or even a play station 3. Maybe you are hoping for a quiet, peaceful time…or a time full of family and friends. I am sure that we all have hopes of some kind and it is that theme that I want to pick up today as we begin our Advent season.

Advent marks the beginning of the Church year and we are encouraged to use Advent as a time to anticipate and prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ as a baby into the world. There is, it seems to me, that for those who spirits are receptive, a magic and mystery about the Incarnation that the consumer world cannot destroy or remove from the heart of the season. Advent is a time when we reflect and ponder the wonder of Immanuel, God with us.

But, Advent is also a time when we are encouraged to prepare and anticipate the coming of Christ in glory at the end of time. In our churches we change to the colour of purple for Advent. Purple is a colour with many meanings. In Roman times it was the colour used for the emperor’s robes and was an indicator of high rank and power. But, it is also the last colour in the rainbow, symbolizing the ending of the known and the beginning of the unknown. We are to use this time to think about what lies beyond this world, to ponder what the bible has to say about the last things. Themes of death, judgement, heaven and hell are traditional themes in many Churches.

Of course, these are themes that the world will not be encouraging us to think about. There are no commercial tactics that I know of, to help us ponder these bigger, and for many, depressing questions. In fact, as a general rule the world avoids them at all costs. If I happen to see an advert for life insurance I am frequently infuriated by the fact that it will avoid mentioning death at all costs. “When you are no longer here” seems to be the stock phrase that is used. But are I, are you really any different? How easy do we find it to talk about death and judgement? And, perhaps if we are honest, do we really want to focus on those questions during Advent? Would we all not rather focus on the birth of Christ, rather than on his coming again as judge of all the earth?

Yet, having said that, is there not something truly beautiful about that reading that we had from Isaiah that paints a picture of what life will be like when the kingdom of God comes to earth.
“The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established…and all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples will come and say ‘Come let us go up to the mountain of the Lord…..that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths….he shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks, nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more…”

Isn’t that a wonderful picture? Imagine if you will soldiers sitting beating their swords into tools with which to till the earth. Imagine everyone learning of God’s ways and walking in his light, a kingdom of peace and joy. Is this not what we really hope for? Putting aside our little Christmas wishes and hopes, if we lift up our eyes and extend our vision, is this not what we all hope for. A place where the news is not of war and oppression, of terrorism and hatred, of murder and the destroying of innocent lives but of Peace, a kingdom where nations live in harmony. A kingdom of justice and where each man, woman and child is valued and has all that they need. More over a place where justice and righteousness rule, a place where tears and mourning and weeping are no more and where the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. Is this not the kingdom that we pray for each time we say ‘your kingdom come’ in the Lord’s Prayer?

But if this is the kingdom that we long for and hope for, then we have to take into account what that will mean. It will mean judgement and death, heaven and hell. Without these things there can be no kingdom of justice and peace. I know it is seriously unfashionable to talk about hell. There was a time when preachers were expected to speak regularly and warningly about hell fire and damnation. A wonderful story is told of one preacher who got so carried away on the subject that he waved his arms and jumped up and down in the pulpit. A little girl who was watching turned to her mother nervously and said; “Whatever will he do mummy if he gets out?”

Well, those days have gone but that does not mean that we should ignore the subject. Look at the words of our Gospel reading today. Jesus warns his listeners that when the day of the Lord comes one will be taken and one left and he goes on to tell the parable of the sheep and the goats to show how God will judge us all. These are hard things for us to take and understand, hard for us to accept. Yet, God’s kingdom cannot come without those things. If it is to be all that the Bible says then there has to be a means of getting rid of all the evil and darkness that is in the world…and that will happen on the day of judgement. God who is the only truly righteous and just one will judge each and every one of us. St. Paul told us in our reading today to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light that is our Saviour Jesus Christ.

As we go through Advent it seems to me that we cannot truly prepare and anticipate the birth of our Saviour, without also looking forward to why he came. Christ came as a helpless babe to share our humanity and our weakness. At Christmas time we rejoice in the love that brought our God to earth. But, he came with a purpose….he came to redeem us so that on the day of judgement we may stand clothed in his righteousness, washed in his blood and enter into the kingdom of light and life. For me this is summed up beautifully in one of my favourite carol; ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’

“Yet, in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light,
The hopes and fears of all the world are met in thee tonight.”

Christ calls us to bring our hopes and fears to him this Advent. He calls us to wonder again as the light of God enters into this dark world. Christ came to bring in God’s kingdom here on earth. For now it is in the hearts and lives of those who follow him. One day all the world will see and know God as King and judge and his kingdom will then come in all its fullness. As we journey through Advent may we take time to consider what all of this means for us. Let us gaze, not in worry and stress on the list of things to be done, the presents to buy and the food to prepare. Let us gaze at the king who comes as a baby and will come again in glory, and as we gaze may we know the cry of the ages;

“Maranatha, come Lord Jesus come”……. Come to my heart, cast out my sin and help me to live and work for your kingdom.