Sermon Notes – Advent 1 – Dec 3rd

What is the first indicator for you that Christmas is on its way?

Was it last week…when you started making the Christmas pudding? Or December 1^st when you opened the first window on your Advent Calendar? Maybe it’s when the Christmas films start appearing on Netflix, the obscure ones that nobody has heard of appear first and then the classics arrive the nearer we get to Christmas. Is it when you hear a certain song playing on the radio or in a shop? Or perhaps when you sing an advent carol. Is it when you see your neighbours put their Christmas lights up? Maybe when you see turkeys being advertised?

What is it that makes you stop and realise that Christmas is coming?

For me, it’s the Christmas adverts. The week they come out, usually early November, and they do mostly release them all at once, I sit down and watch them all on YouTube judging which ones I like, which ones are good marketing and which ones should never have been made. It’s sad I know…but it brings me joy. For me it’s the build up to the build-up.  Advent is my favourite time of year and this means that Advent is on the way.

And then, one by one, you see houses with Christmas lights going up. I walk my dog at night in the dark so it is really noticeable, every day there are more and more lights. I can feel that sense of excitement, the sense of anticipation growing. Slowly we move from darkness to lights.

Light shining in darkness, to me, encapsulates the picture of hope. Advent is a time of hope.

We wait, we hope for the return of Jesus. It’s something we don’t talk about much at any other point, it tends to get forgotten about as the year goes on. Advent is our reminder that we’re not just waiting to celebrate the birth of Jesus but we are also waiting for him to return.

Amidst suffering, the sun will go dark, the world will go dark, stars will start falling from the sky around us, there will be earthquakes. There will be fear…and chaos. And then…look up and see Jesus coming through the clouds along with his angels, see him in all his power and glory. Then he will send out the angels across the whole world to gather his people in.

Sound scary? When I was a teenager in a church youth group, we had to watch the Left Behind series. I don’t recommend it. There’s nothing like trying to scare people into the Kingdom of God. I can’t remember the details but I do remember how terrified I was. I remember that in the programmes the elect were unblemished and the others, the children of Satan, were marked on their wrists and were trying to hide it. I also remember that the vicar had this mark on his wrist with the clear message to us all that you could look holy but still not be good enough. It was, quite frankly, terrifying. It’s what happens if you take Bible verses out of context of the bigger picture.

Today we have the picture of Jesus return, his coming on the cloud with all his power and angels, it’s possibly a scary idea but it’s not meant to be. Read on and you find the more gentle image of hope. The fig tree just sprouting leaves, summer is near, Jesus’ return is a good thing, something to look forward to, not to fear. We are children of God and by his grace we have already been forgiven, we just need to keep accepting that forgiveness.

Paul writes in his letter to the Corinthians, “You are not lacking in any gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ. He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you may be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into partnership of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

We are children of God, in relationship with him through Jesus Christ.

We wait for the return of Jesus not in fear, but in anticipation.

And we need to be ready, because we don’t know when it will happen.

I’m always reminded of the episode of the Vicar of Dibley where Alice asks Geraldine about when to expect him as her mother was worried it would be an inconvenient time. You wouldn’t want him to turn up in the middle of dinnertime would you?

Although, I admit, there are times when I think it would be more convenient. This week as some people were shouting at me for things that really weren’t my fault my mind did wonder…wouldn’t it be funny if Jesus was to return right now. Wouldn’t it be fantastic if, mid-flow, the sky went dark and they looked up and saw him and his angels.

But we don’t know the day or the time so we just need to be constantly ready. Which is easy to say and not so easy to do. In fact, it’s impossible. We’re told “Don’t sleep, keep awake!” which is definitely impossible but even if we don’t take this in the literal sense, we simply take the message of being constantly ready, we’re not likely to be able to do that.

On our own, we can’t. But as a community we can. It is intended we wait in community.

V34 “For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the porter to watch”.

We don’t wait alone, we wait together. We wait in community with one another.

We share the workload – every person has their work, we support one another, we laugh together, we cry together, we worship together, we pray together, we eat together.

And together…throughout Advent…we wait.