December 12, 2021 – 3rd Sunday of Advent
The active ‘watching and waiting’ of Advent – called to remove the blocks to God’s love in our lives so we can receive the gift of God’s love in Jesus Christ.
Let us pray. God for whom we watch and wait, we give you thanks for your presence in this time and place, and within each one of us. Help us now to open our minds, our hearts, our whole lives, to receive the gift of your living Word for us this day. And may the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
So now we’re moving into the last half of the season of Advent – the time of watching and waiting – the time of preparing to celebrate the first coming of the Messiah and the birth of Jesus; but also the second coming when all of creation will be set right. Today’s Collect Prayer has an interesting twist. In the first phrase we read, “God of power and mercy, you call us once again to celebrate the coming of your Son.” God issues the invitation to us to celebrate – not our 21st century western culture; not Amazon, or big box stores; not even our family traditions. But it is God who calls us to celebrate. But then listen to the next part of the call to prayer: “Remove those things which hinder love of you, …” It sounds a little strange after the invitation. But I think it’s a bit like this kind of scenario which many us here may be familiar with. Imagine if you receive an invitation to an extended family member’s, or a friend’s, birthday party. You’re not sure that you want to go. You’ve drifted apart from this person over the years. You haven’t spoken to them in a while. You didn’t respond when they experienced a family tragedy recently. So you’re feeling just a bit awkward – you would just as soon let the occasion pass. But then, the person who invited you phones you up and says something like, “I know you’ve distanced yourselves from us, and we didn’t hear from you when we had our loss, but we really want you to come. You mean a lot to us, so please join us.” You’re kind of speechless – “gulp” – on the other end of the phone. How do you feel at that moment? You are very aware of – you might say – the darkness in your relationship with this person, and yet you’re also bathed in the light of their love for you. You’re very aware of your own shame, and also aware of the joy of a reconciled and renewed relationship. Well hold on to that feeling, because that’s the substance of the 3rd Sunday of Advent.
God is inviting us to celebrate, but with the invitation comes the reality of where we’ve fallen short or drifted away. We see that contrast between the Epistle, the Second Reading and the Gospel Reading. In the Epistle Reading to the Philippians – this reading bathes us with the joy of God’s loving presence, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near.” Rejoice – be filled with joy. And then in the Gospel Reading, we are so-called “blessed” with John the Baptist’s opening words. He says to us, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance.” If we’re going to truly celebrate the coming Messiah, there are some realities in our lives we need to deal with. And it’s not simply ‘business as usual.’ John the Baptist quickly neutralizes the privileged tradition-response too, for he says, “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”, which for us in our day might be something like, “I’ve been a good Anglican all my life. I’ve been a member of All Saints for decades. I’ve served as the bishop of the diocese for 18 years.” Our past track records may be meritorious but God is concerned about now – what hinders – what blocks – what thwarts our love of God and the way we live that love out with others.
So where are God’s invitations to us to love and serve others going unheeded in our lives? What family relationship are we allowing to be alienated or walled-off? What self-righteous grudge do we continue to nurse? Where is ‘carefully measured obligation’ rather than ‘joyful love’ directing the use of our time, our talent, our treasure. It is these blocks – these constraints – that hinder our love of God and all God’s creation, and prevent us from living with the joy God desires for us. They can exist in our relationships, in our attitude toward other groups and institutions. The blocks can even be in our approach within church, to groups within All Saints, to other parishes, to the rest of the Diocese of Rupert’s Land as whole.
We need to repent. I like that word. Our word ‘pensive’ – thoughtful – comes from the same root. It doesn’t mean shameful grovelling. It means stopping; releasing the prejudices, grudges, and pain, and thinking again – thinking afresh – letting God into the situation. As St. Paul says to us, “Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” - will guard our hearts and our minds. This is the place of real and deep joy. It is from this place that we can rejoice. This is why today’s Gospel writer – Luke, even after reporting the blunt challenge of John the Baptist, can still write, “So with many other exhortations, John proclaimed the ‘good news’ to the people.”
The coming Messiah, the call to prepare, is good news – light in the midst of the darkness in our world and the darkness in our lives. We’re actually going to experience that joyous light in the midst of darkness in today’s music during Communion. And even though the choir is going to beautifully sing it, you are allowed to sing along if you care to. “Lo, How a Rose E’re Blooming.” The words are gentle, gracious, filled with light. The music – a kind of gentle chorale. But in the final line of each verse, we hear a strong minor chord, held longer for emphasis, before resolving in the end to that gentle major, joyous sound. And the text reminds us of that dark reality too. “…when half-spent was the night” – the darkest period of the night. And in the final verse, “… and share our every load.” This is real joy in the midst of the challenges of real life.
And so we will pray toward the end of our service, “Merciful God, may this Eucharist free us from our sins, fill us with unending joy, and prepare us for the birthday of our Saviour.
Amen.
