Sermon for the first Sunday of Advent at St Edward’s. Readings: Jeremiah 33:14-16, Psalm 25:1-9, Luke 21:25-36
On my Christmas list this year are lots of books. I don’t know about you but I love reading. I think I am up to about 60 books this year on my Goodreads list! And I love really getting in to the story and following the characters and all the ups and downs. But I’m so impatient, I almost wish the time away because I just want to know what is going to happen!
I wonder if you have ever thought of the Bible like a novel? It would be like one of the great epics or a series. Where the whole story is leading up to an amazing conclusion, but along the way there are some really tough times for the central characters to go through. At one point it seems like all is lost, but then the hero wins the day!
The Bible is one long story of pointing to Christ and pointing to the future we have through him. We heard in our readings, from Jeremiah who was a prophet who lived 600 years before Christ was born.
He was writing to Jews who had been exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon. They had been forced to leave all they owned and knew, to go to a strange land. Refugees from war. And it’s challenging in places, because Jeremiah is reminding the exiles that effectively they brought this on themselves. Because Israel had gone away from God, they were as he says ‘unfaithful’ and so this was inevitable. But they do have a chance to turn back to God, restoration will happen. their relationship with God will be renewed
In the meantime they wait…
But the days are coming says the Lord, as Jeremiah reports, when God’s promise will be fulfilled and the future will be different. And we read that a new branch will spring up from David’s line, who will bring justice and righteousness.
As we read now, we look back and we know that this person who was to come, is Jesus.
And yet it’s a message that seems to be repeated in Jesus’ own words centuries later as he’s talking to the crowd about the future and even the destruction of Jerusalem (again) in our Luke reading. He is talking about the end of time, the time of judgment that is to come. And there will be signs, wars, insurrections, natural disasters. He’s warning people to be ready.
A few verses earlier in our Luke passage he says:
‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
Luke 21:10-11
We might hear some of this and think well, that could be now. is that time really coming soon? Just in the last few months we’ve seen ongoing war with an impact on the world in Ukraine, Russia, Gaza and Israel, and there are many others. World politics taking a worrying trend towards the far right. The effects of climate change are all around us, closer than ever – floods in Spain, this week in Wales and more forecast in the coming week.
Some believe that we are already in the ‘end times’, that the end is coming soon. I heard only this week of someone saying at a Synod meeting (not here) that we need not worry about the earth because the end is coming soon! But on that Jesus is quite specific elsewhere, that we will not know the time or season so that’s a very poor reason not to be concerned about our planet! More than that, Jesus doesn’t seem overly worried about all this, he tells them not to fear, and just to be ready, to be aware, look for the signs. Pray that you will be ready for when he returns.
Because the truth is, as I hope we all know, there is a future for us all if we choose it, regardless of what is going on around us now. While the exiles, and the people Jesus was speaking to were living through some pretty turbulent times, Jesus was saying, it’s all going to be ok in the end. And it’s the same now. It is easy to watch the news or read about all that is going on in the world and be constantly fearful. But while we wait for that time to come, we do so in hope, because Jesus is our hope.
And in this first week of Advent we remember the Fathers and mothers of our faith, the matriarchs and patriarchs. Just as the exiles knew those who had gone before them – Abraham and Sarah, Jacob, Moses and so on. We can be inspired by those who have gone before us.
Just as the exiles did we might say in the words of the Psalm we heard:
To you, O Lord, I lift up my soul. O my God, in you I trust…
Make me to know your ways, O Lord; teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth, and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation; for you I wait all day long.
Psalm 25: 1, 4-5
We wait now with a gift that the exiles didn’t have – we know Jesus has come once already – as we are waiting to celebrate that first coming at Christmas; while we also wait for the second arrival.
We live in this place in between, but nonetheless it is a place that is filled with God’s presence. We’re in the middle of the novel but we’ve read the last page and we know what the ending is going to be.
As we wait to celebrate Christmas, we aren’t just sitting around are we? We’re preparing, we are buying presents, decorating the house and church, writing cards, doing an Advent study, there are things to be done while we wait for the main celebration.
It’s the same while we wait for Jesus to come again. In this in between space God is with us. The love of God is at work in us and through us. It’s a time where we can prepare by sharing the hope we know with those around us. Jesus says when you worry about these things you see in this world just remember that redemption is coming – an amazing future is on the way and that will give you hope. Just as we know Christmas will, I hope, be a wonderful celebration for us all.
So as we begin Advent today, let’s remember that wherever we are in the novel, the ending is already written, and we can look forward with hope but let’s not forget to enjoy the story along the way.
Amen
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