| A Sermon for Advent Sunday | | | | what the angels were quoted as saying - the original |
| And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, | | | | message being a little more ambiguous than the |
| and on the earth distress of nations in perplex- ity | | | | popular sanitized version. |
| because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, | | | | The modern version of Christmas is reflected in |
| people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what | | | | slogans about how this special season brings out the |
| is coming on the world. For the powers of the | | | | best in people - a season of family and goodwill, seen |
| heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the | | | | in Tiny Tim walking into the room saying 'God bless |
| Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great | | | | you one and all'. The Biblical pictures of Advent show |
| glory. Now when these things begin to take place, | | | | us both joy and pain as the new world is brought to |
| straighten up and raise your heads, because your | | | | birth. |
| redemption is drawing near ... | | | | This Spirit of Christmas is the sort of hearty twaddle |
| But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed | | | | that used to climax in the annual John Denver |
| down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of | | | | Christmas special that I remember from my youth, |
| this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a | | | | where John and his family would sit around the |
| trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face | | | | camp-fire with the choir humming Silent Night in the |
| of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, | | | | background, while John gave his little soliloquy along |
| praying that you may have strength to escape all | | | | the lines of "Good people, if we can just hold hands |
| these things that are going to take place, and to | | | | with one another and live the spirit of Christmas year |
| stand before the Son of Man." (Luke 21:25-18,34-36) | | | | round and try just a little bit harder, we can bring |
| Happy New Year everybody! | | | | peace on earth." |
| Yes, it's the first day of the ecclesiastical new year - | | | | I wonder if they've ever tried that sort of thing in |
| the first Sunday in Advent - and as you'll see, | | | | Iraq? I suspect not, for this sort of Christmas Spirit is |
| everything is a bit different today. | | | | the spirituality of a well-healed community. |
| The colours are different, the hymns are different, | | | | Even in my youth I wondered whether those |
| and there's a sense of festivity in the air ... well, | | | | Christmas specials were broadcast over at Long Bay |
| maybe not a sense of festivity, but there probably | | | | gaol, where prisoners would think 'if only we all held |
| should be, for Advent Sunday is a significant day in | | | | hands and...' |
| the Christian calendar for it's when we remember | | | | At this time of year, the Christmas broadcasters fill |
| what is coming! | | | | the airways with this sort of good-natured twaddle |
| The word 'Advent' indeed comes from the Latin verb | | | | passing itself off as Christianity. And indeed it may |
| 'venio' - to come - and 'advenio' - to come towards. | | | | warm the hearts of well-healed middle-class families |
| For we are coming towards something? | | | | across the country, but it's not likely to make a big |
| What is it that is coming? I'm a little wary of putting | | | | difference in Iraq this year. It's not likely to make a |
| this question to the congregation as I may get the | | | | big difference at Long Bay, and it's not likely to make |
| answer, 'Santa Claus is coming ... to town'. And I don't | | | | a big difference in the kid's cancer ward at the |
| really want to dismiss the fact that Santa Claus is | | | | Children's Hospital. And, as Monica Helwig put it, "If it |
| coming, nor that Christmas is coming, with all its | | | | won't work in a cancer ward or a shoddy nursing |
| festivities and joy and commercialism. But what we | | | | home for the elderly, then whatever it is, it is not the |
| celebrate at Advent is not that Christmas is coming, | | | | gospel." |
| nor that Santa is coming but that Jesus is coming ... | | | | I remember one of my dad's favourite comedy |
| so look busy! | | | | sketches, that he used to retell often, was from one |
| I saw that on a T-shirt, selling in Darling Harbour this | | | | of those doctor comedies ('Doctor in the House', I |
| week. 'Jesus is coming, so look busy'. That particular | | | | think), where two doctors were examining an elderly |
| joke isn't original to the T-shirt company of course, | | | | patient. The senior doctor asks the junior doctor |
| but it does make you think about what you would | | | | where he thinks they should operate. The junior |
| want to be found doing if Jesus suddenly appeared | | | | doctor puts his finger on the man's chest and says, 'I |
| on the scene. | | | | should make an incision around here' 'Keyhole surgery |
| Tony Campolo used to say that when he was | | | | man, keyhole surgery!' says his teacher. 'We make |
| growing up the preachers used to scare the kids by | | | | the incision right across here' he says, drawing a |
| warning them that Jesus could appear at any time, | | | | broad line right across the old man's chest (much to |
| and woe betide them if he turns up and finds them | | | | the patient's alarm). |
| at a movie theature! Tony says he grew up with a | | | | Yet I think that's the issue here. Jesus is no 'keyhole |
| constant fear, every time he went to the movies, | | | | surgeon'. There are some radical changes that need |
| that Jesus would return during the feature and he'd | | | | to take place before the Kingdom of God can be |
| miss the end of the movie. | | | | brought to birth. A lot of things are going to be torn |
| I heard sermons like that too as a kid, and I was | | | | down before they are built up, as the pain and |
| always more concerned that I'd be on the toilet or | | | | injustices of this world run very deep. |
| something like that. Either way, I guess the real point | | | | We remember Jesus discussing His ministry at that |
| is to think about what we would want to be found | | | | last supper. A quiet, genteel affair it was, until Jesus |
| doing if Jesus suddenly appeared, for whatever it is, | | | | started breaking bread and pouring out wine, talking |
| it's probably what we should be getting on with now | | | | about his broken body, and his blood flowing. |
| anyway. | | | | Salvation, sacrifice, and the coming of the Kingdom, |
| I'm conscious too, as I read in the Scriptures about | | | | for Jesus, were never going to be cheap and easy. |
| the second coming of Jesus, that while it is 'good | | | | There would be blood and pain. And the final salvation |
| news' in the best sense possible, it is good news that | | | | of the cosmos will not be something that is clean and |
| is surrounded by a lot of bad news. Indeed, the | | | | clinical, but it is tied up with war and death and |
| festivities of Advent, from an ecclesiastical point of | | | | human suffering. |
| view, do have a rather dour feel to them. | | | | Is that good news? I think it all depends on where |
| Look at our colours this morning! While the rest of | | | | you stand. |
| the country is starting to deck itself out in the | | | | One of the great American Civil War writings, with |
| Christmas colours of green and red, we have moved | | | | which I am familiar, is 'The diary of Mary Chesnut' . |
| to the other end of the ecclesiastical colour spectrum | | | | Mary was a passionate Southern woman who wrote |
| - donning violet, the colour of sombre reflection. | | | | voluminously about the war, and saw first-hand the |
| I think that's because, while we rejoice at the | | | | devastation caused by General Sherman in his |
| thought of Jesus returning, we recognise too that | | | | infamous "March to the Sea" of 1865. |
| this will take place in the midst of great human pain, | | | | Chestnut wrote of that event, "Sherman marched |
| and nowhere is that made more clear than in our | | | | off in solid column, leaving not so much as a blade of |
| Gospel reading this morning: | | | | grass behind. A howling wilderness, a land laid waste, |
| "And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, | | | | dust and ashes." She left out that apparently there |
| and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity | | | | were slaves dancing in the streets! |
| because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, | | | | It all depends on where you stand. And if you're |
| people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what | | | | content to remain a sedentary member of the |
| is coming on the world. For the powers of the | | | | well-healed middle-class, then the thought of all this |
| heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the | | | | anguish and destruction will be very unsettling, I |
| Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great | | | | imagine. |
| glory." (Luke 21:25-27) | | | | If, on the other hand, you've thrown in your lot with |
| There's not much that is Christmassy about this | | | | the poor and dispossessed, you will probably be |
| picture, is there - at least in terms of the commercial | | | | happy to embrace this final anguish, recognising that |
| version of Christmas. There's not a lot of similarity | | | | Christ must do whatever needs to be done in order |
| here between the coming of Jesus and the coming | | | | to free the slaves, to eradicate the poison, to bring |
| of good old St Nick! | | | | an end to all injustice, and to bring real and lasting |
| Now, I don't want to start bashing Christmas, | | | | peace. |
| particularly as it is a celebration of the birth of Jesus, | | | | Either way, it is as sobering thought, as Advent is |
| and most of the symbols we associate with | | | | meant to be a sobering time of year. |
| Christmas do indeed find their origin in the Bible and in | | | | "Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed |
| the story of Jesus' birth. Even so, I do feel that even | | | | down with dissipation and drunkenness and the |
| when Christmas is a Christian celebration, our modern | | | | worries of this life, and that day does not catch you |
| version really reflects more the middle-class captivity | | | | unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who |
| of the church than it does the original message. | | | | live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all |
| "Peace on earth and goodwill to all men" - that's the | | | | times, praying that you may have the strength to |
| spirit of Christmas, isn't it? Not really. "Peace on earth | | | | escape all these things that will take place, and to |
| and goodwill to all men with whom God is pleased" is | | | | stand before the Son of Man. |