Lighting the candle on the First Sunday of Advent (Focus: Isaiah 64:1–9)

O God, we light the first candle of Advent.

(The first candle is lit.)

We kindle it with hope. We long for you to come to our world, to break through and reign with compassion, justice, and peace. Let us remember times we longed for God to be present with us, with this congregation, and with this world.

The prophet Isaiah also cried to God to tear open heaven and come down. He called God’s people to do right. Isaiah called them to be refashioned like clay by God, the potter. This Advent, we call out to God.

Mighty God, creator of the world, break through all that keeps us from you. We ask for your mercy and reform us in your image. This Advent, visit us with your justice, love, and peace. Amen.

Shine on us, O God of justice;

Guide our path through gloom of night;

Bear within us Wisdom’s glory;

Come to us, O Christ the Light.

Advent Sunday

Collect

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and to put on the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility; that on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

or

Almighty God, as your kingdom dawns, turn us from the darkness of sin to the light of holiness, that we may be ready to meet you in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Readings

Old Testament – Isaiah 64.1–9

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,

so that the mountains would quake at your presence

as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil –

to make your name known to your adversaries,

so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

When you did awesome deeds that we did not expect,

you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

From ages past no one has heard,

no ear has perceived,

no eye has seen any God besides you,

who works for those who wait for him.

You meet those who gladly do right,

those who remember you in your ways.

But you were angry, and we sinned;

because you hid yourself we transgressed.

We have all become like one who is unclean,

and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy cloth.

We all fade like a leaf,

and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.

There is no one who calls on your name,

or attempts to take hold of you;

for you have hidden your face from us,

and have delivered us into the hand of our iniquity.

Yet, O Lord, you are our Father;

we are the clay, and you are our potter;

we are all the work of your hand.

Do not be exceedingly angry, O Lord,

and do not remember iniquity for ever.

Now consider, we are all your people.

Psalm 80

1    Hear, O Shepherd of Israel, ♦
you that led Joseph like a flock;

2    Shine forth, you that are enthroned upon the cherubim, ♦
before Ephraim, Benjamin and Manasseh.

3    Stir up your mighty strength ♦
and come to our salvation.

4    Turn us again, O God; ♦
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

5    O Lord God of hosts, ♦
how long will you be angry at your people’s prayer?

6    You feed them with the bread of tears; ♦
you give them abundance of tears to drink.

7    You have made us the derision of our neighbours, ♦
and our enemies laugh us to scorn.

8    Turn us again, O God of hosts; ♦
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

18    Let your hand be upon the man at your right hand, ♦
the son of man you made so strong for yourself.

19    And so will we not go back from you; ♦
give us life, and we shall call upon your name.

20    Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts; ♦
show the light of your countenance, and we shall be saved.

Epistle – 1 Corinthians 1.3–9

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind – just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you – so that you are not lacking in any spiritual 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 him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

Gospel – Mark 13.24–37

‘But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. Therefore, keep awake – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

Sermon on Advent Sunday

O that you would tear open the heavens and come down,

so that the mountains would quake at your presence

as when fire kindles brushwood

and the fire causes water to boil –

to make your name known to your adversaries,

so that the nations might tremble at your presence!

What heart-rending words we read from Isaiah, the prophet, who stands firmly in the tradition of those who wait for the advent of the Messiah. Isaiah cries out to God that the Lord would come in power to wreak havoc upon earth and in heaven – to tear through the heavens which separate God from his people so that God’s name would be made known to everyone so that everyone, that all the nations including Israel, would tremble before the judgement of this most terrible of judges.

But what is THAT DAY? It is described by prophets in two ways, the first that it will be a genuine justification of the hope of Israel, as a day of glory and peace. The second way is that of apocalypse and destruction wrought by the four horsemen.

However that day appears, the ordinary – dare I say “the profane” – the everyday will be overthrown, as Isaiah says heaven would be torn apart and the earth shake. On that day humanity will tremble in awe. The Holy will appear with the power which Rudolph Otto described in his book, The Idea of the Holy. We will stand in fear and fascination at this tremendous power before us, this
theophany
, the eruption of God in space and time for us to experience, if only we would open our eyes to see and our ears to hear.

The judgement of God will come, just as we read in the Gospel, when the Lord comes home unexpectedly and we are supposed to be ready for his arrival. We are to “keep awake” – but how can we keep awake at every moment?

This is a reasonable question, isn’t it? We can ask the same question about the everyday inquiry, “How are you?” Do we have the time, or energy, to listen to the outpouring of another’s heart when we enquire after them? Or do we have the stamina to bare our deepest feelings to a casual acquaintance who throws away that most innocent of questions? We even ask that question innocuously when we visit someone in hospital, don’t we? Do we expect the truth when we ask it?

But I think we should be ready for the flood ready to break out of the barriers of self-restraint when our request finally chips away that last fragment holding back the flood-waters of self-revelation which had been locked away because of shame or shyness, self-pity or humility. Whatever has kept the story back could be broken at that moment of our innocent enquiry and the whole story rushes out over us. Will we be ready for it? When the Lord comes back will we be ready for that advent?

We are preparing for the apocalypse now in this period before Christmas, this season of Advent. We aren’t just waiting for the 25th of December when we have the feast. As christians we are waiting for the ultimate revelation of love in the world – in our lives. But what happens if the great exposition does not come on Christmass Day?

This is not an idle question. Every year we could be disappointed on the Feast of the Incarnation. The hopes and fears of all the years may not be met in Bethlehem that night. We must still continue in that attitude of expectation – at least that is what the Gospel reading is saying to us, isn’t it?

The Lord has gone away – he told us he was – but we must await his return. Isn’t this the same thing Isaiah was experiencing himself? Moses had talked with God – God had manifest himself in the entirety of the saving history of the Hebrew people, and the Jews of modern time await God’s arrival again. Christians believe that the Messiah has come in the form of Jesus, whom we call “the Christ” and we still await the second coming, don’t we?

This longing expectation is wearing, isn’t it? We don’t have the patience or strength to wait with an earnest longing every moment of every day, do we? Much like we don’t want to hear the whole story of another’s life even though we ask innocently the everyday question, “How are you?” to a passer-by.

The theologian understands this ambiguity we have in our lives. She looks at the ordinariness of the everyday and tries to transform it into the moment when the Lord arrives, just as he promised. THAT day is one we desire fervently because we hope we will be worthy of the glory the Lord will reveal.

But what if we are not? What if we are found to be like the foolish virgins? Not able to light up our dwellings for the Lord to enter. What happens to us then?

    ‘But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.

THAT day will not be like anything we have ever known. Heaven and earth will be shaken – not stirred – and everything we ever thought we might have known will be questioned. What we thought were good deeds will be examined. The daylight we treasured will be made dark. The sky will fall and the earth will swallow us up. Jesus and Isaiah agree on this.

And what will we say? Will we be able to justify our silence when others asked us how we were? Will we be able to justify our failure to listen to the outpourings of another’s heart when we asked how she or he was? We should fear “that day” – because we may not live up to the expectation of the returning Lord. We, the servants of the Master, who have been left in charge of the mansion, who have been charged with careful execution of our duties, should ask ourselves, “Have we done the tasks assigned with all our hearts and minds and souls?” – What if, in all conscience, we must reply, “No, I have failed.” Will we then say, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner”? Will we accept the wrath of God which is the only reward for a life badly lived?

We await the last day, our ownmost possibility. Shall we fear it? Or shall we embrace it? How shall we see our lives at that moment of the Master’s return? Will we say that we have kept to the duties we were asked to perform – to love the Lord our God and our neighbours as ourselves? Or shall we have forgotten those requirements of the Lord? I say we must not fail in these duties – after all, they are not too difficult. We need only to open our hearts and minds to those we meet day by day and we shall shake the foundations of the everyday. I think we need only love one another wholeheartedly in order to shake those foundations and call down the heavens in anticipation of the second coming and our salvation.

Amen