Collect
Almighty Father, whose will is to restore all things in your beloved Son, the King of all: govern the hearts and minds of those in authority, and bring the families of the nations, divided and torn apart by the ravages of sin, to be subject to his just and gentle rule; who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Post Communion
God of peace, whose Son Jesus Christ proclaimed the kingdom and restored the broken to wholeness of life: look with compassion on the anguish of the world, and by your healing power make whole both people and nations; through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Readings
Old Testament
23 ‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
24 O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
26 and after my skin has been thus destroyed,
then in my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see on my side,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me!
Job 19.23–27a
Psalm
1 Hear my just cause, O Lord; consider my complaint;¨
listen to my prayer, which comes not from lying lips.
2 Let my vindication come forth from your presence; ¨
let your eyes behold what is right.
3 Weigh my heart, examine me by night, ¨
refine me, and you will find no impurity in me.
4 My mouth does not trespass for earthly rewards;¨
I have heeded the words of your lips.
5 My footsteps hold fast in the ways of your commandments;¨
my feet have not stumbled in your paths.
6 I call upon you, O God, for you will answer me; ¨
incline your ear to me, and listen to my words.
7 Show me your marvellous loving-kindness, ¨
O Saviour of those who take refuge at your right hand from those who rise up against them.
8 Keep me as the apple of your eye;¨
hide me under the shadow of your wings,
9 From the wicked who assault me,¨
from my enemies who surround me to take away my life.
Psalm 17:1–7
Epistle
As to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him, we beg you, brothers and sisters, not to be quickly shaken in mind or alarmed, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as though from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord is already here. Let no one deceive you in any way; for that day will not come unless the rebellion comes first and the lawless one is revealed, the one destined for destruction. He opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, declaring himself to be God. Do you not remember that I told you these things when I was still with you?
But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.
Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.
2 Thessalonians 2.1–5,13–17
Gospel
Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’
Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’
Luke 20.27–38
Sermon on Third Sunday Before Advent
‘O that my words were written down!
O that they were inscribed in a book!
O that with an iron pen and with lead
they were engraved on a rock for ever!
For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and that at the last he will stand upon the earth;
These words can be seen as a background for so many of our own thoughts, can’t they? They come from Job as he laments his situation, all the disasters which beset him from the boils to the deaths of his family. He wants to let people know what his life was like. The pain and heartache of everything he has had to endure should be a lesson to us all. But he goes on – it is not the disaster that he wants his readers to read about. He says, “I know that my redeemer lives!” and continues, “Although my flesh is destroyed, I shall see my God.”
These words are taken up in Handel’s “Messiah”, aren’t they?
These words become the start of some of the most sublime music we have. That we shall see God – isn’t that the most sublime thought we can aspire to? “Oh that my words were inscribed in the rock for ever!” That is the sentiment Job recommends to us all. And don’t we all think this? Don’t we want to share our most profound thoughts with the world, so that our experience will help all those around us? Perhaps that is why I stand here in these outlandish robes and rattle on … and just like Job I say, “Oh that my words were inscribed in the rock for ever!” Eternal words are something we long to pass on, aren’t they? I think we all want to be able to handle those words – to ground ourselves so surely on an eternal verity.
What do we reach for in our lives which will set a sure foundation for all we do? Do we have a favourite book which acts as our cornerstone? As christians, we profess the bible to be the rock of our salvation. We always turn to it to begin any of our thoughts for the day, don’t we? — We call the Bible “the Word of God” – we capitalise that phrase, don’t we? It is a special artefact whether an ancient manuscript on papyrus, printed by Gutenberg or provided electronically by Google. We treat the Bible as holy and sacred. For us no other book is held in such respect. We hold the Bible as eternal and unchangeable. It stands firm against the changing world. I think we all agree with that notion, don’t we? God’s Word impacts us every moment of every day and we feel it never changes in its demand on us. It challenges all humanity to act in goodness and righteousness. Consequently, I think, there is an understandable conservatism within any community, religious or not. We don’t want things to change at all, do we? We want to keep the special relationship as God’s people. Like people from Yorkshire who call that county “God’s own county” even thought they never go near a church. There is within each parish the wish to “keep things as they are”, whatever that might mean.
The Bible contains the words we feel are written down for ever. Those words dominate our lives, don’t they? But outside the church, there is a relativism, where nothing is more lasting or important than anything else. Over against the permanence of the church’s message of salvation, there is the world’s quest for novelty, those “fifteen minutes of fame”. Everyone wants those moments of glory for themselves. We want to “publish abroad” that message about our selves. We do this through ephemeral electronic media, using Facebook, TikTok and others that are proliferating now. The pandemic forced us to Zoom with each other, and UTube has brought so many videos into public consciousness. We all know about the cute cats that have “gone viral”, don’t we? We may even have contributed ourselves to the numbers of likes and hits of particular instances.
All of this is an expression of Job’s words, don’t you think? That I have contributed
something to the future forever, written in the modern stone of the computer so that it will never be forgotten.
We all want to “make a difference”. We all want to make the world a better place. I stand here because I believe I might be able to do so – certainly, that is my hope, and, I believe, it is the Church’s hope. Perhaps I aspire to be a great influencer. – This right now may be my fifteen seconds of fame. Who knows? – Whatever the case, I also show the human tendency to wish to make my mark, just as Job did with his iron pen and the tablets of stone which had words in lead on them.
The ancient Laws of Hamarabi were tablets of stone with words written with lead letters on them. They were set up at the gates of the city so no one could claim ignorance of the law. I think that is why it is so natural for Job to use this image, apart from the fact that Moses came down from the mountain with the law of the Lord written on the tablets. We understand this image of unchanging law written down forever so easily today. Why even in our older churches there are plaques with the ten commandments on them. In the churchyard and within our churches the permanent epitaph continues this image. I think that is why the toppling of the statues in Bristol was so extraordinary brutal to our sensibilities – I think it might signify a cultural shift.
That shift was foreshadowed millennia ago. The destroying of carved images is part of OT and christian iconoclasm. More
importantly, the locus of the writing of God’s Law has always been shifted away from these stone tablets. Where is a better place to write the law – God’s or the King’s? What is a better medium for a law that makes sense for an ordered society? I think you all know. One of the prophets spoke directly to this point. “I will write these laws on the hearts of my people. Once they had hearts of stone, but now they will have hearts of flesh” – that is the place where law is truly kept. The stone tablets, the Word of God, influencers – don’t they all point to something missing in our lives? Those hearts which beat steadily to the Laws the Lord, that we love God and our neighbours.
To use that iron pen and lead to encase the law is one of our dearest conceits, isn’t it?
However, the immortality of the writing on stone has passed. Now we want to write on hearts which feel compassion and love. Don’t we all want to share our most profound heart with the world? Perhaps that is everyone’s compulsion. This impulse to ‘publish it abroad’ is important in every person’s life. We do it at home – we also do it with friends. – And if we are very bold, we may stand up in public and open our hearts, calling for mercy and righteousness all the days of our lives. I think hearts are where these eternal words are written, not on the stone artifacts which too often crash into nothing. In the heart are etched the words of eternal life.
One Reply to “Third Sunday Before Advent”
Comments are closed.