Grace to you and peace from him who was, and who is, and who is to come, even Jesus Christ our Lord and God. Amen.
It is a pleasure to welcome you, and those who hear us on our webcast, to this special celebration of Advent Sunday, the first Sunday of a new Christian Year, as Christendom continues to count the years between the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and his glorious coming to the judge the world at the end of time. But first I have some announcements.
Please read the Parish Notices in your leaflets (which are also on our website each week). In particular I invite you to join us for coffee hour fellowship in the Parish House. That you cannot do online! You may purchase baked goods in support of our choirboys on the first floor where the Bookstore is. If you wish to take a tour of this beautiful gothic church, a tour guide will be in the narthex after the concluding organ voluntary.
I am especially pleased to tell you about the release this week of our new CD of Handel’s Messiah arranged by Mozart, which was recorded live here at Saint Thomas last December by our Choir of Men and Boys with distinguished soloists and the Concert Royal orchestra. The recording has been re-mastered to meet the highest standards of excellence, and it comes in a beautiful 2-disc set with a booklet of program notes by John Scott, pictures of the choir and soloists, and the oratorio’s full text. You may purchase the recording today from our volunteers who are also selling Messiah tickects for this December 11 and 13 in the Narthex, the Bookstore where you may also get Christmas on Fifth Avenue, or online at our secure website, or in our Music Office at One West 53rd Street during regular business hours.
I want to let you know that as of Friday we had 483 pledging units for a total of $1,046,673 for 2008, which is ahead of the paces of the record-breaking Every Member Canvasses of the past two years. I am so proud of our congregation. I think that over December and into the New Year we have a good chance to reach our goal of $1.5 million. We hope for at least another 150 pledges, among which remain some leadership pledgers, those who give at least $5,000 per year. Thanks to all of you have pledged to the Church and Choir School.
The annual election for the vestry of Saint Thomas Church will be held this Tuesday, December 4, 2007. Ballots for the election have been mailed to qualified parishioners. They should be returned to the Rector no later than 6:00 p.m. on December 5, or personally deposited in the ballot box in the Living Room of the Parish House between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. on that date. This year we are voting for one Warden for a term of two years and for three Vestry members.
The New York season from Thanksgiving Day onwards is crowded, exciting, and often frantic. I have a piece of stress-reducing news for you. Do you realize that December 25, not November 25, is the first day of Christmas? Your Christmas presents and celebrations are not late till January 6. You have twelve days, beginning December 25, in spite of the fact that on the first day of Christmas you can see Christmas trees out on the sidewalk waiting for the trash collectors. Enjoy the New York ride from now to Christmas by recalling that it is Advent, not Christmas. But there is no need to hyperventilate about shopping, and in fact most prices are better once the Twelve Days of Christmas actually begin.
So what about this wonderful, countercultural season of Advent? It has to do with the coming of Jesus Christ to this world. In today’s service, we gather up the themes of the entire Advent season: Christ’s conception by the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary and his birth in a stable in Bethlehem. Christ’s coming in his ministry of teaching and healing, prefaced by his cousin and forerunner, John the Baptist. These are biblical history. Now we look ahead to the future – to Christ’s coming in glorious majesty in the end to judge the world. The Church works backward in Advent, starting with the future (Christ’s second coming in judgment) and working back through his ministry to his birth, which takes us to the brink of Christmas itself. We finish with the singing of “O come, O come, Emmanuel,” which means God-with-us.
The cultural, commercial, even family dimension of big holidays can be very hard for people. They can be hard if you are alone and lonely, and they can be hard if you are with family and others in difficult “command performances” and would rather be alone in peace. But the biblical realities that are celebrated are in fact a great solace and tonic to the soul, and this is what the Church has to offer us in Advent. For the most important Advent of all is the coming of Jesus Christ into our own lives as Savior, Lord and God, Guide, and Friend. If you attend to what the Church has to offer, your efforts will be rewarded, whatever your situation in life, young or old, solitary or surrounded, strong or infirm, rich or poor. For example, join our Advent retreat December 16; attend weekday services or classes; or simply tune in at home to hear a recording of this service or others on our webcast.
Let me finish by focusing on the primary theme of the first Sunday of Advent; namely Christ’s coming again in glorious majesty to judge the world. In the creed, we confess that after his resurrection from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion, Jesus appeared many times to his disciples, and then ascended into heaven, where, following the scriptures, the creed says he sits at the right hand of the Father; whence he will come again in glory to judge the living and dead, and his kingdom will have no end. Christ “sits” – his saving work is finished, and he is on the throne of God, at the Father’s “right hand,” the place of all justice and judgment and righteousness.
To say that Christ will come again to judge the world means that Jesus is God’s last word on the life of the world; that all meaning and purpose in life find their fulfillment in the Word of God which is the Good News of Jesus Christ. As our days rush past, as the time of our short lives flows away into the ocean of eternity, it all presents itself to him. Our life stories, broken as they are, find their redemption and completion in the glorious Gospel story of Christ’s life-giving sacrifice. Not only the whole world, all people, nations and languages, but also each one of us will have his or her “day,” if you will, “in court,” God’s court. We may feel we have had the devil himself as an accuser and prosecutor. But the Son of man is our Judge, who was born in a stable and died on Calvary for us; and he has already shown himself to be our Mediator and Advocate. So much so, that we can join in the ancient Church’s refrain, “Even so, Lord, come quickly; come Lord Jesus.”
