Sermon Archive

Crowns and Mailmen

The Rev. Canon Carl Turner | Litany in Procession and Solemn Eucharist
Sunday, December 08, 2024 @ 11:00 am
groupKey: primary
postID: 7065; title: The Second Sunday Of Advent
groupKey: secondary
groupKey: other
The Second Sunday Of Advent

The Second Sunday Of Advent

Merciful God, who sent thy messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the HolySpirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.


args: 
Array
(
    [date] => 2024-12-08 11:00:00
    [scope] => 
    [year] => 
    [month] => 
    [post_id] => 377871
    [series_id] => 
    [day_titles_only] => 
    [exclusive] => 1
    [return] => formatted
    [formatted] => 
    [show_date] => 
    [show_meta] => 
    [show_content] => 1
    [admin] => 
    [debug] => 1
    [filter_types] => Array
        (
            [0] => primary
            [1] => secondary
        )

    [type_labels] => Array
        (
            [primary] => Primary
            [secondary] => Secondary
            [other] => Other
        )

    [the_date] => 2024-12-08 11:00:00
)
2 post(s) found for dateStr : 2024-12-08
postID: 6846 (The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 6846; date_type: fixed; year: 2024
fixed_date_str: December 8
fixed_date_str (mod): December 8 2024
formattedFixedDateStr: 2024-12-08
=> check date_assignments.
dateAssigned: 2024-12-07 (2024)
yearAssigned matches year
dateException: replacement_date
replacement_date date_assigned: 2024-12-07 overrides fixed_date_str December 8 2024 for year 2024
displayDates for postID: 6846/year: 2024 
Array
(
    [0] => 2024-12-07
)
date_str: 2024-12-08 is not one of the display_dates for this litdate for year 2024.
postID: 7065 (The Second Sunday Of Advent)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 7065; date_type: variable; year: 2024
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 7065
displayDates for postID: 7065/year: 2024 
Array
(
    [0] => 2024-12-08
)
postPriority: 3
primaryPost found for date: 2024-12-08 with ID: 7065 (The Second Sunday Of Advent)
About to getLitDateData for date: 2024-12-08 11:00:00
Sunday, December 08, 2024
The Second Sunday Of Advent
args: 
Array
(
    [date] => 2024-12-08 11:00:00
    [scope] => 
    [year] => 
    [month] => 
    [post_id] => 377871
    [series_id] => 
    [day_titles_only] => 
    [exclusive] => 1
    [return] => simple
    [formatted] => 
    [show_date] => 
    [show_meta] => 
    [show_content] => 1
    [admin] => 
    [debug] => 1
    [filter_types] => Array
        (
            [0] => primary
            [1] => secondary
        )

    [type_labels] => Array
        (
            [primary] => Primary
            [secondary] => Secondary
            [other] => Other
        )

    [the_date] => 2024-12-08 11:00:00
)
2 post(s) found for dateStr : 2024-12-08
postID: 6846 (The Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 6846; date_type: fixed; year: 2024
fixed_date_str: December 8
fixed_date_str (mod): December 8 2024
formattedFixedDateStr: 2024-12-08
=> check date_assignments.
dateAssigned: 2024-12-07 (2024)
yearAssigned matches year
dateException: replacement_date
replacement_date date_assigned: 2024-12-07 overrides fixed_date_str December 8 2024 for year 2024
displayDates for postID: 6846/year: 2024 
Array
(
    [0] => 2024-12-07
)
date_str: 2024-12-08 is not one of the display_dates for this litdate for year 2024.
postID: 7065 (The Second Sunday Of Advent)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 7065; date_type: variable; year: 2024
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 7065
displayDates for postID: 7065/year: 2024 
Array
(
    [0] => 2024-12-08
)
postPriority: 3
primaryPost found for date: 2024-12-08 with ID: 7065 (The Second Sunday Of Advent)
About to getLitDateData for date: 2024-12-08 11:00:00
Litany in Procession and Solemn Eucharist
11:00 am
Listen to the sermon

Scripture citation(s): Malachi 3:1-4; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6

This sermon currently has the following sermon_bbooks: 
Array
(
    [0] => 60741
    [1] => 60765
    [2] => 60757
)
book: [Array ( [0] => 60741 ) ] (reading_id: 73546)
bbook_id: 60741
The bbook_id [60741] is already in the array.
book: [60765] (reading_id: 310984)
bbook_id: 60765
The bbook_id [60765] is already in the array.
book: [Array ( [0] => 60757 ) ] (reading_id: 73524)
bbook_id: 60757
The bbook_id [60757] is already in the array.
No update needed for sermon_bbooks.
related_event->ID: 329410
audio_file: 377919
The Rev. Canon Carl Turner, XIII Rector of Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue

Last week, the Rector Emeritus, Fr. Mead spoke beautifully about the meaning of Advent.  He said, “The word, Advent, from the Latin, means coming, or more particularly, coming towards. This touches on one of the most basic truths of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, namely, that in Jesus, God is coming towards us, his kingdom is at hand, and to be ready we need to repent, which means turn towards him in response. “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” [1]

There is a common misconception in many churches that Advent is just like Lent; possibly because the liturgical color is the same – purple.  But it is a very different kind of season.  For a start, this is not a penitential season like Lent; that explains why we use the word Alleluia throughout the four weeks of Advent.  It is, instead, a solemn season of preparation.  Yes, there are strong themes – judgement – the second coming – prophetic utterance – being prepared – and, therefore, repentance and penitence has a place in all of those themes.  However, Advent is very different to Lent.

Fortunately, at Saint Thomas we have two different sets of purple vestments and altar hangings to distinguish these two seasons.  You will notice that the High altar frontal has words embroidered on it: “Adveniat Regnum Tuum” They are words from the Lord’s Prayer – Thy Kingdom come!  Words that we pray every day, often several times a day – thy kingdom come.  This is a central theme of Advent – Thy kingdom come.  But what are the words that come next in the Lord’s Prayer?  Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

So, the kingdom that is coming is something that affects both earth and heaven – in the here and now as well as in the future.  The Advent hope is about us responding to God’s coming.  As Fr. Mead said so appropriately last week, “Not only will Jesus come to us, we will go to him. He will come to me; I will go to him in my own singular, personal death. I will lay down the burden of the flesh and see the Lord in his unveiled glory to render my account.”

I will see the Lord in his unveiled glory to render my account. 

That is the Advent hope, my friends: Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

When Fr. John Andrew had the Advent purple set of vestments commissioned, he decided that it should be embellished with crowns.  The crown, of course, reminds us of Christ the King – whose second coming we think about at the beginning of Advent.  However, I always smile to myself because the design that was used is exactly the same design that has been used by the Royal Mail in Great Britian ever since I was a boy! So I guess when I wear these vestments I am a kind of mailman! And this brings us to today’s great theme – the messenger.

When I was a student, I worked for the Post Office every Christmas holiday and I loved it!  Sorting the mail, and delivering it.  After a couple of Christmases, I was kind of ‘promoted’ and allowed to travel to the railway station at York in a mail van to meet the mail train in the middle of the night. I will never forget the sound of the great diesel engine arriving – if you are a train spotter, then it was a Class 55 ‘Deltic’ diesel; it was powered by two of the same engines that the Royal Navy had developed for torpedo boats at the end of the Second World War so it was immensely powerful.  The sound was incredible as it came into the massive train station of York with its huge curved glass roofs.  So, for a little while, I practiced being a messenger.

Delivering the mail gave me time to reflect on the message of Christmas.  I met lovely elderly people who often took pity on me in the freezing cold and gave me something to eat and drink; I also learned which houses had dogs that hatred mailmen, and worked out a cunning plan to deliver the mail before they knew I was at the doorstep!  All that mail – all those messages and parcels – it took so long to sort and even longer to deliver by hand. I have to say that for three successive Decembers I lived the words carved on the James A. Farley Post Office Building on 8th Avenue and 31st Street: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

They are actually ancient words of Herodotus from the third century before Christ.  But they read as if they belong in the Scriptures, and they very much remind me of the message of the prophets and the ministry of the Angels that we hear about in Advent and at Christmas.

From the prophecy of Malachi: “See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight – indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.”

That message was taken up by John the Baptist:

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight.

…and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.'”

And in his letter to the Philippians, written when Paul was a prisoner in Rome, Paul rejoiced in that very same message of salvation that he had handed on to the Church in Philippi: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work among you will bring it to completion by the day of Jesus Christ.”

It is ironic that Fifth Avenue, and the streets around the Rockefeller Center, are thronged with people at the moment and we are called to be messengers of the Advent hope to them.  Today, at the end of mass, our Choir will sing on the Church steps and thousands will gawp and feel that warm and cozy glow that only Christmas on Fifth Avenue can give.  Will they hear the voice of one crying in the wilderness?  Will they hear the message of the Advent hope, that “God is coming towards us, his kingdom is at hand, and to be ready we need to repent, which means turn towards him in response.”

Let us live by the Lord’s Prayer this week, my friends: Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  May his will be done in me this week. Then, we will be strengthened to be his messengers – just like the holy Angels – just like the prophets, just like John the Baptist – taking the message of hope with us to Fifth Avenue and beyond, praying that “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.”

Sermon Audio

References

References
↑1 Advent Sunday at Saint Thomas Fifth Avenue, 2024