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The First Sunday Of Advent
Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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The First Sunday Of Advent
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A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
✛
In Case You Die?
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Recently a doctor told me of his visit to his lawyer to make his will. At some point in their conversation, the doctor said the words “in case I die.”
The lawyer’s reply to his doctor client, coming like a swing of the bat from Babe Ruth and no doubt with a grin, was, “What do you mean, in case you die?”
This is Advent Sunday, the beginning of a new church year. The themes of Advent, to quote Canon Krauss a few weeks ago when he recounted a sixth grade teacher of his catching him in class daydreaming, are: “Wake up and die right!”
Dying right is not morbid. Dying right presupposes living right, each day, indeed each moment, as it comes to us from the hand of God. It means paying attention to the precious time we have. It means the awareness that eternity is not somewhere out there, but rather right here and now. It is our choice to experience it and live or to miss out on it and never to get around to living. Wake up and live!
Advent refers us to the coming of the one human being (which is why Jesus called himself the Son of man) who was utterly awake to God every moment of his blessed existence, who lived completely and fully every moment, and who died so well (all scandalous appearances to the contrary) that his death is truly the perfect culmination and accomplishment of his whole life. The four Sundays of Advent presents his coming in the flesh through the vehicle of the faith of his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary; the commencement of his ministry through the preparatory work of the Prophet Saint John the Baptist; and finally his Advent in the Spirit to all who love his appearing, believe and trust in him, and try to follow him.
If you were counting, you will know that I mentioned three, not four, Advent themes. This brings me to what is called his Second Advent, or his Second Coming. The inspired, authoritative images of Holy Scripture, which speak of him coming on the clouds of glory at the end of time to judge the world, to separate good from evil, and to vindicate the cause, once and for all, of God’s goodness and love, have conditioned us to think of him coming, as it were, from outside time and space towards us. This is not wrong, but our habits of mind may mislead us. Perhaps that is why so many groups over the centuries (right to the present) have calculated times and seasons, sometimes doing extreme, preposterous or even dangerous things to prepare for the event. Yet, without letting go of one word of Holy Scripture and adhering closely to the catholic creeds of our tradition, I think we can help ourselves by thinking of our glorious Savior and Judge being in the here and now as much as out there, and to think of our going to him just as much as his coming to us.
When we sing the glorious hymns of this Advent Sunday, such as “Lo! he comes, with clouds descending,” and hear Saint John the Divine’s vision of the Lord’s apocalyptic return, we sing and hear the truth about Jesus Christ. But this mighty Second Advent to judge the world in power and great glory is not just out there in the future. It is our singular, personal future, and it is a glory to be apprehended, tasted and seen even now. We are, each one of us, very rapidly going to God, and we do well to be aware, to watch, and to attend.
Last Sunday, after a year-long absence because of illness, an elderly member of this parish at last was brought by fellow parishioners to church. He came slowly on his walker to greet me as my brethren and I were vesting in the sacristy, just before Maestro was to sound the first note of the hymn. He was overcome with joy and awe at the gift of being present to the outward and visible signs of Jesus Christ’s Presence. Just as I was finishing this homily, the phone rang – he had called me to thank me (actually to thank God by talking to someone he knew). That was God’s word to me about Advent, and I pass it along. Dearly beloved, let us wake up, live right, die right, and know that Jesus Christ our Lord, who is here now (indeed who is soon to be our food and drink in the Eucharist); Jesus Christ is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. His kingdom is among us and even within us.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
