Readings:
Sermon:
Each year I have the same challenge – to find an Advent calendar which tells the Christmas story (the Christian one that is, not Santa, or Elf, or Frozen version) and without chocolates, and – and this is the real challenge – one that I haven’t bought previously. I admit it is a self-set challenge but each year it proves difficult. I am not particularly against the chocolate ones or the secular ones, but I buy for myself and for my parents and, yes, I want a bit of my own childhood nostalgia and the more traditional it is the better.
This year adverts for Advent calendars popped up on my timeline from the end of October. The first being for an Advent calendar form a well-known, high-end store in London. The advert boasted that behind every door was a gift, and the gifts were amazing value as the 24 together would normally cost £1065 but if you buy the Advent calendar it is a bargain at £245.
Cue angry old man reaction of course but, no thank you. I shall stick to my search for a traditional one. Last year’s find was particularly fine as when it arrived my parents pointed our that Joseph, standing proud near Mary and the baby Jesus, looked remarkably like me. I looked at my own and yes – the likeness was striking.
The difference between the costly gift calendar at £245 and the one I bought is more than price and more than content. It is about our approach to Advent. We can choose to either bend to the consumerist pressure of wanting more than we need, or we can choose to find ourself in the Advent story in readiness for the birth of Christ.
The Collect for Advent Sunday reminds us of Christ’s coming in great humility and we start four weeks of soul searching preparing ourselves for the coming. It is the opposite of the consumerist message but it is also the perfect antidote to the excesses which are beyond most of us. The only excess we need is the exuberant love of God shown in Christ Jesus. Walking with humility in the next four weeks need not be painful, dull, or lifeless but it will help us put on the armour of light (as the collect says), and find our true value, to be ready for the priceless gift of life itself.
We walk this path of faith during Advent with much unknowing – our gospel for today speaks clearly about this ‘unknown’ but it does not speak of uncertainty. In fact we can be certain of the coming of our Lord, but ours is not to know the when, the how, or the where.
But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
And not only is the hour unknown, it is also without warning – the normal routine of life continues:
For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Advent keeps us on our toes – watching and waiting. We must work hard not to be side-tracked by flashy expensive distractions, but humbly, patiently, and quietly to keep awake and alert, confident of the coming of Christ whose exuberant and perfect love is never beyond our reach.
Questions:
- What are the glitzy distractions which prevent you from enjoying Advent as a time of watchful waiting?
- How might you set aside those distractions and make space for reflection on the restful presence of Christ in your life?