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SERMONS

First Sunday of Advent
December 3, 2006

By The Rev. Alston Johnson

Today we begin the season of Advent in the Church's calendar. It is the end of one year, and the beginning of another for the Church. During this season of Advent, we remind ourselves that we are people who wait in the midst of two worlds. We are people who live between two clocks: the little contraptions that we wear on our wrists that keep time as we know it, and the clock that keeps time with God's purposes and presence in our midst.
We are reminded that reality is something like a great river; beneath the seemingly calm surface of the water upon which we float are powerful currents traveling with force and speed. Perhaps that is how it is in many of our lives; on the surface all is calm, while beneath powerful currents are flowing.

Throughout his time with his friends and followers Jesus advises them not to fall asleep on their journey, not to dose like children riding in a car. Jesus is like the old prophets who warn Israel not to slumber in their souls, lest the power and presence of God descend upon them like a clap of thunder on a lazy afternoon. "Be awake and watch; I am never far
from you."

Our Lord knows whereof we are made. He knows that we will need a nudge in his direction, that we will need reminding, lest we be lulled to sleep by our own imaginations. The earth and sky as we know it will be taken from us. The heavens themselves as we have come to know them will be taken from us. We are reminded that we will be awakened whether we like it our not -our breath will be snatched away from us.

Perhaps it is like that moment when we are caught with our hand in the cookie jay. We thought everything was quiet. We thought that we had scouted out the territory. We felt safe on our little bandit's raid; only over our shoulder to hear the latch on the door. And to hear our hearts beating in our chest as we are frozen in the moment.

Perhaps it is like that moment when we suddenly realize that what we have been waiting for is finally upon us. "What I have waited for in this life is finally here . . . this heart of my heart, this love of my longing, this beauty that I have seen in my mind and my soul is here, it is real, it is something that I touch and that touches me." Perhaps that is how we will be awakened. Like the first opening of our ears to all the music that is all about us. The first opening of our eyes to all the beauty surrounding us.

As C. S. Lewis has said, our breath is snatched away as we are surprised by joy.

Our Lord is telling us that we must live as people who have an ear to the ground for the coming of a different world. What the great mystics of the Church have sometimes call the third ear of the heart. That the ears of our hearts are listening to a different voice, awake to a different music. God will take back this world; whether we like it or not, this world ultimately is not ours for arranging.

If our Lord has come to live only in ivory towers, or in beautiful yet silent landscapes, or beautiful yet silent chapels, if God has become the great silence to us, it is only because we have laid him there to die. "Thy Kingdom Come, thy Will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." At least that is what we tell ourselves and one another. During Advent we are reminded that our Lord is taking us at our word; " . . . Thy Kingdom Come."

Jesus is telling us that a moment arrives in this reality when we are to stand up and raise our heads, and listen for his footsteps.

Not so that we are merely scarred to death, but rather that we are startled into life. Startled into a life of following him, of waiting for him.

There is a wonderful story that is retold by the Christian writer Os Guinness. Some two hundred years ago on a beautiful day in May, the Connecticut House of Representatives had gathered for session. The sun was so bright that the work on the floor was being done by natural light; no candles, no oil lamps.

Suddenly there was a shadow cast over the entire room; darkness descended in the middle of the day, and right in the middle of the debate there was an eclipse of the sun.

Looking around at one another like travelers caught in an ambush, many thought it was the Second Coming of our Lord. He is here, He is here, this is it. This is it. Some wanted to adjourn. Some began to pray. Some wanted to confess and prepare themselves for the inevitable meeting that they thought they could avoid.

The Speaker of the House stood still and looked out over his colleagues. There was another idea in his heart.

He said, we are all upset by the darkness, and some of us are frightened of the darkness. But "the day of our Lord is either approaching or it is not. If it is not . . . there is no cause for adjournment. And, if the Lord IS returning, I, for one, choose to be found doing my duty . . .
I therefore ask that candles be brought so we may continue."

And a room full of individuals who believed that Jesus would soon be in their midst went back to their desks and continued their work.

My friends, this is a season for us to discern out duty, for He is coming.

Stand up, stand up and raise your head, your redemption draweth nigh.