All Saints Datchworth

Sermon Preached At All Saints, Datchworth

3^rd Sunday in Advent 14.12.03

Year C

“So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.”

Advent is a season of preparation during which we make ourselves ready, both for the commemoration of Jesus’ birth more than two thousand years ago, and for his return “..with power and glory” as Jesus says in the Gospel passage from Luke we heard two weeks ago. In the same passage Jesus urged his disciples to “Be on guard” and “Be alert” because his return would be accompanied by all manner of trials and tribulations. They were to be prepared at all times for this event so that they need not be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness or by the worries of this life.

Dissipation, drunkenness and worry; to my ears that sounds like a description of the typical run-up to a modern Christmas! Contemporary society appears to have abandoned any vestige of the religious dimension of Christmas (as if there were any other dimension) and replaced it with gross commercialism and the imperative to spend, spend, spend! Mind you, whilst I criticise the shallowness of the consumer society, I do reap its benefits, working as I do in the publishing industry. More books are sold in the four weeks of Advent than at any other time of year. If this wasn’t the case, I’d probably be out of a job! These four weeks of Advent are characterised nowadays by excess rather than prudence. I wonder how many thousands of gallons of alcoholic beverages will be consumed in the next couple of weeks and how many billions of pounds spent on Christmas presents in a frenzied and desperate attempt at enjoyment and generosity. And I wonder what the levels of worry over debt will be in the post Christmas period?

In the Church English Dictionary, Martin Wroe and colleagues humorously define Advent in these terms: “From the latin Ad Verso which means “To crowd out God with activities of dubious worth.” I reckon that more and more people are becoming convinced that the rush and bustle and hectic activity of the run-up to Christmas are indeed activities of dubious worth, but are uncertain as to what they can do to restore real value to it. They feel that Christmas ought to be good news but they sense that it might just be bad news in so far as it creates so much tension in their lives.

During Advent we are making preparations, but the event for which we’re preparing can seem trivial and tawdry and we wonder if it’s worth the effort and the expense. Nevertheless, we all get caught up in the frenetic business that is the contemporary preparation for Christmas and in so doing we all collude in crowding out God and removing him from his rightful place at the centre of the celebration.

So Advent is a time for preparation in both a secular and a religious sense. But in the Christian form of preparation the imperative is not to spend, spend, spend, but to repent. We’re called not to incur debt but to show our indebtedness to God by turning to him in penitence and humility and acknowledging the fact that we have failed in so many ways to live out our Christian discipleship and witness to the fullest extent of our powers. We’re called not to crowd out God, but to crowd him in, if I can put it like that.

No Advent sermon would be complete without reference to John the Baptist on whom the spotlight shines in two of the four gospel readings for the season. In last week’s reading we learned about the beginning of his ministry, and this week we hear that his proclamation had excited the interest of a wide range of people from ordinary folk to tax collectors to soldiers. John’s vocation was to prepare Israel for the imminent arrival of the Messiah, who would usher in God’s kingdom shortly thereafter. This event would be the realisation of the long held hope that God would send the Jews a king who would inaugurate God’s reign on earth, bringing peace and harmony to the world. The preparation involved the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

In this morning’s passage from Luke we find none of the joy that characterises the readings from Zephaniah or St Paul. Zephaniah, looking to a future in which God’s faithful people would reap the rewards of their faithfulness, cries out, “Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has taken away the judgements against you, he has turned away your enemies.” St Paul is no less joyful but his words are more measured, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” Paul’s concern was to maintain the churches in their faith and to try to prevent them from straying from the path in the light of the return of Jesus at some point in the future.

John, on the other hand, launches into an angry outburst that is pure vitriol, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” John’s conviction was that the Jews had become complacent and lazy in their religion and morally lax. They relied too heavily on their historical role as heirs of God’s covenant with Abraham and the other patriarchs, as if this pedigree was sufficient reason for them to find favour in God’s eyes. This cut no ice with John: “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ’We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham.”

Accidents of birth counted for nothing in John’s eyes; he was critical of the way in which they had crowded God out with smug complacency and activities of dubious worth. To the tax collectors who asked, “Teacher, what should we do”, he replied, “Collect no more than the amount prescribed to you.” To the soldiers who asked the same question he said, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusations, and be satisfied with your wages.” To the crowd in general he urged generosity in all things, especially toward the disadvantaged in society.

John’s passion was fuelled by the knowledge that the Messiah’s arrival was imminent and that this event would mark the inauguration of God’s reign with its accompanying judgement of the unfaithful, “Even now”, he declared, “the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” His proclamation was a wake up call to the Jews to prepare themselves by undergoing a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. His anger was spurred by his awareness that many of those coming forward for baptism were doing so merely as a means of insuring themselves against damnation. Mere repentance was useless, just so much lip service. The test of true repentance was in the fruits of their actions; by the amendment of life so that God and neighbour became the priorities.

Such was the force and passion of John’s preaching that many people mistook him for the Messiah, but John made it clear that they were mistaken; he had been sent to prepare the way for the Messiah and his baptism was provisional and partial. When the Messiah arrived the purification process would be far more rigorous and decisive and both the faithful and the unfaithful would be judged and dealt with accordingly.

There doesn’t seem to be much in that lot to rejoice about, does there? The passage ends with Luke giving a brief summary of John’s ministry, “So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.” That sounds as if Luke was being ironic, but we who read the passage, know and understand that Jesus’ coming to earth was and still is good news for us.

Today, the third Sunday in Advent, we become aware of the closeness of Christmas: only one more Sunday to go and then it will be upon us. Then we can celebrate the good news of the Incarnation; of the coming of God to live among us not only as a fellow human being but as our Saviour, bringing us, in faith and through his selfless love and sacrifice, into a right relationship with God and with one another. This is good news indeed!

We also look forward to Jesus’ return when the kingdom of God will be fully made manifest and present and we are able always to “Rejoice and exult with all our hearts.” Every year, the Advent season reminds us that we need to be in a constant state of readiness for that event, amending our lives in penitence and faith and giving thanks for the good news of what God has already done for us, and that in amongst the hurly burly of Christmas preparation we should beware of crowding out God with activities of dubious worth.

Let us pray:

Our heavenly Father, as once again we prepare or Christmas, help us to find time in our busy lives for quiet thought and prayer; that we may reflect upon the wonder of your love and allow the story of the Saviour’s birth to penetrate our hearts and minds. So may our joy be deeper, our worship more real, and our lives worthier of all that you have done for us through the coming of your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.