I suppose I should start the sermon this morning by wishing you all ’Happy New Year.’ But before you think that I’ve completely blown it, let me explain – at least for those who weren’t here last Sunday evening. Today is new year – not that we’ve fast forwarded to Jan 1; not is it Chinese New Year nor anything like that. Today is Advent Sunday, the new year in the Church’s calendar, it’s the beginning of the Church year.
I do think that we neglect Advent. No sooner has Advent got under way than we’re headlong into all those interminable carol services that we have, so that by the time it gets to the point when we should sing carols, we’re all carolled out. And I think we are the poorer for not remembering Advent. Advent isn’t Christmas, and nor is Advent about preparing for Christmas. Advent is a time of waiting, a time of preparation for celebrating the coming of God into the world in human form in the person of Jesus his Son.
It’s interesting that the Church year starts not on some great high point, or with some fervent celebration, not with firework, not with the birth of Jesus nor with his resurrection – but with a period of waiting and preparation, with a sense of emptiness and wondering. But I think it’s right because if we don’t go through this season of Advent waiting and watching and preparing then we don’t really have anything to celebrate.
Symbols of Advent
There are many symbols of Advent. The Advent candles that we have in church are pone. We lit the first one this morning and, in the coming Sundays up until Christmas we light an additional one until, on Christmas Day we light the white candle in the middle representing Christ, the Light of the World. Traditionally the red candles have stood for the gradual revelation of the coming of Christ – the ancestors in the faith, the prophets who spoke the word of God and looked forward to a saviour figure, John the Baptist who prepared the way and Mary and Joseph. As the candles are lit each week so the waiting progresses and the expectation grows.
Another sign of Advent is the Advent Calendar. When I was growing up we always had an Advent Calendar. But it was never one with chocolate in. It was always one of those that had really old fashioned pictures relating to the nativity, or to Christmas in general behind each door. And we always argued about whose turn it was to open the door.
Today we’ve come a long way. Interestingly Advent Calendars always begin on 1 December, even though Advent rarely does, this year it’s 2 December, other years it’s in November. But Advent Calendars are about waiting in expectation of something happening, about expectation until we celebrate the birth of Jesus on 25 December.
But what about a jigsaw as a sign of Advent? I’m not sure it would ever catch on because it’s not as colourful and exciting as the candles and the calendars. But a jigsaw is a sign of passing time. I have phases when I’ll do a jigsaw. It goes out on the dining table and every now and then, as I pass, I’ll stop and put a few pieces in. It’s good to watch the picture emerge and develop as more pieces are placed in their right place.
And that’s true of Advent. If we wait, if we watch patiently, then the picture of Jesus revealed to us during this time becomes clearer until we rejoice on Christmas Day.
But waiting isn’t something of a virtue in society today. We don’t wait. We live in an on-demand culture where everything has to be there when we want it.
We have to have the latest DVD, or latest gadget or piece of new technology now. People queue outside shops for days sometimes to be the first to get their hands on something new. And so it goes on.
And people are prepared to go into great debt to have things now. I read an article in a Saturday newspaper the other week that showed a family with either one or two children. Both parents earned a reasonable wage but they had debt.
They had a mortgage of around £120k, OK, fine. But they had 16 credit cards with a total debt of £60k and several other loans totalling around the same amount. And that story is replicated countless times across the country.
People cannot wait, cannot have patience. A jigsaw isn’t finished on demand. It takes time, it takes patience. Advent is a one day wonder. Advent is all about waiting,about wondering, about preparing ourselves for the celebration of the coming of Christ. Too often we rush straight into Christmas from Advent Sunday.
So what is this Advent journey? What are the pieces of the jigsaw that we piece together during this season?
1st Piece of the Jigsaw
Today, Advent Sunday, we place the first piece of the jigsaw in place – that part that talks about the coming of Jesus at the end of time. The reading from Matthew was all about signs of the end of the age and the day and the hour of the end and of the return of Jesus being unknown.
Matthew likens it to the time just before the flood and Noah’s ark – people were just getting on with their lives, eating, drinking, getting married and then, suddenly – the rains came and everyone got wet and drowned. That’s how it will be with the end of time says Jesus. We do not know when or how, but we need to be ready.
If you read the whole of Matthew 24 it is full of weird and wonderful imagery of what we call the end times. We don;t know when it will happen but it hasn’t stopped people trying to work out when it will be.
The 7th Day Adventists have for a long time been predicting the end of the world. In fact their origin lies in the prediction of October 22 1844. And there was a 17th century Bishop who did some amazing calculations and informed a shocked people that the world would end on October 23 1996. His was only one of 20 predictions for the 1990’s which didn’t quite come true but October 22 and 23 seem to be very popular days.
Early Christians lived with the expectation the world would end at any time. They waited expectantly for Christ to return and for all to be lived. They lived each day as it came. And today, we too don’t know when the end of the world will come but we have a responsibility to live each day for God whilst waiting expectantly for the end to come.
So the 1st part of the Advent jigsaw is the waiting for Christ to come and living each day for him where we are and in expectation of what will happen.
2nd Piece of the Jigsaw
The 2nd piece of the jigsaw is John the Baptist who, as an adult, lived a solitary life in the desert until he began to preach. Then he became like a prophet of the Old Testament as he confronted Jewish people with their need to repent.
John wore clothes made from camel hair and a leather belt and ate locusts and wild honey. But he drew crowds. John identified himself as the forerunner of the Messiah, of Jesus and announced that God’s kingdom was near. His role was to point people on to Jesus.
To a searching group of people, to searching men and women, John pointed then to the one long promised. And in Advent, John points us to Jesus, he reveals a little more of the story as we prepare for his coming. The waiting reveals that not only is Christ coming again, but that he is the promised Messiah, the Saviour of the world.
3rd piece of the jigsaw
The 3rd piece of the Advent jigsaw adds more clarity to the message. Here John the Baptist points to a fuller picture of who Jesus is. Yes he is coming again, yes he is the Messiah but he also performs great deeds.
In prison John the Baptist agonises over whether Jesus really is the one sent from God. He is reassured after he sends some friends to Jesus to find out more information. On their return they tell John that through this man Jesus the blind can see, the lame walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear. Yes, the person that John the Baptist was pointing people to really is the Messiah. So the waiting of Advent reveals a little more about the person and purpose of Jesus, the one we wait to welcome.
4th piece of the jigsaw
The 4th part of the jigsaw comes on the Sunday before Christmas when our thoughts turn to Mary and Joseph. Both Mary and Joseph have to wait and wonder. They both receive a message from an angel that something wonderful, extraordinary is about to happen. But they have to wait, ponder, live with eager anticipation.
What is happening is a scandal. These two people, unmarried are expecting a baby born a king. But for them no stately home, no royal palace, no BUPA private hospital for the birth. No, just an ordinary stable in Bethlehem where the Saviour of the World is to be born.
Summary
So Advent is an invitation to wait and wonder, to watch and ponder as the truth about the incarnation (God coming to earth) is unveiled. As we journey through Advent the picture of this Jesus becomes clearer. He is no ordinary baby, despite the surroundings of his birth.
This Jesus we wait for is the one who will come again to redeem the world and bring in the new heaven and the new earth at some time in the future, a time unknown to us. We wait and watch and live our lives each day for him.
This Jesus is the one who was promised from ages ago and to whom John the Baptist points and where his identity is confirmed in his actions – healing and loving, caring and sharing. And this Jesus we wait for is a king born in a stable, God himself come to earth for us.
The candles, the advent calendars, the jigsaw, all invite us to wait, to wonder, to look for Christ. He was born in an obscure stable in Bethlehem. He will come again with great glory when this world ends. He is now hidden but can be found by those who wait and watch and wonder. May we wait in expectation and find Jesus this Christmas.
