Sunday in Octave of Christmas 27 Dec 2020 Sermon

Sunday in Octave of Christmas 27.12.20 Waiting

Simeon and Anna had to wait a long time, and they were given the grace to do that.

They believed in God's promise, but how long would it be before that promise would take effect?

They were waiting for the first coming of the Messiah; we are waiting for His Second Coming, but also in a sense we are still waiting for the first coming.

He has come but His coming has never been sufficiently received. He came to His own and they received Him not (Jn 1,11).

In every age He has been ignored, denied, insulted, rejected etc.

Many have believed, but only partially. How many have believed to the point of really putting His will into effect?

It is our time now, to wait and hope, to be in the right place when needed. We have to get used to being in a minority. Simeon and Anna were only two people, probably mostly ignored by the passing throng.

We pray while others go about their business (which now includes business on the Sabbath!).

They turned up to the Temple every day. We (between us) turn up to the church every day.

They might have been tempted to discouragement; we certainly are.

We can be discouraged when we look and look, and yet nothing seems to be happening. My eyes are weary from looking upwards (Is 38,14).

Like the watchman waiting for dawn or the deer that yearns for running streams, the Lord will not disappoint us.

The waiting stretches beyond one generation. We will not see everything in one lifetime, but all who have been faithful will be included in the final triumph.

If salvation were just a matter of something being given to us, like rain from above, then it would be easy.

The complicating factor is that a response is required from us. We do not just wait passively, but actively seek to interact more fully with God.

We want to get to know His ways, to put His teachings into practice.

If Christmas is seen as just an isolated event, only once a year, and not really relevant to the rest of our lives, then we will never see what Christ was intending.

We have to give Him enough obedience to see what difference it can make.

When we turn to Him in expectant prayer, connections will be made, and miracles will result.

We will see a greater share of peace on earth, unity in families, food for all etc, if we let the true Sun shine upon us.

Our Lord relies on His present disciples to receive Him and make Him known to the world.

It is not just Christmas day; it has to be every day.

To receive this gift takes a certain intensity of effort. We have to focus to make sure we stay on the right path. It is so easy to take a wrong turning – so we keep time with the feasts and seasons.

God wants us to take Him seriously, and this for our benefit as well as to His glory.

He calls us back to Him, as He has in every generation. One God, One Saviour, one faith.

If we rigorously sift out the falsehood we will see our way clear.

We work with what we have to help bring about the final resolution. It is worth the wait.

We do possess Him already, but we have to work out a few details yet.

In the Octave of Christmas we are reminded of the tension under which we still operate. Joy is the main theme, but there are three feast days of martyrs!

If we needed reminding, there is still some suffering to be endured, but Joy looms large as the final state.

It is worth the wait.

  

4th Sunday of Advent 20 Dec 2020 Sermon

 

4^th Sunday of Advent 20.12.20 The Incarnation

God kept His promise of sending a messiah but did so in a way that no one anticipated or would have dared to anticipate.

He came Himself as the Messiah! It was not to be just another outstanding man, but God Himself this time.

This is a fact so dazzling that we are still coming to terms with it.

Believers have to deepen their understanding of this event; unbelievers find it a stumbling block - they do not think it likely that God would do that.

But He did do it. God the Son took on human nature. Without ceasing to be God He became Man.

The human nature of Jesus Christ was created, and from that point on He, God the Son, was both God and Man, one Person, two natures.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He had no human father because He was Son of God.

He was conceived miraculously to show that His coming was pure gift from God. Nothing we could do would merit His coming, or in any way cause it. It was pure gift.

He was born of a sinless mother, because it was fitting that sin have no place in His coming.

He was joining a sinful humanity but cannot Himself be tainted by sin.

The moment that God became man was the dawning of salvation. A lot of things still needed to happen, but the main point had been established. There was no going back on this blessing.

Once God had given Himself to humanity in this way, there would be no revoking of His blessing.

He would not abandon us at some future point. He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things? (Romans 8,32)

Why did He come in such obscurity? For one thing to make the point that only eyes of faith will see the Salvation which is being offered.

God made Himself visible in the Incarnation. Anyone could see God as He walked about! But only those with eyes of faith, with the right disposition, could see the inner meaning of what God’s coming signified.

In this sense the whole Church has been reflecting on the Birth of Christ, the Incarnation, for two millennia.

We are still coming to terms with it, and we do that through the eyes of faith.

Faith teaches us what God is like, what He does, what He wants. With faith we learn to recognise a certain ‘style’ in the way that God goes about His work.

He usually seems to call lowly types rather than the high and mighty. Look at the people involved with His birth. Our Lady, St  Joseph, St John the Baptist – humble in holiness; the shepherds – humble in social standing.

He lifts up the lowly and casts down the proud, as Mary tells us in the Magnificat.

As to the proud, they are still trying to disprove Him in every possible way – to kill Him, to make Him irrelevant, to impede His message and mission. These can still be saved, if they will humble themselves and repent.

The more obscure the Saviour’s coming the more one has to search out its meaning, and that is what He wants us to do. That searching is good for us, for when we search for Him, we are enabling Him to enlighten us.

We are greatly blessed to share in the divinity of Him who consented to share in our humanity.

3rd Sunday of Advent 13 Dec 2020 Sermon

 

3^rd Sunday of Advent 13.12.20 Wanting too much and too little

In some ways people want too much from God and in some ways too little. We need to correct both imbalances.

Wanting too much from God can be that we look on Him as a wonder-worker whose job it is to tidy up around us, solve all our problems, make everything come right – at the same time excusing ourselves from any part of the process. It is God's job to fix everything, in this view.

And if things are not fixed as we like, then we might complain to Him or about Him.

We are wanting too much, wanting to have power over God, that He will obey us rather than the other way round.

He does want us to ask for his help but in a respectful way, giving him the right to decide what is best.

And we need a non-grudging acceptance of whatever He decides.

Wanting too much is in evidence when people say why they do not believe in God, or do not go to church, or distrust religion etc. God does not measure up to what they think He should be.

Wanting too little means stopping too soon in our expectations of what God is really doing for us.

Here also the problem stems from making too much of the visible material world, and not enough of the spiritual world.

God wants to give us much more than we ask for, but not in terms of earthly goals, like money, success, or power - but qualities like wisdom, humility, kindness, love of one’s neighbour.

It is not so easy to be excited about these things. If you heard that today you will become more humble, for example, that may not sound very exciting. If you hear you are going to win the lottery, that sounds much more interesting.

We have a way of getting things the wrong way round.

We need to adjust what we want to match what God wants for us.

We say it so many times: Thy will be done.

To achieve the right balance we need to go to God first, and become more familiar with the sort of things He wants. Then we will have more understanding of how to ask Him for material matters.

We will be humbler and more balanced in what we ask for, and we will have more understanding of the complexities of each case.

For all that we still are encouraged to ask for what we need. Let your petitions be made known to God (Ph 4,6).

Seek first the Kingdom and all else will be given to you (Mt 6,33). Seek the spiritual and the material will fall into place.

We will not be worried because we are more firmly anchored in the right relationship with God.

No one is worried in heaven. There they still see the need for prayer, but they are so aware of God, it is impossible for them to lose confidence in Him, or the peace that goes with that.

Sometimes God grants a prayer straight away, and there is an end of the matter.

Other times He will take the longer way round, and expect some input from us (for our ongoing formation).

In these cases He is training us, teaching us to be His disciples, how to love through sacrifice and difficulty.

It is a privilege that God trusts us enough to involve us in the process.

What power we would let loose if enough people could simply let God be the boss.

We do not want too much or too little, but exactly what God wants us to have, and to do.

Lord, help us not be so obstructive, as we usually are!

2nd Sunday of Advent 6 Dec 2020 Sermon

 

2^nd Sunday of Advent 6.12.20 Repentance

The call to repentance is put before all people. If one is far from God the call is to come closer. If already close, then work on such faults as still remain.

The desired result is that each person be in a state of union with God, understanding oneself to be a child of God, sharing in His life.

Repentance is giving up one thing for another, the short-term deceptive emptiness of sin on one hand, and in return a life of fulfilment and joy, leading eventually into Heaven.

In other spheres of life we give up one thing for another, eg buying something we want.

The spiritual life can be seen in the same light. Give up something which does not work for something that does.

The Church has had many prophets, repeating this call to repentance.

One of the greatest is St John the Baptist, the ‘voice in the wilderness’ who had an uncompromising message: demanding full repentance from his audience.

The message of repentance is not normally considered a popular one. However, there is a sense in which people are attracted to it.

Many made their way out into the desert to hear John speak (Mt 3,5).   Later King Herod ‘liked to hear John speak’ (Mk 6,20), even though Herod did not really want to change his ways.

Our Lord pointed this out to the people – that they knew they were going to get a hard message, yet still went (Mt 11, 7-9).

This is the operation of the grace of God within the human heart.

We have an inbuilt longing to be in union with God. We can sense the futility of sin; we yearn for something better, but may not think we are strong enough to change, or may not want it quite enough.

There will be all sorts of obstacles on the way to repentance, but it will be rewarding for anyone who perseveres.

Some will partially repent, trying to have a bit of both worlds, heaven and earth.

This will not do, because repentance works only when it is complete.

Even John the Baptist, and even Our Lord did not have hundred per cent success with the crowds.

There was that initial attraction but then people slipped back into their old ways.

The rich young man could not part with his riches; the parable of the Sower speaks of those who had good aspirations but could not continue.

Complete repentance means a desire to please God in all things; coupled with a perseverance in daily life, doing whatever is necessary to root out sin. ‘if your eye should cause you to sin, pluck it out  (Mt 18,9).

It is not so forbidding as it might sound, remembering that it is simply a trade-off between different ways of living, and the Christ-way is by far the happiest.

We thank God for being so patient with us, and for giving us so many chances to get this right.

Out of all the confusion, all the uncertainty, the way of repentance shines like a beacon. This is the way to safety, to sanity, to salvation.

Some would be afraid that they will have to become ‘religious’ to be saved; that the Church might be right after all – this could be  their worst fear; but really it is a way to joy if they can humble themselves, glad to be wrong by way of coming to the right.

The small voice of conscience will be heard, and many will come to hear the word which seems hard at first, but leads to great joy.

1st Sunday of Advent 29 Nov 2020 Sermon

 

1^st Sunday of Advent 29.11.20 Fear of the Lord

Fear of the Lord is one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. It does not mean fear as in ‘being afraid’ of something, like spiders, or heights, or crowds etc.

It means a basic reverence and awe before Almighty God, whereby we understand that God is far above any other being, or object, or activity. He is greater than the sum total of everything else.

This could simply intimidate us (the wrong sort of fear), but it is meant to lead us into loving God, as we discover His goodness.

We are attracted to the good, and here is All Goodness in the one place.

It is good for us to be in such a state and therefore we can call it a gift. It is something that makes us better off than we were before.

If we love Him we will be glad to see Him. It is in this understanding that we can speak of welcoming Christ to return, as we do in the Advent season.

We call: Come, Lord Jesus! Come and resume complete control of all the world, only this time in such a way that all will see it. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord.

We can be comfortable in the presence of God. His superiority does not exclude us. He invites us to come closer to Him (Come to Me, all you who labour and thirst…. Let the little children come to Me… Come, follow Me…Everything is ready, come to the banquet…)

Becoming more familiar with Him we lose the servile fear and grow in the filial fear, that of complete, but comfortable submission to His will.

The more we love Him, the more readily we obey. This is how it is in Heaven, where everyone still has free will, but no one would ever use that will against God.

One might object that it is easy for them in Heaven, but for us still toiling away on earth, we have to deal with many distractions

There is so much sin and rebellion in the world. It could make us hard and cynical, rejecting any idea of God’s offering or requiring love in relation to us.

And there are so many dark ways which we might take, and then find ourselves trapped, no longer expecting mercy, or any share of God.

There is a way through all this – the way of repentance, conversion of heart.

God, for His part, holds out His offer of Mercy to everyone.

Anyone can be forgiven, even for a lifetime of sin, provided there is some movement towards God.

He came to the world to offer another chance to the human race; He will come again to complete what He has begun.

Our prayer in Advent is that hard hearts will be prised open, allowing the grace and mercy of God to enter.

People ask: Why can't we all just live in peace? Along the same line: why cannot the creature obey the creator? Why do we try to be something we are not, when every happiness is to be found in simply being what we are – children of God.

Advent is a dawning of this understanding. Not for the first time, but each time is like the first time in the freshness of the present moment.

To see God as He wants us see Him, not afraid of Him as being so far beyond us; not over-familiar as in irreverent – but the right balance, knowing and loving Him, as He really is, and we really are.