Tag: Advent

Advent 4: Mary & Joseph

Advent 4 – Year A
Isaiah 7:10-16
Psalm 80
Romans 1:1-7
Matthew 1:18-25

I am struggling to believe that it is the Fourth Sunday of Advent. It has gone by way too quickly. My well-intentioned plans for a reflective and attentive Advent have largely fallen by the wayside. Roll on Christmas.

The Gospel readings for Fourth Sunday always revolve around Mary as she completes the picture of our Advent journey. I looked back over the lectionary (as I did for John the Baptist) to see which stories of Mary are used on this particular Sunday. Year B has set Luke 1 which is the Annunciation; when Mary was visited by Gabriel who brings her the good news that she will bear a son. Year C has also set Luke 1; the Magnificat in which Mary proclaims the greatness of the Lord who has looked with favour on her lowly self.

But every third year in Year A, the Gospel reading switches primary focus to Joseph with Matthew’s account of the birth of Jesus. Matthew seems to focus his attention on Joseph much more than on Mary. You might not have noticed this but Joseph never speaks.

We never hear his voice in any of the accounts. Mary speaks and there is great focus and attention on her. In comparison, we know very little about Joseph and there can be a temptation to push him to the side-lines. I want to take the opportunity to look a little closer at Joseph. Without him the whole Christmas story would have faltered.

In many dramatisations of the nativity, Joseph is portrayed as a responsible but passionate younger man who was deeply in love with Mary. When Mary returns from visiting her cousin Elizabeth with a very obvious baby bump, Joseph is devastated, angry, grief-stricken, embarrassed. As viewers, we were confronted with a range of emotions and conversations between Mary and Joseph that were likely experienced but are not mentioned in the biblical story.

In Matthew’s account, Joseph is told about Mary’s baby and in a breath decides to quietly divorce her and save her from public disgrace. Here we see the loyalty and dignity, the faithfulness of Joseph.

It is not until the angel appears to Joseph in a dream to explain the whole situation that he believes Mary’s story when he wakes up.

We would make a mistake to sanitise Joseph’s consent as being an easy decision to come to. We diminish his humanity by overlooking his humiliation and doubt. In a culture and religion that was bound by rules, Joseph would have been in a lot of pain.

We so often want to separate ourselves from the pain of other people, we can feel so helpless in the face of it. In Joseph, we see that God’s favour is not always a shiny, happy thing. Whatever thoughts Joseph had about his family’s future were upended. His ideas of fairness, justice, goodness and purity are shattered. Being chosen by God is not always so attractive.

Joseph’s story is one that can give us hope. Many of us will know what it is to struggle to do what has been asked of us. Sometimes the decisions are difficult and the choices are limited. Joseph struggled. He was prepared to do the honourable, arguably easier thing but that was not what was asked.

So he struggled more and came to the decision that was far harder but the right one. He woke up and did what the angel commanded him. Little wonder that the angel’s opening line was do not be afraid. Joseph was needed as it is through him that Jesus’ connection to the House of David is made. If you read through the opening verses of Matthew chapter one, it is a cabaret of characters who did some interesting things.

Debie Thomas wrote, ‘Interestingly, in the verses that immediately precede our Gospel reading, Matthew gives us a genealogy of Jesus’s ancestors. He mentions Abraham — the patriarch who abandoned his son, Ishmael, and twice endangered his wife’s safety in order to save his own skin. He mentions Jacob, the trickster usurper who humiliated his older brother. He mentions David, who slept with another man’s wife and then ordered that man’s murder to protect his own reputation. He mentions Tamar, who pretended to be a sex worker, and Rahab, who was one. These are just a few representative samples.

Notice anything? Anything like messiness? Complication? Scandal? Sin? How interesting that God, who could have chosen any genealogy for his Son, chose a long line of brokenness, imperfection, dishonour, and scandal. The perfect backdrop, I suppose, for his beautiful works of restoration, healing, hope, and second chances.’

Not only was Jesus born into a messy world, but a messy family. Joseph helps to remind us that what God asks of us is often messy and unexpected. We should however expect to have our own ideas upended and challenged. Yet do not be afraid. I hope as we come fully into this Christmas season and new year that we are not afraid to love more deeply, pay more attention to what God is doing or asking of us. It might be messy.

Do not be afraid of the mess. It is in the mess that Jesus our Saviour was born.

Gaudete!

14/12/25

Isaiah 35:1-10
James 5:7-10
Matthew 11:2-11

It is my favourite Sunday! Rose day! Gaudete! Gaudete in Latin means ‘rejoice’. The name comes from the opening of the Mass for that day: Gaudete in Domine Semper, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’.

Gaudete Sunday is also a reminder that Advent is quickly passing; the Lord’s coming is near. The focus is turning more to the second coming than the first and there is a heightened sense of intense joy, gladness and expectation in our readings. The Gospel reading set for Gaudete Sunday always features John the Baptist. John’s ministry is centred on the announcement that the Lord’s coming is near and is much nearer than you think.

I looked back over the lectionary to see which stories of John the Baptist are used on this particular Sunday. Year B is John giving his testimony to the priests and Levites sent by the Jews to check him out. Year C is Luke chapter three where John chastises the Pharisees and Sadducees, brands them a ‘brood of vipers’ and calls for them to repent. Year A, is Matthew’s account of John in prison awaiting his fate.

None of these events provide obvious reasons to rejoice!

As a refresher, John was sent to jail by King Herod. John had been attacking Herod over marrying his brother’s ex-wife which was less than appropriate. John had also been announcing that the Kingdom of God, the true kingdom was coming. Herod was not the real king and God would replace him. John was likely not experiencing intense joy or gladness as his expectations of getting out alive may have been low.

The four prison walls closing in must surely have limited his vision. So much so that John sent his disciples to Jesus with the question ‘Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?’

Some thoughts about why John asked that question…

One suggestion is that John was disappointed. Maybe he was expecting Jesus to be a man of fire who would sweep through Israel as Elijah did and right all the wrongs. Maybe Jesus was supposed to confront Herod, topple him from his throne, become king in his palace, get John out of prison and give him a place of honour. Or at least let him live.

Jesus is not doing this. He is healing the blind and deaf, cleansing the lepers, befriending the sinners, the tax collectors, ordinary men and women and teaching them about the things of God. Maybe not doing what John wanted him to do. So maybe John is thinking ‘was I wrong?!’

The other suggestion for John’s question is that he wants to know if it is safe for him to give up, to hand the mission on. John was the one to herald the coming of God’s Messiah. How could he do that from a prison cell? Maybe he couldn’t relax until he knew whether or not he had done his job.

John’s ministry only lasted about a year. Maybe John thought he would have more time, that his purpose would take longer to be fulfilled. John is waiting to see if what he has done in the past was right. Now he is waiting in the present to see if Jesus is the one or if there is another yet to come.

In his waiting and hoping John gets an answer back; and it probably was not what he was expecting! What Jesus sent back could not be more different from the message that John preached.

John shouted for repentance in the face of the wrath of God: he spoke of axes cutting down dead trees and unquenchable fires. Jesus speaks of mercy, healing and rejoicing. Jesus lists the great signs of the coming of the Messiah which had all been prophesied in the past.

Jesus answers John by quoting Isaiah 35 which John would have known. It is a message all about John. The wilderness, which was John’s home, will rejoice and bloom, the fearful of heart are to be comforted. John is in prison, awaiting certain death with a fearful heart.

I think that John knew that Jesus was the Messiah. John was the baby that leapt in his mother Elizabeth’s womb when her cousin Mary and her baby (Jesus) came to visit. John the Baptizer knew Jesus the Messiah the moment he saw him at the Jordan River. John knew in his head who Jesus really was.

But time and circumstance can dull the image of our faith perception and leave us feeling not sure what we believe.

John’s question had more to do with his heart than his head. John had heard about the miracles and healings Jesus was doing for others and perhaps his faith was shaken.

He certainly could have used a miracle for himself as he did not appear to be getting one. And sitting in that prison cell John might have been having a little trouble knowing it with his heart. Sometimes our faith gets shaken by what we do not get or what God has not done for us personally.

I spoke to an older lady a while ago. She was very honest about where she was at with faith. She told me that after her husband had died after a long period of illness; she came to the conclusion that ‘if there was a God – why did her husband suffer the way he did?’ She couldn’t believe in a God like that. Neither can I.

There is not an easy answer for that question. There are theological or doctrinal answers that are pastorally unhelpful in these situations. Equally there are pastoral answers that deny the theological problems these situations raise.

Ann Garrido – ‘Today the Church is garbed in pink – that colour of hope in the midst of darkness. We are reminded that even though daylight is difficult to come by and waiting is hard, we are not to cave in to despair but to be open to and sustained by those signs already present in the world around us that let us know that God is at work. While we have not seen the kingdom of God yet in its fullness, there are ways in which that future is breaking into our own time even now – bursts of illumination and freedom, connection and healing. Our faith does not hinge on promises still unfulfilled but on promises in the process of being fulfilled this very day.’

Either way, many of us have endured long stretches of suffering, waiting, longing and hoping for God to come through for us. Maybe in those times we have seen or heard of wondrous works He was doing elsewhere. And it hurts! It is painful! The doubts that these types of situations create are probably not coming from our heads but our hearts, our feelings, our hurts.

John was not like ‘a reed swayed by the wind’ – he was a man of conviction. He was a man of little personal vanity and a huge commitment to God’s kingdom. If he can have a doubt or two then it is safe to have some of our own doubts.

Gaudete in the face of suffering and uncertainty. It won’t last forever. The Lord is near. I will end this sermon with a poem.

Gaudete by Brad Reynolds

Because Christmas is almost here
Because dancing fits so well with music
Because inside baby clothes are miracles.
Gaudete
Because some people love you
Because of chocolate
Because pain does not last forever
Because Santa Claus is coming.
Gaudete
Because of laughter
Because there really are angels
Because your fingers fit your hands
Because forgiveness is yours for the asking
Because of children
Because of parents.
Gaudete
Because the blind see.
And the lame walk.
Gaudete
Because lepers are clean
And the deaf hear.
Gaudete
Because the dead will live again
And there is good news for the poor.
Gaudete
Because of Christmas
Because of Jesus
You rejoice.

Christ the King: 3 L’s

Jeremiah 23:1-6 Colossians 1:11-20 Luke 23:33-43

God the Father,
help us to hear the call of Christ the King
and to follow in his service,
whose kingdom has no end;
for he reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
one God, one glory.
Amen.

Today is the final Sunday of the church year; this is New Year’s Eve! Happy New Year! As most people do on New Year’s Eve, we can look back on the last year and look forward to the new one. I suspect that many people may prefer to keep their eyes closed in this season; given the uncertainty and challenging times facing the world, the country, in our families and individually.

This Sunday is a hinge that helps us to look in both directions: firstly pointing to the end of time when the kingdom of Jesus will be established in all its fullness to the ends of the earth. Secondly, it points us to the immediate season of Advent, the beautiful time of expectation and preparation as we look ahead to celebrating the birth of Jesus. In both directions we are reminded that Jesus is King.

Christ the King is a recent addition (1925 so very new) to the church calendar and a Roman Catholic one at that. Pope Pius XI instituted this Sunday in response to issues he was facing in the Catholic church and in the civic life of Rome as secularism was growing in wider society after World War 1. There was an enormous crisis of faith and many people left the Church (both Catholic & Protestant) in Europe. The men had left for war and they did not come back; and the women left the church and God. This context led the Pope to establish Christ the King Sunday as a reminder of Jesus’ power and authority above all else. Pope Pius wrote:

‘If to Christ Jesus our Lord is given all power in heaven and on earth; if all men, purchased by his precious blood, are by a new right subjected to His dominion; if this power embraces all men, [paraphrasing now] He must reign in our minds, He must reign in our wills, He must reign in our hearts, He must reign in our bodies and in our members as instruments of justice unto God.’

It can be challenging to view God as a King. The language of kingship can be offensive and outdated especially to the vast majority of people who do not live under a monarchy. The reign of many kings has meant terror and death with the accumulation of wealth and power through exploitation, greed and cruelty. Kingship is then passed on by birthright to the next person who did nothing to deserve it.

Yet the Bible is full of reference to kingship. In the Old Testament, God warned the Israelites about the dangers of a human king but they insisted. God yielded and Saul was anointed as the first king of Israel. The subsequent kings generally started off okay, then made a mess when they ignored God’s instruction, suffered for it and then died. The reign was passed on to the next in line and the pattern was repeated for centuries.

In the New Testament, the earliest followers of Jesus used the language of kingship to describe who he was, what he said, and what he did. They were looking for Jesus to be a king who would smite their enemies and bring Israel back to prosperity. This is not the model of a king that Jesus followed.

The question then becomes what does kingship mean and what does God’s kingdom look like?

Longevity

It was a very interesting time to minister following the death of Queen Elizabeth. The protocol that followed the announcement of her death had been planned for many decades with the execution in a very short amount of time, hours and days. You may remember all the instructions and emails that were flying around.

Priests were emailed the final official instructions about what to do when her death was announced a few hours before she died. I was then sent daily instructions for each of the following 10 days and through the funeral. It covered flags, bell ringing, colours for the altar, prayers, service liturgy so that all bases were covered. People turned to the church where we offered books of condolence to be signed, candles to light, a place to think, reflect and pray.

One of the events that people found particularly jarring was the quick accession of King Charles III to the throne. Many were caught in a place of profound grief and celebration. You could see it on the faces as we sang God Save The King for the first time. Our much loved monarch is gone but the monarchy carries on.

Here is the first issue with human kingdoms: they are only ever temporary. The Queen was only ever temporary. From dust she came and to dust she has returned. All earthly kingdoms come to dust.

God’s Kingdom will be permanent. It will be a place that we will never want to leave. We can have hope that there is a future with no more pain, suffering or death. The Queen believed this; she was a woman of great faith. My favourite televangelist. She spoke humbly and honestly about her faith in Jesus; the older she got, the more she spoke out.

The thief on the cross, in only a very short yet torturous time next to Jesus experienced something of eternity. His desperate yet profound request to be in paradise with Jesus was granted. Once in paradise, likely did not want to leave there ever again.

Light & Darkness

Many of you know that I was a volunteer police chaplain with Thames Valley before I came here. It wasn’t a great surprise to learn that most really violent crime happens at night. What did surprise me was that Monday and Tuesday nights can be some of the busiest of the week. Why?

People do the really bad stuff under the cover of darkness when they are less likely to be seen. No one wants to get caught. What happens on a Monday night anyway?!

The Advent season falls at the darkest time of the year, and the natural symbols of darkness and light are powerfully at work throughout Advent and Christmas. We may live in dark times, but the light of Christ will show us the way. Not everyone wants to live in the light though. If we stay in darkness long enough,our eyes will adjust and we may think we can get along just fine without
getting caught. Thank you very much. Living in the darkness can make us forget
what living in love and light is like.

The church in Colossae was having difficulty; this community was struggling with wrong teaching, empty ritual and false mysticism. Paul is encouraging them to hold on to the truth and pursue a lifestyle that honours God and puts him first. Paul reminds the church that they have been rescued, by God through Jesus, from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of light. They are part of a bigger story, not just the petty politics of the day. A high price has been paid for this kingdom and for our redemption and forgiveness.

The King of God’s Kingdom is fair and just, all things (all things) hold together in him. Stay in the light!

Long Game

One might expect the readings on Christ the King Sunday to be a bit more royal or regal. Maybe something about the throne room in Revelation or one of Jesus’ more shiny moments in the Gospels, the Transfiguration or a healing. Oh no, we have the crucifixion in all its horror getting close to the end. The King of the Jews is hanging, beaten, exhausted, mocked and stripped between two others.

As we look ahead to the more immediate future of the Advent season, we celebrate the first coming of Jesus. We tell the familiar stories, we get the nativity scenes out again. We also have to remember that this baby, the Son of God, who was born into the world as both God and man, died so that our sins may be forgiven and rose again so that we may live with him forever.

We also look forward to his glorious return at the end of time. Advent helps us to remember that God is present in the world today. We have a King who will reign with longevity. Forever but not yet! We need to remain in the kingdom of light, we have already been rescued from the kingdom of darkness. We need to look again at Christ the King, remember we are part of a bigger story.

I will end with a few lines from Psalm 46:

1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
3 though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.
4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most
High dwells.
5 God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.
6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts.
7 The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

2nd Sunday Before Advent: Risen With Healing

16/11/25
Malachi 4:1-2a
Psalm 98
Luke 21:5-19

You can always tell when we are getting close to the end of the church year – the lectionary readings begin to talk about the end of time. The Wednesday Study Group has been mulling this over for the last few weeks as we study The Book of Revelation.

There are only two weeks left before the start of Advent – scary I know! We should enter this season of waiting, preparing and expectation with an expanded view of God and his coming kingdom. I want us to do this with joy. Joy in our hearts and be sources of joy in the world. The Church of England’s Advent & Christmas campaign this year is around joy.

I do not always pay enough attention to some of the campaigns – but this year I have drunk the kool-aid. I think that the branding is beautiful and the message is so badly needed. We all need joy! The world needs joy.

Jesus’ ‘end of times’ warnings were not his most endearing nor evidently joyful. The disciples did not have the luxury of knowing what would happen. They are still unaware, unclear on the impending crucifixion of Jesus; let alone the resurrection and ascension. We live on the other side of those events. We are still all waiting for the end.

There are versions of Jesus’ warning about the destruction of Jerusalem’s beautiful temple in Matthew and Mark too. This passage occurs in the middle of the last week of Jesus’ earthly life. Jesus has been preaching in the temple and has been warning Peter, Andrew, James and John about what is to come.

It is going to be awful. Jesus paints a vivid account of what to expect and reinforces the need for us to be vigilant. We have much in common. In 2025 we need to be reminded and aware of false teaching, lying, deception, war, famine and earthquakes. Some of us will have experienced some of these things on a greater or lesser scale. Jesus ‘ is clear that it will only get worse.

Many of these events happened with little to no warning or time scale; a lack of awareness of time is not a new phenomenon. The prophet Malachi warns of the coming day of destruction and nothing will be left. But, he says, those who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.
Sound familiar? Third verse of the greatest Christmas Carol ever composed.

Hail the Heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Risen with healing in His wings;
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
“Glory to the new-born king”

Despite having advanced technology and advanced knowledge of what, where and when it will happen, our humanness can make the reality of these events incomprehensible until they occur.

Recap: lots of really bad things are going to happen and we do not know when but watch out! Thanks Jesus. Thank God for the third verse.

All good Jews would have had great love for Jerusalem and reverence for the Temple. The disciples had all grown up not far away in Galilee; they too had walked the length and breadth of the city with Jesus. They knew the walls and gates. No Jerusalem and No Temple was inconceivable!

There is a sense of urgency in the questions they ask Jesus – When? What are the signs? No time frame makes this difficult! Jesus did not want the disciples to get overly fixated on either the time [whether it is long or short] or the events themselves. There is a kindness in this.

How do we measure time or response to a situation when there seems as though there is nothing to measure? Jesus’ concern is for preparation. It is Jesus who will protect, give them the words and wisdom that their opponents will not be able to contradict. The disciples though must make up their minds in advance and prepare their defence. We too must prepare ourselves in advance – how do we explain our faith? Are we ready for what is to come?

In Mark’s account, the disciples make comments about the grand size of the temple stones. In Luke’s, it is the beautiful stones and gifts dedicated to God that get comment. They are impressed by the externals, but this is not what Jesus is after. Maybe this is why we can get lost in the Christmas stuff? We are attracted to the externals. They certainly are beautiful! I love a gorgeously decorated tree and twinkly lights, the special foods and delicious drinks in the celebratory meals at this time of the year.

I know some people get rather annoyed about all this stuff in the shops so early. This is why we need a prepared defence. To explain to people what this season of Advent is really about! It is about joy; the joy in the little things and treats. The greater joy of being part of something bigger and mysterious. No point is just being huffy about it. We also need to be prepared for what is to come; the end times should neither be fixated nor ignored. As we come close to the season of Advent once again, let us focus on the internals, the preparation that needs to happen in our hearts rather than in the shop windows and store shelves. Joy to the World! Hark the Herald Angels sing!

Advent 4: Benefice Carol Services

Benefice Carol Services
Sunday December 22, 2024

Usual array of readings… Isaiah, Micah, Luke, Matthew

The Song of the Shepherds by Richard Bauckham

We were familiar with the night.
We knew its favourite colours,
its sullen silence
and its small, disturbing sounds,
its unprovoked rages,
its savage dreams.

We slept by turns,
attentive to the flock.
We said little.
Night after night, there was little to say.
But sometimes one of us,
skilled in that way,
would pipe a tune of how things were for us.

They say that once, almost before time,
the stars with shining voices
serenaded
the new born world.
The night could not contain their boundless praise.

We thought that just a poem —
until the night
a song of solar glory,
unutterable, unearthly,
eclipsed the luminaries of the night,
as though the world were exorcised of dark
and, coming to itself, began again.

Later we returned to the flock.
The night was ominously black.
The stars were silent as the sheep.
Nights pass, year on year.
We clutch our meagre cloaks against the cold.
Our ageing piper’s fumbling fingers play,
night after night,
an earthly echo of the song that banished dark.
It has stayed with us.

God seems to rather like shepherds. They certainly get the most spectacular invitation to the nativity in Bethlehem.

Mary gets a personalised visit from the angel Gabriel and Joseph has his angelic visit in a dream. The Wise Men get their star. The shepherds get their very own angel AND the heavenly host. Out in their field, without light pollution and aeroplane noise, the blaze of the angels must have been dazzling and inexplicable. In the Song of the Shepherds, I read that ‘the night could not contain their boundless praise’.

No wonder these rough and tumble men of the fields needed to be reassured that there was nothing to fear.

The Saviour had been born in David’s own city; Bethlehem. King David started life as a shepherd too. He was the youngest brother and not much was expected of him. He ended his life as the greatest king Israel ever had. God has liked shepherds for a long time.

As soon as the angels disappear, the Shepherds set off to Bethlehem to look for the child. This night was going to be different than any they had ever known. In the opening verse of Richard Bauckham’s poem, the shepherds were familiar with the night, the colours, the sullen silence, the small, disturbing sounds, unprovoked rages and savage dreams. They slept in turns and said little.

The life of a shepherd was likely lonely and isolated. It was not an honourable profession; it was a job for the uneducated and low skilled, those on the margins, criminals and other undesirables. Yet it was an incredibly important job. Sheep were a valuable commodity to their owners. Sheep also need a good amount of care.

We have modern day equivalents of shepherds; think of those people who are poorly paid, unseen but do important jobs that we rely on. The convenience that many of us live with would be diminished without them.

To them the most important news ever reported was given first. The stars with shining voices serenaded the new born world through the least likely recipients. The life of a shepherd was fairly uneventful until one night, one moment God breaks in. This is the big story of Christmas. The arrival, the breaking in of Jesus.

This is the event that changed the shepherds. Jesus is still changing lives today.

I love the final paragraph (read again…)

Later we returned to the flock.
The night was ominously black.
The stars were silent as the sheep.
Nights pass, year on year.
We clutch our meagre cloaks against the cold.
Our aging piper’s fumbling fingers play,
night after night,
an earthly echo of the song that banished dark.
It has stayed with us.

The shepherds returned to the flock. The night as black as ever and the stars are silent once again. Life returns to normal. Yet according to the last line, it has stayed with us.

What stays for you in the Christmas story?

Does anything in the readings and music break into the familiarity and favourites of your life?

Maybe, like the shepherds, we are clutching meagre cloaks. Or old dreams, ideas and plans. Maybe things are a little too familiar and motivation or desire for new things has diminished. Is there space for God to break in?

Like for the shepherd’s aged piper, there is a new song to be learned and played. An earthly echo of the song that banished dark.

In the birth of Jesus, there is a new song and a new hope. As we keep Christmas this year, I would encourage all of us to listen out for the new song. There is one for you.