Isaiah 2: 1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew 24:36-44
Happy New Year! The first Sunday of Advent is New Year’s Day in the Church calendar. We change from Eucharistic lectionary C to lectionary A. For the Daily Office, Morning and Evening Prayer, we go from lectionary year 1 to year 2. Our liturgical color changes from green, for the time after Pentecost, to purple, a symbol of royalty as we get ready to welcome our King, and a symbol of penitence, as we engage in self-examination and metanoia, conversion, getting back on track, bringing our lives into harmony with God’s vision of shalom, peace, compassion, healing, and wholeness. Finally, we light one candle on the Advent wreath as we count the days until Christmas.
Advent means “coming.” We prepare for the coming of Christ to complete the creation, to set all things right, to bring in his kingdom his shalom as described in our reading from Isaiah: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Come let us walk in the light of the Lord.”
Advent is a time to get things in shape, to tie up loose ends. It is a good time to clean house and get rid of things we no longer need. It is a good time to make or revise wills and to talk to family members about our funeral plans. It is a time for spiritual transformation.. As Paul says, “Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
As our Lord makes clear, we do not need to try to figure out when he is going to come again. Our job is to be ready, to be prepared. If he were to come today, would we be ready?
Part of readiness is stewardship of the earth and of all that God has given us. Today, Beth will be sharing with us her experience of the blessings of stewardship.
Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Filed under: Reverend Janet Brown, Sermons | Tagged: Advent, Isaiah 11, Katherine Jefferts Schori, Mary Hinkle, Matthew 3, Psalm 72, Romans 15, Shalom |
Grace Episcopal Church (Sheldon, VT) 