the End of Days
The Collect for the First Sunday of Advent
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.
Readings for Advent One, Year C
Old Testament: Jeremiah 33:14-16
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ Yehvah (Adonai) tṣiḏ·qê·nū "The Lord is our righteousness."
The New Testament: 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13
How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you? Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you face to face and restore whatever is lacking in your faith.
Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus direct our way to you. And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you. And may he so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints.
Jesus said, "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
"Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day catch you unexpectedly, like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
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There are homilies and there are sermons; if either, maybe this is more a homily. If it were a sermon it might be about the sunsets we see from 7H porch, which are a sort of End of Days. A sermon is on any topic or topics of the preacher’s choice and may run a few minutes or an hour or more and wander around broadly. I remember an English bishop lecturing us at a clergy conference many years ago, telling us that if we weren't preaching at least forty-five minutes we had no business wearing the clergy collar of priests.
Although some Episcopal priests seem to think "homily" and "homilist" are just more sophisticated (i.e., Episcopal, because we are nothing if not more sophisticated than you) terms for "sermon" and "preacher," a homily is a short exposition of texts just read, to cast light on them, so maybe this is a homily on the Advent theme of the Second Coming of Christ at the End of Time. Maybe thus the sunset photo.
The collect for Advent One, which Hatchett (p.165) says was composed for the 1549 Book of Common Prayer, prays that we may be ready for the End Time Second Coming of Christ, while commemorating his First Coming at Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago. That dual theme summarizes Advent.
The NT reading is from First Thessalonians, Paul’s first and oldest letter, written maybe 45/50 to 55/60 AD to members of the church Paul had founded in Thessaloniki. When Paul was there, he taught that the End Time and Second Coming was imminent, would happen in their lifetime and those living by the faith of Jesus Christ (they didn't have to be circumcised as Jews but must believe in the Jewish God and the Messiah Jesus whom God sent) would be saved into Jesus’ new kingdom of God on Earth. Now some of them have died, and the folks are worried that those who die will miss out on salvation into the new kingdom. So, Paul writes this letter and tells them not to worry, that as well as those who are still living, everyone who dies first will be raised and saved into the new kingdom of God on Earth. That’s what 1st Thessalonians is all about. It’s a short letter that will take you maybe half an hour to read, a good spiritual discipline for Advent, so if you're amenable, that’s your assignment: read 1st Thessalonians. Here's a link, and the little > in the right margin will take you to the next chapter https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Thessalonians%201&version=NIV.
The rest of the assignment relates to the Gospel. In today’s reading we hear Luke’s take on what is called “The little apocalypse” that Luke copies from Mark chapter 13. Jesus and disciples are in Jerusalem and the disciples exclaim about the magnificent structure of the Temple. Jesus tells them all this will be torn down and there will be chaos on Earth, horrible things happening. Jesus knows the Hebrew Bible, and he quotes from apocalyptic literature in Daniel chapter 7 about God sending the Son of Man to rule a new kingdom of God on Earth. Jesus says this may happen soon, in your lifetimes, surely in the lifetime of some of those standing there with him, so you’d better be ready.
The rest of your assignment for Advent is to read the Little Apocalypse in Mark 13, and then in Matthew 24 and Luke 21 to see how they present it, similarities and differences. In all three synoptic gospels, Jesus warns his disciples that The End Time is coming and you need to be ready.
And how to get ready? Perhaps by living a life of love God, love neighbor, where your neighbor is everyone you hate or mistrust because they are different from you, and love is not about whether you like them but how you treat them because of Jesus. If you understand Christianity in salvation terms, salvation comes in this life by living as Jesus did, a life of love and sacrifice for others, not by claiming Christ as your personal savior to make sure that you are as sure for heaven as if you were already there. A "realized eschatology" would say the kingdom of God is here and now, this life: step into it!
Writing this as the sun sets on another Sunday, the Lord's Day, in which our main act of Christian worship is the Holy Eucharist. In the Eucharist as we are fed with the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ, We remember his death. We proclaim his resurrection. We await his coming in glory.
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RSF&PTL
T89&c
blogging the end of Sunday, maybe for posting the beginning of Monday, IDK
and maybe post a link on Facebook, maybe not, IDK