Second Sunday of Advent

The first part in Isaiah explores the theme of despair and judgement.  The second part, which starts with this chapter, is more positive, focusing on salvation and hope for the future.  Why should we be like this?  Because of the mighty works of God and the mighty nature of God as sovereign of all peoples and nations, a conquering king and a shepherd.  Though the Israelites are exiled in Babylon, there is still hope of a return and peace in Jerusalem, something that we need to hold onto in this present time, even if it feels impossible.

I wonder if you sang passages from Handel’s Messiah in your head whilst listening to Isaiah.  Six of the movements come from this passage from Isaiah: Comfort ye my people, Ev’ry valley shall be exalted, And the glory of the Lord, Thus saith the Lord, O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, He shall feed his flock like a Shepherd. 

If you think of these phrases from the point of view of people in exile – physical, emotional and / or spiritual, they have a profound effect.  There are words of comfort to the people – ‘comfort, o comfort my people, says your God…your suffering is over’, ‘EVERY valley shall be exalted’, ‘Then the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all people shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken’.  Comfort, hope, promise, longing, waiting, preparation. A bit like Advent.

Other phrases speak of the roles of Jesus and his cousin, John the Baptist.  Jesus as shepherd: He will feed his flock like a shepherd.  Verse 3, “A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God’.”  Christianity teaches that this refers to John the Baptist and how he will prepare the way for Jesus. 

These promises are all well and good but waiting can be frustrating.  Think how it didn’t take long for the newly freed slaves to build the golden calf and moan to Moses that it would have been better to have been left in Egypt.  Hearing these passages now, we can make sense of them more as we are interpreting them retrospectively, but they were lived with no date confirming when all of this would happen.

And I don’t know about you, but I’m not always very good at waiting.  I can be very impatient.  There is the occasional stamping of feet.  There are different kinds of waiting.  Waiting for test results – academic or medical - can be almost unbearable; waiting can bring despair, but it can also bring hope.  There is also the excitement of waiting, for example looking forward to a holiday, a celebration, a new chapter in life.

To get to the birth of this Messiah, to be blessed by his saving powers, we have to wait.  Advent tells us that waiting can be good.  And it isn’t something to be endured in a passive way, but waiting is active.  Why?  Because we have to prepare the way in our hearts once again.  How are you going to do this?  Attend the Advent course?  Pray more?  Read the Bible more?  Donate time, talents and money to good causes?  Explore the Art in Advent exhibition?  Play the BBC Music Magazine Christmas CD by Portsmouth Cathedral Choir?  Where will Advent 2024 take you?

Now to the Gospel reading.  Elizabeth and Zechariah have waited a long time to have children but are unable to do so.  They are old and it is not likely to happen.  It seems unfair because they are faithful people, described as ‘righteous before God’ and are both of priestly ancestry.  It ought to have happened for them, but is hasn’t.  Life can be like that.

I feel slightly ashamed that here we are witnesses to something that should have been private, but because of the social expectations of the time, was very public, and Elizabeth’s barrenness brought stigma and accusations that there must be a sin to cause it, and of course that sin is mostly hers.  They were waiting for an unfulfilled promise.  Why would anything be different now? 

Yet, the Angel Gabriel’s message is clear, ‘Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard.’ It doesn’t remove the pain of waiting, but it redeems it.  God is so much bigger than us.  He can play with time.  Here we can use a Greek word for time; it isn’t chronos, as in chronology, but Kairos, the fitting, appropriate time for something.  God’s time, his Kairos, is what we need to explore in Advent.

Zechariah is faithful, but even so, he finds it impossible to trust completely in God.  I don’t blame him.  As such he is struck dumb until the event prophesied – the birth of John the Baptist – comes about.  In contrast, John, in utero, recognises Mary’s voice when she visits Elizabeth, the child leaps in his mother’s womb.  He acknowledges Jesus and witnesses to him from before he is born – I’ve got this, dad, you just stay quiet until I’m born!

The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus which means arrival or coming, particularly of someone or something important; in the liturgical year it is the season before Christmas, the coming of Christ.  Adventure hails from the same root.  Advent can be an adventure, especially if you listen to the Cathedral Choir’s new CD!  I ask again, where will Advent 2024 take you?

And now to explore the rich text of the anthem, The Heart in Waiting by Kevin Crossley-Holland, painted beautifully in music by Bob Chilcott.  Throughout the gospels, the followers and critics of Jesus ask him who he is.  In John’s Gospel we have the seven ‘I am’ sayings of Jesus: I am the bread of life, the light of the world, the door, the good shepherd, the resurrection and the life, the way, the truth and the life, and the true vine. 

Jesus won’t be pushed on saying who he is when people are seeking clarification.  He responds with stunning imagery that requires us to think about our relationship with him.  Is the way we live our lives different because we believe he is the good shepherd or the light of the world?  What I love about the words of the anthem is the way that the world is responding to Jesus.  How do we respond?

The Heart in Waiting by Kevin Crossley-Holland

Jesus walked through whispering wood:

‘I am pale blossom, I am blood berry,

I am rough bark, I am sharp thorn.

This is the place where you will be born.’

Jesus went down to the skirl of the sea:

‘I am long reach, I am fierce comber,

I am keen saltspray, I am spring tide.’

He pushed the cup of the sea aside

And heard the sky which breathed-and-blew:

‘I am the firmament, I am shape-changer,

I cradle and carry and kiss and roar,

I am infinite roof and floor.’

All day he walked, he walked all night,

Then Jesus came to the heart at dawn.

‘Here and now,’ said the heart-in-waiting,

‘This is the place where you must be born.’

I am Kitty Price, and my heart is in waiting. My Advent wish is that your heart is indeed in waiting to welcome the infant king once more.

AMEN.