“BLESSED Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast, the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.” (Collect for the Second Sunday in Advent, BCP 1928, p. 92)
In this holy season of preparation for Christmas glory, we are focused by ritual and habit, carefully sculpted over a lifetime, rather like an athlete training for a race or a tourist researching a destination, to forge our hearts and minds to welcome the Son of God in a manger in Bethlehem, this Year of Our Lord, 2023.
Even with lockdowns, the Internet, the busy-ness of shopping and decorating, the noise and confusion of our world, the demoralization of recent cosmic events (the butchering of children at home and abroad, from conception to adulthood), and the short attention spans that dwarf our intellect and consciousness, we reach for our Rule of the season to give sight to our blindness, hearing to our deafness, speech to our dumbness, to sanctify this holy time as we should and are called to do.
And so we look to ingest words, to feed on the Word, so that we may confess, repent, and find the path through life that leads to our heavenly Jerusalem. We have gone astray like sheep, following the loudest voice, half asleep with the drug of self, slipping and sliding deeper and deeper into the darkness of our time. And as we add the words of the First Sunday in Advent’s prayer, we cast away those works of darkness and we put upon the armor of light.
Words have always fascinated me, ever since I learned to read. I recall by the age of ten I was reading Dickens along with Nancy Drew, and devouring library books brought home weekly, piled high (we were limited to ten at a time). I recall the delight I felt in anticipation of all those words and what those words would bring me, where they would take me.
For words aren’t just letters strung together, as we all know. They are symbols for something else, something real in our world, colors we see, people we meet, dangers and rescues and puzzles solved. Words enter our heads through our eyes and create places far away or right here. They invite us into their world.
Just so, Holy Scripture tells us of God’s great acts among mankind. It explains where we have come from, where we are today, and where we must go. These words sculpt us to become the person we are meant to be. They are words of life, connecting us with our living Creator here and now. And in this linking, this knowing, this glorious union with the King of Kings, we are protected by his light in our world of darkness.
We hear and read these words of life so that we may not know death, so that we may have hope and comfort. Christ’s words in the Gospel today are cosmic: “there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of Heaven shall be shaken.” (St. Luke, 21:25+)
Our Lord goes on to describe his Second Coming in a cloud with power and glory. He is warning us of the advent of the last days and to watch and wait and pay attention to the signs all around us, to be ready.
Advent is a time to consider the three great comings of Christ – in a manger in Bethlehem, in our hearts through prayer and Eucharist, and at the end of time.
History is real. Time is real. Christ is real. He was real in history, and is real now in time through his Spirit. Fear not, for behold we will know great joy when this babe is born in Bethlehem. He will dry our tears and hold us close with his love.
And he will teach us to love, to love one another, should we turn to him to read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest his words of life.
And we light our second candle, a flame to banish the dark.
Christine Sunderland
Christine Sunderland 