Sermon for the First Sunday of Advent

‘But concerning the day and the hour, no one knows.’

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It is the oldest of Advent traditions to light a candle. Some put electric candles in their windows. Some light their own Advent candles. At church, we begin to light the candles of an Advent wreath.

When they are waiting for someone to arrive, the
British say, ‘I’ll put the kettle on.’ They’re British, so they drink tea. In
normal countries that did not participate in a nearly universal empire, they
simply say ‘I’ll keep the light on.’

This is how one says that one is waiting for another. In fact, this is how
people in all times and in all places have waited for another, to keep the
light on, to keep the candle lit, the candle of Advent; Advent, a word that
means ‘the coming.’

During this season of Advent, we await the coming of the Christ, for this
season will culminate in the birth of the Lord made flesh, of Jesus born of St.
Mary.

This is easy to wait for, for it is such an obviously happy occasion. Who does
not enjoy the coming of a new baby child? They may bring sleepless nights, but
that is the parents’ problem. For the rest of us, they bring joy and laughter
and adorable cuteness.

Even more so, we await not just the birth of a child, but the birth of a child
that will work for us our final redemption. We sing of the silent word
pleading. Pleading, even as an infant, to our God in heaven, that He would
adopt us as our children by baptism, and that He would become our Father.

But there is another coming of Christ that Advent celebrates: the coming of
Christ not just in the flesh once upon a time two thousand years ago, but His
coming in the flesh and the blood every Sunday.

Indeed, every Lord’s Day, every Eucharist, is a Second Coming; it is a Last
Coming, as we eat and drink the Last Supper. Not A Last Supper, but
The Last Supper, the very one shared by the Lord with the Apostles. For this reason,
every Sunday we say, ‘do this as often as you drink of it in remembrance of
me.’

We do not celebrate a ceremony on Sunday, we greet our Lord. You do not hear a
sermon, you listen to the God who is about to welcome you.

A sermon is worthless. Meaningless drivel dreamed up by a man in black clothes
to bore you for ten minutes. That is, it would be worthless, if it were not a
prayer, praise, and introduction to the God of the universe made flesh upon the
altar. The words of a pastor’s imagination are nothing; they are only made
something by the Word made flesh that calls to you ‘eat, drink.’ It is
these words that make useless talk into a sermon, and a sermon into the Word of
God.

Yet neither of these two comings of Christ does our Lord speak of today.
Neither His incarnation on what we now call Christmas, nor in His dwelling with
us in what we call the Eucharist.

He speaks of the coming that the Creed speaks of, the coming when He will judge
both the living and the dead, whose kingdom will have no end.

The coming where he shall break the heathen with a rod of iron, and dash
them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.

The coming where every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that He
is Lord, in heaven and upon earth and beneath the earth.

The coming where he shall make the nations his footstool. Where his
sword shall devour. A day of vengeance. A day burning like a furnace, to make
desolations upon the earth.

‘A day of darkness, and not light.’

‘O Lord, if thou wouldst count iniquities, O Lord, who should stand?’

None can stand, none can walk in the darkness, the darkness of the Day of
the Lord.

Yet it is written ‘thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my
path.’

The dread day of the Lord is coming, yet we are not as they who have not
hope. We do not fear it, we await it. We await the coming of the Lord; for
His justice is our justification. His Kingdom is our Gospel, [we are not
commanded to be sinless or perfect; but only to wait in hope] and so we keep
the light on, and if you are so inclined, keep the kettle on. We burn the
candle, for by its brightness, the day of darkness to the faithless is made the
day of light, the day of the light that came into the world. [As it is
written: let us walk in the light of the Lord.]

For this reason, the newly baptized are given a candle. They too, in their
infancy or old age, wait. Theirs is the dominion, the vengeance, the
confession, the grace.

Yet let not the coming of the Lord to judge the living and the dead be left only to small children.

‘For the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.’

‘Therefore, you too must be ready.’

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Preached
by Pastor Fields

Sermon Texts: Isaiah
2:1-5; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44.