Advent (Midweek Message)

Fr. Tony’s Midweek Message—November 28, 2012

A Note on Advent

The new Christian year starts on November 30, Saint Andrew’s Day, because of the story where Andrew and John become the first disciples and Andrew introduces his brother Simon Peter to Jesus (John 1:35-40). In the Eastern tradition, Andrew is often called “the first-called (protokletos)”of the apostles.  The Sunday on or nearest St. Andrew’s Day is the first Sunday of Advent, effectively four Sundays before Christmas.  That means Advent starts this Sunday. 

Advent is the season when we look forward to the coming of Christ, both long ago and still to arrive.  It is a penitential season, like Lent, where we prepare for the great feasts and celebrations of our faith through introspection, repentance, and trying to amend our lives.  Its liturgical color is usually, like Lent, Violet, or, in the Sarum use of England’s Salisbury Cathedral, Marian Blue, since the season celebrates the Blessed Virgin's acceptance of God's plans to become incarnate through her.  Both seasons are marked with one “Rose Sunday.”  (Fourth Lent is Laetare “lighten up” or refreshment Sunday; third Advent is Gaudete “Rejoice” Sunday, marked by a pink candle in the otherwise violet or blue Advent Wreath.)  

 

Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer wrote the following collect and placed it in the first English Book of Common Prayer (1549) 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.”

From 1662 on, prayer books have given the instruction that it be said daily throughout the entire Advent Season.  It is based on the epistle for the First Sunday of Advent, Romans 13:8-14:

“… The commandments …  are summed up in this one rule: "Love your neighbor as yourself."  Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the Law.  And do this, because you recognize what time it is in which we live. The hour has come for you to wake up from your sleep, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first came to faith.  The night is nearly over; day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light … [C]lothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ, and stop worrying about how to gratify the raging desires of the you that resists God” (my translation).

Paul here counsels us to amend our lives.  Importantly he says we do not need to worry about rules or points of purity in and of themselves.  Rather, he says, we simply need to show love to each other and all the rest will take care of itself. 

He uses the graphic image of waking up in the morning and putting on clothes for the new day to describe why showing love and acting in love it is so important.  He likens the dawning of a new day to the future coming of Jesus in glory:  “Night is nearly over.  Day is almost here. So let us put aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.” 

Twilight is a curious state—part day, part night.  It can signal the onset of night, or precede the breaking of day.   Paul wants us to be sure that we look at the mixed signals around us and realize that God is at work and things are going to get better, not worse.  It is going to get lighter, not darker. 

He uses the image of all night parties that will surely cause regret and headaches the next morning to describe such “deeds of darkness,” that is, actions that are symptomatic of this messed up world. 

 “Wake up,” he says, “and put away this age’s abusive ways, and put on new clothes for the new day.”  He calls these an “armor of light” as if to say that the clothes we put on for the new day will serve as a hedge or protection against the darkness of the current age, adding, “Put on as your new clothes Jesus Christ himself.” 

Beating ourselves into submission and forcing ourselves to follow rules against “works of darkness” is a recipe for unhappiness and tension—the very kind of tension that leads us to feel compelled to engage in works of darkness.  “Clothing ourselves in Christ” brings us to the light more and more, and actually empowers us to show love so bad behaviors will of themselves drop off and cease. 

Paul is talking about putting the example of Christ before our eyes, putting gratitude for what he has done for us in our hearts.  A heart full of gratitude has little room for the selfishness that generates unjust, hurtful, abusive, and wanton acts. 

As part of our parish observance of Advent and preparation for Christmas, we will be handing out small dice at services on Sunday as you leave the Church, one for each household.   Each side has written upon it something to refrain for the day:  but not things like meat, sweets, or alcohol or specific sins.   It suggests that we refrain from things that decrease the love in our lives, things like anger, criticism, or negativity. We suggest that we keep the die by our home advent wreaths, and each of us throw the die each day and work on that issue. 

And remember to say the Advent Collect each day in your prayers. 

Grace and Peace, 

Fr. Tony+