The Sunday next before Advent
The Collect.
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TIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
You may have considered my title above to be premature, but that would depend on your perspective. ADVENT is the beginning of the year on the Church Calendar. Advent means ‘Coming, or Arrival!’ It is the first season on the Church calendar which is a time for Preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Advent Season comprises the four Sundays preceding Christmas and a time of spiritual and reverent preparation. The Collect for the Season extols our meditation, prayerful expectations, and fervent anticipation of the Promise that was fulfilled at the first advent of Christ, and contemplates the Promise of His second Advent in great power and glory.
The ‘Sunday next before Advent’ is actually the transition period between Trinity, and its sharing of the fulness of the Gospel of Christ, and the renewed Promise of His fulfilled Promise of coming as a child born in a stable in Bethlehem.
When I was a small child, my mother and older sister received news of the coming home of my father who had been serving in the US Army in the European Theater of Operations. I was too young to fully grasp the sudden change in radio programing ‘The Days of our Lives’ to nothing but patriotic and military band music. My mother and sister were throwing magazines against the ceiling and dancing about wildly. When I asked what was happening, I was told that my father was coming home. He had yet to set his foot on our doorstep, yet the celebration was intense in the expectation of his coming. It is for this reason that I consider ADVENT to be the very beginning of Christmas. The joy is just as festive as Christmas itself.
Advent Season, being a time for preparation observes our DUTY to prepare for the most majestic arrival of the King of Kings and Lord of Lord incarnated in the flesh on Christmas morning. Simply stated, it proclaims to us, ‘Prepare to meet thy God!’ Even as we are reminded of that which transpired 2,000 years ago, we must also bear in mind that His Second Coming will be with far greater display of power, glory and grandeur than has ever been imagined by the mind of man.
There are four phases of preparation during Advent:
First
That advocated by the Epistle for the day – Romans 13:8. These are the preparation of our hearts to fill them with the love of God and the love of our neighbors for “he that loveth hath fulfilled the law.”
Second
Redeeming the time and realizing the brevity thereof. The coming of Christ was prophesied over prior centuries and was fulfilled to the letter. The Second Coming is just as profusely prophesied and will be certain to occur in precisely the same detail as the First. It is important to observe significant political and social developments which inform us the time is near for His Return.
Third
Not only knowing the time, but also assessing the very value of time. Time, like the Trinity, is three dimensional – past, present, and future. The only variable in that equation is future. We know the past and all its sorrows. We know the challenges we face at this present hour, too. But the future is unknown and may be terminated at the instant of God’s discretion – either for this world, or for us individually. The present is thinner than a sheet of onion-skin paper. Even if we pronounce this moment to be the present, it has already become the past. If we are not secure in our salvation, today is the time of decision, now is the time to renew our allegiance and devotion to the Lord who purchased His elect.
Fourth
We prepare by “putting on Christ.” His Person is altogether lovely and altogether worthy of our emulation. But putting on Christ is more than these – it is surrendering the so-called ‘free-will’ (which is only sinful and wicked) or more accurately ‘self-will,’ and pout on the Mind that was in Christ – taking on His will and dispensing with our own.
Jesus approached this preparation schedule by the preparation of His disciples. Two of His disciples were sent to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord into Jerusalem in majesty and a glorious reception. The multitudes prepared for His coming by throwing off their garments and casting down palm branches for His path to travel. There remained only one area that was not prepared for His coming – that was the Temple. It afforded the love of money to obscure the love of God, and Christ cleaned the Temple at both the beginning and end of His ministry. The Church was once cleansed during the Great Reformation, but once again has drifted into hedonism and utter sinfulness. Perhaps it is high time for the Lord to cleanse it again!
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