Ad Dominum

(Editor’s note: Our anonymous clerical friend is back with this sermon from the First Sunday in Advent.)

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

I had dinner a few years ago in an American army camp in southern Germany. The Colonel was hospitable and the company excellent, even though we had to not laugh at him as he barbequed a whole turkey. If you ever have four hours spare, it’s worth doing. We went into the dining room to find our plates already on the table and I was just debating the niceties of Marxist economics when, lifting my plate up to accept some more turkey I saw my placemat. It had a picture of the end of the world on it. There were planes falling out of the sky, ships sinking, stars falling and people being struck down by lightning bolts and in the centre there was Jesus surrounded by some people in white gowns looking rather too smug for themselves. I resisted the temptation to ask if these were his holiday snaps, as I was in an army base surrounded by evangelical Christians and lots of guns, but seeing my surprise, the Colonel asked me where I would be in the picture. As there did not seem to be a sofa in the picture to hide behind, I said that I would be wherever God put me. ‘I’, he said, ‘am in the middle, dressed in white, ascending up to Heaven with Jesus during while he world ends’.

I ate my pudding quickly, not pointing out that on the last day this WILL be the Kingdom of Heaven, so ascending upwards may not be quite the bright idea it may otherwise be and as I left I noticed the family car had a bumper sticker on the back saying ‘in case of Armageddon, be aware that I will be taken from this vehicle’. This is more about ex-pats than Americans, the insular mentality which ensues when many miles from home, bonding with other disgruntled compatriots and bemoaning the nation you chose to leave behind. Religious belief and social interactions tend to become parodies of their normal pattern, but I thought that the Colonel in his Army base, miles from home, was a useful person for us to consider today.

The army camps in Germany existed to do two things, to ensure the peaceful rebuilding of a nation and to protect that nation from Soviet invasion. They allowed a country to heal itself after apocalyptic destruction and inhumanity. Jeremiah in today’s first reading witnessed the fall of a great nation and also the demise of an even greater. That mighty lion, the Kingdom of Judah, came to its downfall and within it the hopes and dreams of the people of God could have come crashing down as well, the long expected Messiah seemed to be abandoning His people. God sent Jeremiah to be a prophet to Judah and the nation in the midst of political convulsions, indeed the last decades of Judah’s history saw a continual flow of light from Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Nahum and Ezekiel. God sent these men to His people to keep alive His covenant, given by Nathan in the book of Samuel and reiterated here in Jeremiah, ‘your home, your kingdom, shall be established for ever before me’ even in what must have seemed to be the end of all days and the abandonment of a nation. They showed forth their prophecy and light and moved on, for another to come after them as we allow others to come to faith after us.

The people of God limbered on. They moved on from Judah and Babylon and Egypt guided by vine dressers, servants of secular Kings, men who saw strange dreams and boys who could read the hand of clay. They moved on guided by God through the most unlikely people to the one in the wilderness, John, a man sent from God, who asked what we came to find before He made way for the Messiah, the King of all ages, the son of the virgin and the carpenter. This Son who would be killed with the hammers and nails which His earthy father taught Him to use, who just before He celebrated the last Passover and the first Mass in the upper room, gave one last exhortation to His disciples, as recorded in by those inspired by Luke in today’s Gospel. And what does He say?

He says be alert! He says that the Son of Man is in control of the forces of evil whenever there are wars and plagues, he says that even though He is to die, He is victorious and He bursts with a message of confidence and hope for us disciples who are to stand with our heads held high, for our redemption is coming soon. We are to have our heads held high because we have journeyed with Him through His ministry. We have seen him on the waters, we have heard His sermon on the mount, we have witnessed His miracles and we have been persecuted and we will face harder times, but the King of the world bursts forth through death into new and eternal life. We are to hold our heads high because we have been so richly blessed, and he assumes that we will live for Him after all He has shown us.

He comes to you now, at the turning of the tide. At the beginning of the year of grace, as we keep solemn vigil before the morningstar appears. He comes to you this advent, once again, to remind us to stay awake and pray at all times, for our redemption is drawing near. This advent, as the world waits again in dark Winter for the birth of the Saviour, let this place be a fitting home for Him. The root of Jesse and the branch of Judah have reached this place as they reached the Colonel in his camp. Let us not domesticate the real politics of the world, not the wicked secular government we live under, but the fight between good and evil which rages unabated as it has from before there was time. Let us not domesticate the coming of the light into cards and nativity scenes, but prepare to be asked ‘what did you come here to find’ as we approach the stinking, filthy stable to watch the blazing hope of nations being born to two unwanted refugees and a handful of outcasts as choirs of angels sing ‘hosanna, blessings on the Son of David, blessings on Him who comes in the name of the Lord!’

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

(Ad Dominum welcomes submissions of all sorts. Send a message to t dot curnutte at gmail dot com for any submissions or questions. Many, many thanks to my unnamed clerical friend for this piece.)