ADVENT 2020
I have always looked on Advent as a sort of mini-Lent, and it shares with Lent that sense of waiting and anticipation. It is not as long as Lent, of course; but, just as Lent prepares us for Holy Week and Easter, so Advent prepares us for the coming of Christ in his birth in Bethlehem, his incarnation, as the theologians put it. But it also looks forward to Christ’s final advent at the end of time. What we do in church in Advent in our readings, our sermons and our prayers points us towards Christ’s birth. We are also challenged to confront the theme of divine judgement, as our reading from Mark’s Gospel does this Sunday. ‘Lo he comes with clouds descending’, writes Charles Wesley in a great Advent hymn. I goes on to conclude - ‘Every eye shall now behold him robed in dreadful majesty.’ That is an element of Advent we are reluctant to acknowledge perhaps today, but it is still there. In our uncertain times, it is a useful reminder of our dependence upon God in every thing. When I was a choir-boy in the 50s, I remember the Reverend Druett preaching on the Four Last Things - Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell - every single Advent. These are the traditional themes for Advent meditation. This made much harder for all of us under commercial pressure. As I write this, my email box is full of encouragements to get ahead of my Christmas shopping by taking advantage of Black Friday offers from (almost) all and sundry! I find it really difficult to concentrate on Advent and sustain the appropriate sense of alert watchfulness when the surrounding atmosphere is trying to tell me Christmas has already started. It hasn’t. But the underlying prayer of Advent remains ‘Maranatha’ - ‘Our Lord, come.’ Let us pray it every hour of every day in Advent, and let us prepare ourselves for Our Lord’s birth on 25th December. Church decorations in Advent are simple and spare. Purple is the liturgical colour. We are lucky in the northern hemisphere as Advent deals at the darkest time of the year. The natural symbols of darkness and light are powerfully at work throughout Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. We light candles on our Advent wreath, a custom that came into our country in the nineteenth century. Christingle, which we shall be unable to hold this year because of the Covid19 regulations, comes originally from Moravia. We shall hold our Christingle later next year, when the regulations are relaxed. So much will be different once that happens, won’t it? The third Sunday of Advent was observed in mediaeval times as a splash of colour, rather like Mothering or Refreshment Sunday in Lent. We light a pink candle, hence the name ‘Rose Sunday’ and the chant for that Sunday started with the Latin word for ‘Rejoice’, ‘Gaudete’. It is known as Gaudete Sunday. Finally, in the last days of Advent the Church has the sequence of Great ‘O’ Antiphons, which we recall in the hymn ‘O come, o come, Emmanuel.’ When will we be able to sing again? I wish you all a thoughtful and prayerful Advent, full of expectation and anticipation of Our Lord’s first coming in Bethlehem and his Second Coming at the end of time. We shall be back in church on 6th December. I cannot wait! John
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AuthorCanon John Green Archives
May 2021
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