A Sermon for the Second Sunday of Advent, Year B
The Church of St Columba and All Hallows’, East York, Toronto
Sunday, 7th December, 2008

Before I say anything about the Gospel and readings for today, I hope that you will allow me to say briefly how pleased I am to be with you as your interim Priest in Charge. This is a new situation for me; so new that I have not yet been informed of the terms of my appointment. and know so little of the practical aspects that it is very much an act of faith. Oh, well, what matters most in priestly ministry is coming to the heart of the Christian life: the worship of God in beauty and decency, the celebration of the sacraments and the preaching of the word. It is my prayer that I may attend to this among you to the best of my ability. No more on that now, save to ask for your prayers that I may serve and minister as Christ would have me do as long as I am here.
It is the second Sunday of Advent, that time of preparation for Christmas that is so familiar in churches that follow the liturgical Calendar and so foreign and strange to the rest of society and even many Christians of a less traditional bent. In wisdom gained from the experience of centuries, the Church teaches us not to jump into the celebration of Christ’s birth, but to take time to ponder the meaning of his coming and prepare ourselves to hear and rejoice. The truth is that the more we prepare the deeper will be our joy on Christmas Day.
The four Sundays in Advent help us to ask one simple question that lies at the heart of our Christmas preparation: the question is “what Child is this?” On the first Sunday we look ahead to the second coming, in glory and behold the cosmic and eternal significance of the Christ Child. This is no mere baby, and our worship at the creche cannot be just a sentimental tenderness, or a devotion to a God who never grows up. This is the one who will confront evil and defeat it, the one weho has the right to judge the world. On the Second and Third Sundays we see the forerunner, John the Baptist, and hear his testimony: he proclaims that the Child born at Christmas is the one who will baptize with Fire and the Holy Spirit, who will call his people to turn around and begin a new life. John called the people to make themselves ready for the coming of the Lord. He also declared that the one who was coming would take away the sins of the whiole worl. On the Fourth Sunday we hear how Joseph and Mary learned that their child was the promised Lord, the Son of God, and here we see how the Lord of all entered into the tenderness and love of a human family.
Thus in Advent it is clear why we meditate on the Coming of the Lord long foretold by the prophets and in the Psalms, and why we look ahead to the second coming; it is clear, too, why we hear the stories of Mary and Joseph that will lead us to hear the story of Bethlehem, for that is the story of the first Coming. Why do we spend so long on John the Baptist? Surely we could hear his teaching during the year, or even at Epiphany, when we celebrate the Lord’s Baptism!
The answer here, my friends, is that there are really three advents, not only two. Let me read you some words from the fifth Advent Sermon of St Bernard of Clairvaux,

We know that there are three comings of the Lord. The third lies between the other two; it is invisible, while the other two are visible. In the first coming he was seem on earth, dwelling among me; he himself testifies that they saw him and hated him [John 15.24]. In the final coming all flesh will see the salvation of our God [Luke 3.6; Isaiah 40], and they will look on him whom they pierced [John 19.37] The intermediate coming is a hidden one.

This coming is hidden because only those who answer the call know the presence of Christ within themselves, and recognize him in the needy and suffering. Bernard goes on to say.

In his first coming our Lord came in our flesh and in pour weakness; in this middle coming he comes in spirit and in power; in the final coming he will be seen in glory and majesty … Because this coming lies between the other two, it is like a road on which we travel from the first coming to the last. In the
first, Christ was our redemption; in the last, he will appear as our life; in this middle coming, he is our rest and consolation.

OurLord Christ himself promised this intermediate Advent. He said: If anyone lives me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him [John 14.23].
When we understand the middle Advent we may more easily see why we need to hear John’s preaching in the Advent season. For if Christ is to come to us as he has promised, we must hear John’s call to repentance, that is, to turning around, to changing one’s mind, for that is what repentance means. John spoke to the people of his day and said: You hope for the Messiah to come and lead you from this wilderness into God’s kingdom? well, then, make yourselves ready; show yourselves to be the kind of people who want to live in God’s kingdom. He says the same thing to us. You rejoice that your Lord and Saviour has come to you? well, then, live like the people who follow the Crucified and Risen Lord. We heard this in the reading from Second Peter this morning: since Christ will come to judge the world, what sort of people ought you to be.
How far many Christians are from these questions. Many see themselves as pretty well all right, no worse than most, and all they want from God is some help and security. Just look after me and let my life go on as normal, is their prayer. For them, as Pope Benedict remarked last week, the coming of Christ is like “a beautiful decoration upon a world already saved” rather than what it truly is, “the only way of liberation” from the mortal danger, from the consequences of human sin that we see in violence and oppression around the world. The coming of Christ is God’s answer to the cry for help that the peoples of the world send up. Just how this is is something that we can only truly know by entering into his life, and allowing him into ours. For as John Baptist tells us our minds need to changed and our footsteps turned to follow the path of Christ. Our faith cannot be just business as usual and a pretty Baby at Christmas.
Those who know that the Christian life is not just business as usual are trying evey day to follow Christ; they have knowledge and experience that he helps them with his love and strength, they know the middle Advent. They know the true meaning and joy of Christmas and are able to share it with those around them. I invite you to make the eighteen or so days left a time of preparing, and welcoming the Lord Jesus, who so much wants to come to you.