Welcome to our Sunday worship on the second Sunday of Advent. We're really pleased to be back in St Thomas' Church today, with our own Revd David Halford presiding and preaching. If you can't be with us in person, you'll find everything you need to worship from home here on this page.
Our first hymn for today is "On Jordan's Bank The Baptist's Cry"
This morning's Gospel reading -
Reflection -
Usually, in the early weeks of November, I would be fortunate enough to be on holiday somewhere warm, avoiding the ever-shortening days - at least for a couple of weeks. So, I was somewhat struck by how early people have been putting up Christmas decorations - not just in the shops where they already seem to have been around for ages, but in people’s houses.
I thought perhaps I was maybe mis-remembering and that perhaps some people have always put up the bunting this early. Then I read a message on an online site where someone asked that same question – “Has anyone put up Christmas decorations yet?” There were many replies that suggested folk would not normally put them up until after 25th November or December 1st – However many expressed the sentiment that this year we all need something to look forward to and were going to start early. Is this a message that this year, more than ever before, we need to prepare for something better to come?
In the church, Advent is the beginning of our new liturgical year and a time when we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. Advent is paradoxical in that it is seen as a season of darkness and mystery whilst at the same time we prepare for the coming of the light of the world – Christ.
Unlike the other Gospels, Mark doesn’t begin with the nativity story, instead he throws us straight into the thick of it - His opening line is a clear proclamation of promise - “The Beginning of the Good News.”
For me the key word is ‘beginning’. Mark’s Gospel leaves us in no doubt that we are to prepare ourselves not just for the birth of Christ but his whole life – a life that continues each and every day, for we know that Christ’s death was not the end. We know that Christ continues to live through each and every one of us if we prepare for his second coming and the kingdom of God.
So where is John the Baptist in all of this? Despite his humble lifestyle John was arguably considered a celebrity of the era. That is nothing to do with the co-incidence that the reality TV show ‘I’m a Celebrity ….” is on our screen at this time of year – (although given his diet of locusts he would have probably felt at home). John was followed by thousands because he was deemed to be the first prophet for over 300 years. People of all status and background flocked to the wilderness to listen and be baptised by him. He was preparing for the coming of Christ by preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. For those whom John baptised, it marked their confession that they were sinners. When we admit we are sinners, we are laying aside our human pride and confessing the truth of what we really are. But we are not making that confession blindly. We are making it in the light of the revealed knowledge that God loves us immeasurably, and that he has made atonement for us in Jesus Christ.
In other words, because God has revealed to us that he is for us, we are free in Christ both to fearlessly acknowledge our sinfulness before God, and free to accept God’s gift of atonement and his new creation of us in Jesus Christ.
So, as we put up the tree and decorations, let us give thanks and prepare ourselves for his coming, safe in his love, knowing we can give over to him the crushing burdens of our darkest sins and fears.
Our Prayers -
And our final hymn for today is "Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending" - written by Charles Wesley in 1758
