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Holy Trinity Anglican Orthodox Church
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Thy King Cometh |
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Matthew
21:1-13, Romans 13:8-14 First
Sunday of Advent November
29, 2009 Trinity
Season emphasises what Christians do.
With Advent we turn again to emphasising what Christians believe.
We find as we go through both Seasons that we seem to be unable to
make a clear distinction between the two.
You have probably noticed this in the Scripture readings and in the
sermons. Both have constantly
skipped back and forth from doing to believing and believing to doing,
often in the same reading, or sermon, and even in the same sentence.
The reason for this is obvious; doing and believing are inseparably
joined and cannot survive alone. They
are like two sides of the same coin.
We know it is possible to deface a coin.
We know we can pound it, bend it, throw it into water, and do many
other things with it, but as long as it remains a coin it has two sides,
and if we do something to it so that it no longer has two sides we have
also changed it so that it is no longer a coin.
So it is with belief and life.
To remove one from the other destroys both. We can say
with confidence that the things we really believe will actually direct the
course of our lives and actions. As
a man "thinketh in his heart, so is he" the Bible wisely says in
Proverbs 23:7. That is why it
is so devastating to our culture to indoctrinate people into the idea that
they are nothing but highly evolved animals.
If people think they are animals they will act like animals.
If they believe there is no right or wrong, they will act like
there is no right or wrong. If
they believe there is no God they will live as though there is no God.
And if we indoctrinate people into these ideas from childhood, we
must not be surprised when they put them into practice in their lives.
And if it is true that as a man "thinketh in his heart, so is
he," it is also true that as a country thinketh in its heart, so it
is; and we can say the same for a culture, or a community, or a family, or
a church. So, when in
Advent our Scripture readings draw our attention to our need of the
Saviour, which is the doctrines of sin and the fall and the total
helplessness of mankind before God, they also call us to awake and to cast
off the works of darkness. When
the Advent readings draw our attention to the first coming of Christ,
which is the doctrine of the Incarnation and many of the other doctrines
of Christology, they also call us to put on Christ, that He may come into
our lives as well as into the world. Thus we have the doctrines of salvation and sanctification.
When the readings remind us to think biblically about the Return of
Christ, they also tell us to be ready for His coming, because He will
bring judgment as well as grace, and He will cleanse His Church and the
souls of His people as He cleansed the Temple in the days of His flesh.
This is the doctrine of glorification. The first
time I read the Gospel Lesson for the First Sunday in Advent, I was
surprised. It seemed to me
that it did not fit the occasion. It
seemed to me that it should rather have been read on Palm Sunday.
Many others have drawn this same conclusion, for, even in this time
when many of the most anti-liturgical churches have Advent wreathes and
Advent lessons, other Scripture passages are read instead of the familiar
passage from Matthew 21. But
we know from historical records that Matthew 21 has been read on this day
from at least the later 300s, and that it possibly was used much earlier
than that. If it is out of place, why did not men like Augustine replace
it in the 400s? Why did not
men like Luther and Cranmer replace it with something more suitable in the
1500s? Maybe they knew
something we don't. And
maybe, rather than reinventing the wheel, in this case, the Lectionary,
maybe we should ask ourselves what they knew that led them to keep reading
this passage on the First Sunday of Advent, and why it has continued to be
the Gospel Lesson down to this very day.
If you are like me, you like the sense of connection you get from
the Lectionary and the Liturgy and the Prayer Book.
It is something I have difficulty putting into words, but it means
something to me to be in that line of God's people from the beginning to
this very moment. It means
something to me to be connected to them in the faith and in Christ.
It means something to me to worship God in Spirit and in Truth as
they worshiped Him. It means
something to me to pray as they prayed, worship as they worshiped, hear
the Word as they heard it, and respond as they responded.
I feel no need to update the liturgy or the readings.
The Biblical simplicity of Morning Prayer is far more meaningful to
me than "contemporary Christian music," "praise and worship
services," or "casual dress" could ever be.
I say that as one who has been in "contemporary" churches
and has seen their shallowness; who knows that though they may be a mile
wide, many are but an inch deep. I
have heard many of you, who have gone to other churches while visiting
friends or family, say you have come back to your church with greater
appreciation and much thanksgiving in your heart for what we have here at
Holy Trinity Church. But what
makes what we do here so special? Is
it just that it appeals to our tastes and personalities?
Or is it something deeper? Could
it be more than taste, more even than that sense of connection I was
talking about a moment ago? Is
that why we don't feel compelled to re-invent the service and the music? Or is it because what we have here, and what we do here is
biblical? Could it be that we
follow in the steps of those who have gone before us because we are on the
same road to the City of God? Could
it be that they set the forms and liturgies because they are Biblical and
right, not because they were the popular style of the times, or because
they appealed to their tastes? Could
it be that, if they do not appeal to us, it is we who need to be reformed,
not the worship? So why is
today's reading from Matthew 22? And
why has it been the reading for this particular Sunday for almost
two-thousand years? Because it shows that the Coming of Christ, whether it is His
coming to earth in the First Advent in the flesh; whether it is His coming
to us in our lives through faith in what we would call being born
again;" or whether it is in His Second Coming; His coming always
brings an element of cleansing. Not
the gentle washing we are accustomed to thinking about in these
sentimental times, but a bold, rough, even aggressive cleansing that
drives out the thieves and money changers and ungodliness from us; chases
them out with whips and anger that seems to approach violence as He
overthrows the tables and stampedes the animals and knocks down the seats
of the sellers of the doves. Yes the King of Glory comes, humble, born of a Virgin, riding
upon a donkey, the symbol of peace, but He comes also in judgment that is
fearful to behold. Therefore,
I can think of no better way to end the sermon than by praying again the
Collect for the First Sunday of Advent. Almighty God, give us grace
that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of
light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ
came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall
come again in glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we
may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with
thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever, Amen.
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