Message of Abbot Paul - Sunday 3rd December 2023

Last night we had the most wonderfully uplifting Advent Carol Service in the abbey church led by the Academia Musica. The singing and organ playing was spectacular in every respect, and yet it was not a performance or a concert but clearly an act of prayer and devotion. Likewise, the scripture readings were conducive to deepening our understanding of and love for Advent, not only as a period of preparation and penance for the Nativity of Our Blessed Lord, but of hope and longing for his Second Coming. Maranatha. Come, Lord Jesus, come! Every aspect of the service was quite exquisite, but I was particularly impressed and moved by the perfect rendering of the ancient Latin O antiphon. We are truly grateful to have been blessed with the presence of Academia Musica, a Hereford choir, many of whose singers are young students at the Sixth Form College.

 

​Thank God it’s Advent Sunday, for Christians a New Year, a new beginning, not that we leave last year behind, but we can look forward to what lies ahead with joy and longing, and I don’t just mean Christmas. The celebration of Advent points beyond Christmas and Epiphany to Lent, Easter and Pentecost, but, above all, to the Second Coming for which we earnestly pray when we say, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” If you look closely at the words of the wonderful Advent hymns and carols, you discover that all of them look forward not just to the birth of the Christ Child, but above all to his return in glory at the end of time. A fine example is the magnificent Advent hymn written by Charles Wesley, Lo! He comes with clouds descending. Another is the majestic hymn, translated from the German, Wake, O wake! with tidings thrilling, based on the Parable of the Ten Virgins or Bridesmaids. A third example is the ancient Latin hymn, Vox clara ecce intonat, translated as Hark a herald voice is calling. These and many others speak of the Second Coming, because in Advent we look forward rather than back into history, for how can you look forward to what has already happened?

 

​Our Gospel passage today comes from Mark (Mk 13: 33-37), as this year we read Mark’s Gospel each Sunday; it is the Year of Mark. This is a much shorter Gospel than the others, yet it contains an amazing amount of detail. Jesus tells his disciples, “Be on your guard, stay awake, because you never know when the time will come.” He is talking here of the last day. Recently we have read similar texts in Matthew and Luke. Jesus compares that day with a man setting out on a journey. “It is like a man travelling abroad: he has gone from home, and left his servants in charge, each with his own task; and he has told the doorkeeper to stay awake.” While the servants are working, the doorkeeper is to keep watch: they just don’t know when the master of the house is going to return. Based on what he has said, Jesus turns to his disciples and says, “So stay awake, because you do not know when the master of the house is coming, evening, midnight, cockcrow, dawn; if he comes unexpectedly, he must not find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake!” I’ve always found it odd that he isn’t likely to come during the day, but at night or just before dawn. In this short passage, Jesus repeats, “Stay awake” no less than four times. Can it be that he doesn’t want his disciples ever to rest or sleep? Obviously, he’s talking about something else. Jesus wants his disciples to carry on doing what they should be doing, their ordinary tasks, their duties, but always focused on his return, on him. He wants them, he wants us to be ready, to be prepared to enter into his kingdom and enjoy the fulness of heaven and eternal life.

 

​Advent is a time of watching and waiting, a time of vigil, as we focus on the Lord’s return, just as we remember and give thanks for his coming in time in the humility and frailty of human flesh in the stable at Bethlehem.

Let our prayer this Advent be, “Come, Lord Jesus, come. Amen.”