November 11th – St.
Martin's day, besides Remembrance Day. In the history of the church,
November 11th was the start of Advent, also known as St.
Martin's Lent – Advent was the period of 40 days before Christmas.
Because of the similarities between Advent and Lent, purple, the
colour of penitence and repentance was used for both seasons.
Latterly, with Advent being shortened, to the four weeks before the
celebration of the Incarnation, and to differentiate it from Lent, we
have started to use blue as the colour for Advent, and so if you are
at another Anglican church ,and you see blue being used, that is why.
There are some definite similarities
between Advent and Lent, holy waiting, a sense of return, or turning
back to God, a sense of anticipation leading up to a celebration:
Advent with the celebration of the Incarnation, Lent with the
celebration of the Resurrection – both ways in which God was
breaking into the world in new and different ways, with the
Incarnation in taking on human form, living in the flesh and blood.
With the resurrection, life beyond the death of the body. Both of
these showing God's fulfilment of the promises of God being with us,
and of God's promises for life beyond death. There are some
differences though too – in Advent we are waiting for the
celebration of God breaking into the world, with Lent we are waiting
from God breaking out of the tomb.
As society and culture around us kicks
into high gear with celebrating “Christmas,” we are in this
strange position, totally at odds with the expectations of instant
gratification that surround us. At this crazy time of year when
everything becomes so busy and such a rush, we need to carve out some
time for ourselves so that we can wait, so that we can be, and listen
to the Holy Spirit. It is hard, and it takes work – especially when
everything around us is telling us not to! The church has a long and
venerable history of waiting on God though! And before that.
The Isrealites waited on God when they
were invaded and taken off into exile. They cried out “How long, O
Lord, how long?!” The disciples when Jesus was crucified – they
had to wait for the resurrection, and even then sightings were not to
all, but to some. And then in Paul's time, the early church
understood that Jesus' coming again would happen in their lifetime.
And they waited, and waited and waited. We are the inheritors of the
waiting, and of that cry – How long, O Lord, how long?
There is strength in waiting, and we
can trust God. Again it is not easy, but we wait with expectation and
anticipation because we know that God fulfils God's promises. We wait
with peace, joy, hope and love, we wait with the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. We wait to create space in our lives for God. Amen.
Thanks be to God for all the wonderful people who help make Messy Church such an important ministry in the life of the Three Saints. Last Saturday we looked at marking time through the season of Advent, as we wait for Christmas. Advent candles, jello-o goodies, and an instant pageant were just some of the activities that were available. We were so glad to welcome families from the Cordova Bay Preschool and those who have now made Messy Church their home. Everyone is invited to come to any one of our Christmas Eve celebrations, but hope that you will find it convenient to worship with us at St David's with the 4pm Christmas Eve children's service.
