SERMON- REFOCUS ON CHRIST!

By: Deacon Desirée Johnson, assistant curate at
Christ the King Anglican Church.
Nassau, Bahamas.

December 11, 2020

Sermon delivered on December 6, 2020

So, here we are at the second Sunday of Advent, also known as the Sunday of Peace. Advent is traditionally a season of repentance and prayerful discipline; yet, is has also become a rich season of hope, peace, love and joy – themes that are universal in the human experience and the fruit of an abiding relationship with Christ. But the overarching theme of Advent is taken from the words of John the Baptist in our Gospel reading this morning: “Prepare the Way of the Lord!”

Advent – which means “coming” – in the tradition has had a twin focus:

• The first focus of Advent is the preparation for and commemoration of the First Coming of Christ in the celebration of Christmas; that is, the historical coming of God in the particular person of Jesus; And…
• The second focus of Advent is the expectation of and preparation for the Second Coming of Christ; that is the future coming of God at the fulfilment of all things;

However, for us to effectively prepare for the Second Coming, and to more fully understand what it was like to wait for the First Coming of the Messiah, it is necessary that we look back:

• We look back to the stories of the Old Testament.
• We look back to God’s messengers – the Prophets and John the Baptist.
• We look back to wait alongside those whose faith kept them looking ahead to the fulfillment of God’s promises.
• We look back to see that there is more to come…yes, Christ has come at Christmas, but it is not the last word… because Christ will come again.
• And, most especially, we look back in order to REFOCUS on Jesus the Christ.

Author Maria Boulding reminds us, however, that the early church mothers and fathers spoke of a threefold coming of God. And I’d like to suggest that:

• We also look back to help us see the coming of Christ in each and every age – that is, the Advent of God in our own life and times.

This second week of Advent honours God’s messengers, the prophets, from Isaiah to John the Baptist, who prepared the way of the Lord for his historical incarnation as Jesus of Nazareth, son of Mary and Joseph, and the important role they play in preparing us for the divine encounter. The Collect for this week sums up well the joys, tensions, and complexities of this season:

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

Yet, as we are all aware, there are many things during the seasons of Advent and Christmas that can distract and deter us away from the important work of preparing hearts to receive the Christ when he comes again. As a result, I believe that our worship challenges this Adventide, are twofold –

1. To create an environment to hear the good news of Jesus’ incarnation anew, so that we can listen to God’s messengers as a worshiping community and let the message of gospel take root more deeply in our lives. And,
2. To recognise the ways in which we are called to be messengers in our own time by following John the Baptist into the ministry of proclamation and preparation in our communities.

This year in our Diocese, our Advent Sermon Series – Reigniting True Worship is calling on us to recommit and renew ourselves afresh as we continue our journey as a people of God amidst the coronavirus pandemic. Our theme this week is REFOCUS – and each of our scripture readings today, when viewed through the twin lenses of God’s messengers and the Reigniting True Worship Series, is charging us to do just that – REFOCUS.

In Isaiah (40:1-11), a herald is announced who will bring comfort to God’s people by proclaiming the news of God’s coming as a caring and nurturing Shepherd. “Comfort, O comfort my people,

says your God” (40:1).

Isaiah is calling on us to REFOCUS OUR EYES – to turn our eyes away from ourselves; from our own problems, from our own needs, from our own pain…and turn them toward others and comfort them. We may not be able to offer an immediate solution to the heartbreak and suffering that so many in our communities are experiencing; but what we can offer instead is a message of hope and visions of peace for the future…just as Isaiah did to the people of God!

In the Psalm (85:1-2, 8-13), God has forgiven and restored his people, they are encouraged to listen to what He is saying and not go back to ways of wickedness. They should listen to what God says, for God’s salvation is near, and God’s blessings are poured out – he will give what is good (85:12).

The Psalmist is calling on us to REFOCUS OUR EARS – to listen to God…not to the noise in the marketplace, not to the naysayers and conspiracy theorists, not to the false prophets! Negativity, doom, and gloom about our current situation is everywhere, especially in social media and on the airwaves, and people are becoming increasingly discouraged and hopeless.  But the Psalmist is admonishing us to be discerning about who and what we listen to; we are to listen to God because he will speak PEACE to his people. And as God’s people today, let us listen to him, speak peace to and encourage one another.

In the Second Letter of Peter (2 Peter 3:8-15a), the writer acts as a messenger of God’s grace, encouraging the believers to live in hope and righteousness, trusting in God’s mercy and the certainty of God’s coming, even though it seemed that God was delaying his arrival.

The author is calling on us to REFOCUS OUR ENERGY – to not be anxious, concerned, or impatient about when the Lord will come again, or when the pandemic will end, or when our Churches will be allowed to fully open… because God’s time is not our time, and “with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like one day” (3:8-9). The writer is telling his readers that God’s delay is not to cause them more suffering but is instead an act of love and patience so that more can be saved.

Likewise, we are given a word of hope for the future, but we are also given instructions on how to live in the present – blamelessly and at peace with one another. In the end, we wait and God waits. And Second Peter assures us that God is faithful. Let us, therefore, remind those among us who may be losing hope and growing impatient that we are called to REFOCUS our energy, wait patiently, trust God, and remain faithful, even as God is faithful.

Finally, in Mark’s Gospel account (1:1-8), John the Baptiser comes on the scene and is described as a fulfilment of Isaiah’s prophecy of the voice in the wilderness preparing the way for the coming of the One Whom God sends to baptise God’s people in the Holy Spirit. John cried out for the people to repent, and Mark is calling us to REFOCUS OUR HEARTS, to acknowledge where we have broken relationship with God, with our neighbours, with ourselves, or with Creation and seek to bring about healing and peace.

Sisters and brothers, both our Diocese and this Second week of Advent are calling us to serve as heralds of Christ’s kingdom, to be messengers of the Good News and of God’s Peace, to tell the story of God’s love in our own time by:

REFOCUSING OUR EYES – to bring comfort to God’s people.

REFOCUSING OUR EARS – to listen to God so that we can speak peace and encouragement to God’s people.

REFOCUSING OUR ENERGY – to remind God’s people to wait patiently, trust him, and remain faithful. And, finally, by

REFOCUSING OUR HEARTS – to help both ourselves and all God’s people bring about healing and peace in our relationships.

And the good news is that we don’t have to figure out how to do this on our own. This Advent message to REFOCUS is embodied in John the Baptiser so we need only follow his example: we must:

• Stand – whether in the wilderness, in our homes, in our communities, or in our churches – and encourage one another to turn from sin, and
• Point to the Christ, the one who is more powerful, more faithful, more patient, and more loving than we can ask or imagine…the one who was, and is, and is to come.

My family in Christ, we live in between the historical incarnation of Jesus and the fulfilment of the cosmic Christ of all. Therefore, our challenge as a worshipping community today – this Second Sunday of Advent and beyond – is to be messengers of hope, preparing the way of the Lord by striving to have Advent Vision… that perfect vision whereby we…

• Open wide both of our eyes.
• Look back on the historical First Coming of Christ in Jesus of Nazareth.
• REFOCUS on His Second Coming at the fulfilment of the age, and live our lives accordingly.
• So that in this age we can find and receive him, the Prince of Peace, into our hearts afresh. Amen!