LAKE JAMES

NORTH CAROLINA

ADVENT SUNDAY + 12/3/06 + St. Paul’s, Lake James

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

For many years, each autumn was the time for Charles Schultz, the creator of the Peanuts cartoon strip to focus on little Linus and his belief in the God-like “Great Pumpkin.” Linus would explain his faith to Charlie Brown this way: “On Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch and brings toys to all little children who have been good that year.” Charlie Brown stares at Linus for a moment and then gives his considered response: “You’re crazy!” Linus loftily answers “All right – so you believe in Santa Claus and I believe in the Great Pumpkin. The way I see it, it doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you’re sincere.” (Doesn’t that sound familiar?) Halloween comes and goes, but no Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch nor are any toys brought to the waiting Linus. The next day, as Linus walks down the street, the other children make fun of him, taunting him by shouting “Look at me I’m the Great Pumpkin. I rise out of the pumpkin patch and bring toys to all good children Linus, how many toys did the Great Pumpkin bring you?” With the jeering laughter ringing in his ears, Linus glumly sits down on the curb and says to the only sympathetic one there is (Snoopy the Dog) “I was a victim of false doctrine!”

Today, the first Sunday in Advent, the Church bids us consider two things unlike the amusing but meaningless myth of the Great Pumpkin. First, God has, does, and will come to humankind and second, it does matter what you believe.

The Season of Advent has three major emphases, each of which is reflected in the Collect for today. Let’s look at that prayer together. It says that Jesus came – He came to visit us in great humility – that’s the first emphasis of Advent, the Incarnation. The belief that, as St. John’s Gospel puts it, “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus, Son of Mary, was born, truly God and fully human, as a helpless infant in the stable at Bethlehem. In the Collect, we also asked that “in the last day, when Jesus shall come again in His glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal…” that’s the Church’s belief in the Second Coming of Christ, the same doctrine we affirm in the Eucharistic Prayer when we all say “We remember his death, we proclaim his resurrection, we await his coming in glory.” The third truth mentioned in the Collect for today is summed up briefly by our request for God’s grace “now in the time of this mortal life.” There are many ways in which God does give us grace in our daily lives. One way is when we read the Bible prayerfully and then reflect on that reading.

Another way God comes to us is through our contact with our sisters and brothers in Christ, especially when we seek to minister to others in the Name of and because of our love for the Lord.

As Christians of the Anglican Tradition, we know that Jesus particularly comes to us in and through the Holy Eucharist as He feeds us with the Sacrament of His Body and Blood in Holy Communion. For us, the Eucharist is at the heart, the core of the Christian experience of Christ’s continual advents into our lives here and now.

Many customs have evolved through the centuries as Christians have obeyed the Lord’s loving command to “take, eat, this is My Body, this is My Blood.” Among those customs are the use of special vestments for the clergy and coverings for the Altar. This morning, we see the beautiful new blue Altar frontal and vestments made by Gin Creswell for use during Advent. The back cover of your service leaflet briefly explains why we are using blue this year rather than the violet with which many of us are familiar at this season. While I very much doubt that God was holding His breath to see which color would adorn the Altar and Priests at St. Paul’s Church this Advent, our use of particular colors, vestments, music, and ceremonies are all part of our taking worship seriously, offering the very best of what we have to our God and, at the same time, having our worship of that God enhanced and made more meaningful to us.

One of the oldest practices connected with the Eucharist, dating all the way back to the first century, is the custom of “reserving” or keeping back a portion of the consecrated Bread so that Holy Communion would be available at a moment’s notice for the sick, the dying, or in other emergencies. The first written reference to Reservation of the Holy Sacrament is found in the writings of St. Justin the Martyr, dating about 40 years after the death of St. John the Apostle, and here at St. Paul’s, that practice has been followed for many years. It is one for which priest after priest has been grateful as it made possible bringing Holy Communion to people where a bedside celebration of the entire liturgy would have been inadvisable, even impossible, but where receiving the Sacrament was of great importance to the one to whom it was brought. Here at St. Paul’s, the Sacrament is reserved in an Aumbry, that “box” on the wall behind the Altar. Except on Good Friday and the first part of Holy Saturday when the Aumbry is empty, the presence of the Blessed Sacrament is signified in two ways. A curtain of the same color as the Altar frontal hangs in front of the Aumbry door, and the light in the sanctuary lamps tell us that Christ is truly present here in the Reserved Sacrament. It is because of His Presence that it is customary to acknowledge and greet Him with a bow or a genuflection.

Our Lord Jesus came, comes, and will come again. Those are basic truths taught and proclaimed by the Church through the centuries. They are the bedrock of our Christian Faith, and it matters whether one believes them or not. The affirmation of those teachings is expressed by us in several ways. They are expressed through our intellectual assent, that is through our minds. They are (or should be) reflected in the way we live and relate to others. Certainly there are many good people, kind people, caring people who in all honesty do not profess the Christian Faith, and sadly, there are some Christians whose lives do not seem to include much care or compassion for others. This season of Advent is one way the Church bids us examine what not only what our beliefs really are, but how they influence the way we live.

Finally, the affirmation of the teachings of our Faith needs to be expressed through the way we worship. I don’t imagine anyone here this morning doubts that we could surely worship God without sanctuary lamps, beautiful altar frontals and vestments for the priests, candles and dignified ceremonies. But, at the same time, we can be thankful for them, for the way they aid and enrich our worship. We in this parish of Saint Paul are blessed in so many ways. May our love and welcome for the Lord who chooses to come among us be deepened day by day as we go through this Advent season.

+ In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

The Reverend Alfred T. K. Zadig, Sr.

This page last modified on Friday, April 11, 2008 09:39 PM