The Eve of Advent - 26th November 2022
This evening we will celebrate first Vespers of Advent Sunday, the start of a season of rich liturgical texts and beautiful music leading us towards Christmas. For our Magnificat antiphon we will sing:
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, and the LORD will be king over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be one and his name one, alleluia.
The season we are entering is one of longing, of longing for the time when all will be set right, when oppression and injustice are no more and all of creation lives in harmony. The Biblical imagery we draw on, as here from the prophecy of Zechariah, paints a picture of the LORD as the king who will bring salvation. In ancient times the king was often seen as the one who literally kept the world in order and ensured the turning of the seasons and the provision of rain and crops. Many old testament prophecies use the language of abundance and fertility to talk about the coming salvation of God. The living waters of which Zechariah wrote would ensure successful crops and fruitful growth. I wonder what these prophecies might mean for us, living in a world whose natural resources are becoming seriously degraded? More than ever we need a king who will ensure abundance and fertility so that no one need go hungry and all creatures be able to live their lives to the full.
But what kind of king do we hope for as Christians? This morning at Vigils we heard of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, riding on a donkey – another image from Zechariah, speaking of the coming king. Jesus would have known what he was claiming by entering Jerusalem in this way, that he was the coming king. But then he goes on to point to his death, talking of his glorification in terms of a grain of wheat that must fall into the ground and die before it can bear a rich harvest. This is no worldly king come to overturn the oppressive political power of Rome. Rather God’s kingdom is to come through a letting go of power, of surrendering to God’s will and if need be embracing death out of love for others.
Jesus throughout his life modelled that humble love, reaching out to those who were deemed unacceptable and bringing healing and wholeness into broken lives. He calls us to follow him on that path, and through his death and resurrection poured out the spirit to empower us on the way. In John’s gospel he talks of the spirit in terms of living water in an interesting echo of Zechariah’s prophesy of streams of living water flowing out from Jerusalem. Jesus transformed that image when he spoke of the streams of living water flowing out from the belly of the believer. Through his death he has empowered each one who believes in him to be themselves a source of living water to the world. Is that how the promised abundance and fertility will come about?
As we open our hearts to the work of the spirit we too can become ones who bring healing and wholeness to the world. So much of the darkness and destruction we see around us comes from the twisting of humanity’s rightful desire for abundant life towards a self-centred seeking of my own good without reference to others. I know in myself the fear that there will not be enough to go round, that I must protect my little patch otherwise I will have nothing. Multiply those kinds of feelings across the mass of humanity and there is the source of conflict and environmental destruction.
As the spirit works in our hearts we come to know ourselves as deeply loved by God and the roots of our selfishness are gradually dug out. We are set free to embrace a wider concern that reaches out beyond ourselves. We need to let the rubbish that clutters our inner world be cleared away so that the springs of living water within our hearts can flow freely to transform our own lives and the lives of those around us. No longer do we need to go to Jerusalem to receive those waters, every Christian has the source of that water within and can be a source of transformation for the world. The world can only be saved as more and more people allow themselves to be transformed in this way, and to be opened up in love for one another, across all boundaries of religion, culture and nation.
Here at Malling Abbey we have a particular vocation to a life of prayer, a life that nurtures the springs of living water that flow out to transform and refresh the lives of all who come here seeking God. And our prayer also flows out around the world to touch the many people and concerns that we hold in our hearts. It is our work to be faithful in our prayer, that the destructive powers at work in our world might be overcome.
I will be bringing an icon of the ‘Virgin of the Sign’ into the church this afternoon to be with us through Advent and Christmas. As you probably know, it takes its name from the prophecy of Isaiah, that ‘the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel’. It speaks of the coming of God amongst us in the birth of Jesus from the Virgin Mary but the image also speaks of the coming of God in the heart of every person who seeks to listen and obey as did Mary. The invitation this image, and of this season, is once again to prepare our hearts to receive the birth of the Christ the King, and in embracing that new life in our own hearts to become a source of life and hope for the world.
Mother Anne - 26th November 2022