Today is Advent Sunday and so, once again, we’ve come to the season of Advent and the start of a new Church year. For us in the Church, just like for everyone else, this is the time when we make our preparations for Christmas which, for us in the Church at least, means preparing to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. One of the ways we do that during Advent is through our readings in Church when we hear from and think about the great figures of Advent. The prophet Isaiah who was commissioned by God to be the prophet of the Advent, the one who foretold the coming of the Messiah. And about some of the other people whose coming Isaiah foretold too. John the Baptist, the messenger who was sent by God to prepare the way for the Messiah, for Christ, and Mary, the virgin who was chosen by God to be the mother of his Son. And of course, we think about Christ too, about Jesus, whose birth we’ll celebrate at Christmas.
But during Advent, our readings call us to prepare for the coming of Christ in two ways. We’re called to prepare to celebrate his first coming when he was born as a human child just over 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, but we’re also called to prepare for his second coming too, the time when Christ will come again, this time in great power and glory to judge all things and all people and finally bring the age of peace that was promised at his first coming all those years ago.
This is how we’re called to spend Advent every year, by hearing from Isaiah, and from and about John, Mary and Jesus, in preparation for these two comings of Christ. But today, I want to speak to you about another character we associate with Christmas. Not one we read anything about in the Scriptures, although one that is based on a genuine 3rd Century saint of the Church, and that is that jolly old fellow with glasses, with white hair and beard, who wears a red suit, Father Christmas (and I absolutely refuse to call him by that American name which is a corruption of the Dutch name of the said saint, Sint Nikolaas).
It’s a sad, but inescapable fact that, in the popular culture of our society, Christ has been largely removed from the feast that bears his name, Christmas. In fact, these days, we’re just as likely to hear the season referred to as the ‘Festive Season’ or the ‘Holiday Season’ as we are to hear it given it’s proper name. And we’re even less likely to hear any mention of Jesus during the secular build up to the secular celebration of Christmas. But we will hear a lot about Father Christmas, even if he often won’t be called that. That is very sad, but it is a sign of the times and the society we live in. And there’s no point in burying our heads in the sand; we have to deal with things the way they are rather than the way we’d like them to be. But, if we can find a link between Jesus and Father Christmas, we can be reminded of the real meaning of Christmas, and what Advent is really all about, regardless of the absence of Jesus in the secular preparation for and celebration of Christmas. If we can find that link, we can be reminded of Jesus, and of the true meaning of Advent and Christmas each and every time we see an image of or hear the name of the jolly old fellow in the red suit. And I think that link is there and it’s one we can all see and understand.
If we think back to our childhood, I’m sure we can all remember being told, probably by our parents, something like,
“If you don’t behave, Fr Christmas won’t come, and you won’t get any presents!”
Those of us who are parents ourselves will no doubt have said something like that to our own children too. It’s a way to keep children well-behaved, or at least, not too badly behaved. It’s a warning, perhaps even a threat, to stay in the good book and off the naughty list, or else! But isn’t that, to all intents and purposes, one of the central messages of Advent? Not to be good or Jesus
won’t come, but to be good so that we’re ready when he does come, or else! Just think about this morning’s Gospel.
The passage we read this morning comes shortly after Jesus had spoken about his return in glory when he will send out his angels to gather together his chosen people. We know that when this happens, those who are chosen will inherit the kingdom that God has prepared for them, a place in which those who are chosen will live for eternity in love, happiness and peace. But this morning’s Gospel makes it clear that not everyone will be chosen, only those who are ready for Jesus’ return will be chosen.
Jesus tells us in a number of parables that being ready for his return means to be busy doing the Father’s will, but, as we read this morning, because we don’t know when Jesus will return, we have to be ready at all times. As Jesus puts it,
“Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”
So, if we want to be chosen to receive the good gifts that God has promised to those who love him, to those who do his will, we have to be ready to receive them at all times because Jesus may return with them at any time. In other words, we have to be good, or else! We have to be in God’s good books and stay off his naughty list, or else! Or else we won’t get the good gifts that God has promised to his chosen people and which Jesus will come again to bring. In fact, if we’re not ready for him, when Jesus does return, it might not even be the case that we get nothing at all, but that we might get something we really don’t want – the punishment reserved for those who aren’t faithful to God and who aren’t busy doing his will, the
“…eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
as Jesus puts it a little later in St Matthew’s Gospel.
It might seem a little flippant to speak in terms of staying in God’s good books and off God’s naughty list, but I’m only borrowing here from that book so beloved by generations of Anglicans, the Book of Common Prayer where, in the service for the ordination of priests, we find those who are about to be ordained being exhorted to,
‘… seek after Christ’s sheep who are dispersed abroad and for his children who are in the midst of this naughty world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever.’
So stay in good books and off the naughty list. Be good or Father Christmas won’t come, and you won’t get any presents. Be good or when Jesus comes you won’t get the good things that God has promised to his chosen, faithful servants.
It is very sad that our society has largely succeeded in taking Jesus out of Christmas and, in a sense, has replaced him with Father Christmas, but if we can see and remember this connection between them, we can be reminded of Jesus every time we see Father Christmas.
If we can see and remember this connection, we can be reminded of the real meaning of Christmas and the reality of what we’re preparing for during the season of Advent every time we see the jolly
old fellow in the red suit, whatever he may be called when we see him. If we can see and remember this connection, then no matter if we never hear Jesus’ name mentioned nor see his image outside the Church during our Advent preparation for Christmas we can be constantly reminded during this season of our need to be about God’s work and to be doing his will. Not just during Advent, as we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth in Bethlehem just over 2000 years ago, but each and every day of our lives as we await his return in glory so that we will be ready to be chosen and receive the good gifts he will come to bring us.
Amen.
The Propers for Advent 1 can be viewed here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 