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St James Episcopal Church - Proclaiming the Kingdom of God |
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CONCERNING ADVENT By the Rev. George Schulenberg On November 29th, many (most?) area churches observed the beginning of Advent and marked it with ceremonial and liturgical observances that are appropriate to this four week preparatory season that precedes Christmas. Altar, lectern, and pulpit hangings were changed to purple or blue; the readings from Scripture took on a more penitential and expectant tone; an Advent wreath with four candles may have been placed in a prominent place and the first candle was lighted. In many Christian homes, an Advent wreath was placed on a table or mantle-piece, or perhaps the first ‘window’ of an Advent calendar was opened.
One of the major themes of Advent, this short season which prepares us spiritually for Christmas, is that of “light”…..the coming of the ‘Light’ of the world….Jesus Christ! A familiar passage from the Gospel of John deals with this theme of God’s ‘Light’ coming into the world’s darkness. (Read John 1:1-12)! To be honest, I had never given too much thought to the subject of “light” until I went to work for a few months in my late 20s for a down-at-the-heels sand mine near Bay City, Wisconsin. We needed money for seminary expenses, and working in the mine was a good paying job opportunity. I was hired as a truck driver and general factotum. One day I was asked to take a truck down into the mine and to wait for the front end loader to come and fill the truck with sand. The old mine’s lights had long ago failed, so the only lights available as I drove through the dark and winding tunnels were the lights on my badly aged vehicle. The “room” that I was supposed to wait in deep down in the bowels of the mine was large and cavernous. After getting the truck into position for loading, I decided to switch off the lights and the engine while I waited for my co-worker to arrive. When I did so, I was instantly enveloped by absolute darkness…. and absolute silence! There was not a sound to be heard save my own breathing, nor was there a particle of light to pierce the darkness! In that instant, I understood what hell is ……..it is spending eternity with only the sound of your own breathing, in never-ending darkness. In a stunned panic, I immediately turned the truck back on, and was greeted with comforting light and sound. I have never wanted to even remotely repeat that truly terrifying experience.
It occurs to me that the absence of sensory light, or of sensory sound, is something that we can eventually deal with, albeit with difficulty and with heroic effort. The effects of a deprivation of these senses are immediate and obvious, and we quickly begin to deal with the consequences. However, the effects of moral and spiritual blindness are another matter. They are perhaps more like a cancer….we do not generally see or perceive or feel the effects and symptoms of these ‘blindnesses’ until the effects are well established, and then they are very difficult to deal with. Greed, lust, arrogance, contempt for another, hard-heartedness, envy, hatred, lack of a forgiving spirit, selfishness – all have a way of creeping into our lives stealthily and barely noticed, until we are enveloped in a spiritual darkness that we failed to see. The results, however, are just as frightening and awful as the experience I had in that lightless sand mine. The results of spiritual blindness are deception, violence, broken relationships, a loveless life, profound loneliness, despair, inner darkness, and unrelenting inner turmoil. Make no mistake about it…..moral and spiritual darkness are deadly serious things, and I would submit to you that many of the problems we face individually and corporately are the result of our embrace (deliberately or unwittingly) of dark spiritual forces. Read another take on this whole matter of darkness and light in the 4th and 5th chapters of the letter of Paul to the Ephesians. Moral and spiritual blindness, plus a willing deafness to God’s constant calling out to us, can wreak havoc in our lives.
That is why we need a “Saviour”…..a “light-bringer”…..one who will shine a bright light into our hearts and minds and souls that will show us a way in our darknesses, in our confusions, and in our wanderings into dark places. Advent looks forward to our celebration of the Incarnation of God Himself in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Advent proclaims the coming of the one who brought moral and spiritual LIGHT to a world struggling in darkness. Each Advent candle that we light during the next four weeks is a powerful reminder of the really good news that we do not have to live in darkness, but rather, that we CAN walk into a new life of light and peace and joy, led there by Jesus Christ, who is the Light of the World! Would you like to know a little more about this whole theme of Christ as the light of our world….of your world? If so, get a Bible and check out chapters 4 and 5 of Ephesians! Meditate on them for a while……where might the light of Christ need to shine in your life in order that you might find some soul-deep healing and peace?
+ + + + + + + + + On the lifting of the world’s darkness………… “Jesus answered [the twelve disciples] – ‘Go and tell John [the Baptist] what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me.” Matthew 11:4-6
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Lessons from the Boat