{"id":3530,"date":"2019-12-01T21:07:59","date_gmt":"2019-12-01T21:07:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/?page_id=3530"},"modified":"2019-12-01T21:07:59","modified_gmt":"2019-12-01T21:07:59","slug":"sermon-1st-december-2019","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk\/web\/information\/sermons\/sermon-1st-december-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Sermon – 1st December 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Sermons index<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advent Sunday \u2013 evening<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Sunday 1st December 2019 <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Advent Sunday \u2013 evening
\nIsa. 52. 1-12,
\nMatt. 24. 15-28<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Maureen<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\nThere\u2019s a well known country\nand western song by Kenny Rogers called the Gambler \u2013 Anyone know\nit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd the chorus reminds me a\nbit of our second reading this Advent Sunday evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve got to know when to hold \u2018em<\/em>
Know when to fold \u2018em<\/em>
Know when to walk away<\/em>
And know when to run…<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe setting for our second\nreading this evening is Jesus warning his disciples of the judgment\nto fall on Jerusalem and her people in the future and the city\u2019s\nultimate destruction. And reference is made back to the book of\nDaniel \u2013 which was an extremely popular work in the first century.\nJesus drew on it freely as did many of his contemporaries. It\ndescribes in a series of stories and dreams, how God\u2019s kingdom will\ntriumph over the kingdoms of the world. \u2013 Which I guess would have\nappealed to a people undergoing occupation and suppression by a\nforeign pagan power. Like many of the passages that we read during\nAdvent, the message is one of hope \u2013 but a hope born of despair<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWithin the book of Daniel is a\nprediction of the eventual resurrection of all God\u2019s people, but\nbefore that can happen, something blasphemous and sacrilegious will\nbe placed in the Temple itself \u2013 a thought that must have been\ncompletely appalling to the contemporaries of Jesus! But this, it\nseems, will be part of the sequence of events through which God will\nredeem his true people, send his true Messiah, and bring his age old\nplan to completion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd it wasn\u2019t long before\nthis very nearly happened. In AD40 Caligula was on the point of\ninstalling a huge statue of himself in the Temple in order\ndeliberately to offend and provoke the Jews. But instead he was\nassassinated, and it was another 30 years before Roman legions\nsurrounded the Temple and placed their blasphemous standards there \u2013\nwhich was indeed the beginning of the end of Jerusalem for many\ncenturies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd it seems that Jesus\u2019\nadvice to his followers when all this was kicking off, was not to\nstay and fight to defend their way of life, but to run for the hills\nand save what they could.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThey were to run away because\nJerusalem itself was under God\u2019s judgment, and the pagan images in\nthe Temple were a sure sign that judgment was about to fall. Jesus\nwanted to rescue as many of his followers as possible. It would be a\ntime of great suffering and hardship, but through it all, God will\nremain faithful to the few. As we await and prepare for the coming of\nJesus Christ our Lord, we keep faith that our God does indeed reign,\ndespite sometimes the evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nThe terrible times of the\nfirst century were to be echoed many times since and many would argue\nwe are going through another such period of turmoil \u2013 only this\ntime it is the earth itself that seems to be turning against us for\nall the damage and desecration that we have \u2013 as a race \u2013 visited\nupon her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nAnd even today as we sit here\nin comparative comfort and great safety, some of our brother and\nsister Christians will be running away from evil regimes and will be\ntortured and killed for their faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nWe are entering the great time\nof preparation for the feast of the Incarnation. Many want to rush\nahead to all the jolly times to come \u2013 without realising that you\ndon\u2019t get the most out of all the fun things if you have not\nprepared a bit before hand. And that sometimes means thinking about\nthe mistakes we have made; the things we have got wrong and why our\nhearts and minds may not yet be ready to welcome the Christ child in\nwhen he comes. We could all do with a good helping of wisdom to get\nus through the days and weeks ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nOur ancestors long ago came up\nwith a series of responses \u2013 the Great O Antiphons some of which go\nto make up the words of the Anthem the choir will sing tonight \u2013 O\ncome, O come Emmanuel. The first of these Antiphons \u2013 O Sapientia\nor O Wisdom, is also the inspiration behind a sonnet written by a\nmodern poet and priest Malcolm Guite. So as you listen to these\nwords, pray for that helping of wisdom that we may all make a good\nAdvent; a good time of watching and waiting; a good preparation for\nthe coming of God among us \u2013 Emmanuel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

O Sapientia<\/em>
I cannot think \u2013 unless I have been thought,
Nor can I speak – unless I have been spoken;
I cannot teach \u2013 except as I am taught,
Or break the bread \u2013 except as I am broken.
O Mind behind the mind through which I seek,
O Light within the light \u2013 by which I see,
O Word, beneath the words with which I speak,
O founding, unfound Wisdom, finding me,
O sounding Song, whose depth is sounding me,
My Ground of Being, always grounding me,
My Maker\u2019s bounding line, defining me:
Come, hidden Wisdom, come with all you bring,
Come to me now, disguised as everything.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Advent Sunday \u2013 evening Sunday 1st December 2019 Advent Sunday \u2013 evening Isa. 52. 1-12, Matt. 24. 15-28 Revd Preb Maureen Hobbs There\u2019s a well known country and western song by Kenny Rogers called the Gambler \u2013 Anyone know it? And the chorus reminds me a bit of our second reading this Advent Sunday evening. … <\/p>\n

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