Wednesday, December 8, 2021

Advent Reflection

 



Here's an Advent reflection by Austin Farrer, from Crown of the Year:


Our journey sets out from God in our creation, and returns to God at the final judgment.  As the bird rises from the Earth to fly, and must some time return to the Earth from which it rose; so God sends us forth to fly, and we must fall back into the hands of God at last.  But God does not wait for the failure of our power and the expiry of our days to drop us back into his lap.  He goes himself to meet us and everywhere confronts us.  Where is the countenance which we must finally look in the eyes, and not be able to turn away our head?  It smiles up at Mary from the cradle, it calls Peter from the nets, it looks on him with grief when he has denied his master.  Our judge meets us at every step of our way, with forgiveness on his lips and succor in his hands.  He offers us these things while there is yet time.  Every day opportunity shortens, our scope for learning our Redeemer’s love is narrowed by twenty-four hours, and we come nearer to the end of our journey, when we shall fall into the hands of the living God, and touch the heart of the devouring fire.

Advent brings Christmas, judgment runs out into mercy.  For the God who saves us and the God who judges us is one God.  We are not, even, condemned by his severity and redeemed by his compassion; what judges us is what redeems us, the love of God.  What is it that will break our hearts on judgment day?  Is it not the vision, suddenly unrolled, of how he has loved the friends we have neglected, of how he has loved us, and we have not loved him in return; how, when we came before his altar, he gave us himself, and we gave him half-penitences, or resolutions too weak to commit our wills?  But while love thus judges us by being what it is, the same love redeems us by effecting what it does.  Love shares flesh and blood with us in this present world, that the eyes which look us through at last may find in us a better substance than our vanity.

Advent is a coming, not our coming to God, but his to us.  We cannot come to God, he is beyond our reach; but he can come to us, for we are not beneath his mercy.  Even in another life, as St. John sees it in his vision, we do not rise to God, but he descends to us, and dwells humanly among human creatures, in the glorious man, Jesus Christ.  And that will be his last coming; so we shall be his people, and he everlastingly our God, our God-with-us, our Emmanuel.  He will so come, but he is come already, he comes always: in our fellow-Christian (even in a child, says Christ), in his Word, invisibly in our souls, more visibly in this sacrament.  Opening ourselves to him, we call him in: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; O come, Emmanuel.


...we shall fall into the hands of the living God, and touch the heart of the devouring fire and judgement runs out into mercy. 

God bless you,

LSP 

12 comments:

Ed Bonderenka said...

Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended...
How beautiful.
He came to us.

LSP said...

Ed, I totally agree. Such wisdom and holiness.

Farrer was, I think, the best Anglican theologian of the last century. Remarkable.

LindaG said...

Thank you for these words of hope, Parson.

You all be safe and God bless.

LL said...

We need hope - always.

Jules said...

How beautiful.

seanachie said...

LSP
I love this. It's worth repeating...in fact I think I'll repeat it as part of my sermon this Sunday.
As always God's blessings to you!

Adrienne said...

Farrer is great. LSP. Thanks for this wonderful reflection. God bless...

LSP said...

Such a powerful message, Linda!

Bless you and be strong.

LSP said...

Mr. LL, ain't that the truth. Along with faith and charity.

LSP said...

seanchie, so glad it helped!

Farrer was, of course, holy and genius.

LSP said...

I thought you'd approve, Adrienne.

LSP said...

Juliette, it really is. I stand back in wonder.