Advent

 

Welcome to Advent, a joyful time of year, shot through with the anticipation of celebrating Christ's birth at Christmas. But as we reflect on that, the first Advent, we're drawn to the second when Christ will come again in glorious majesty to judge the "quick and the dead" and the world by fire.

The second coming, a vindication of our faith, and with it the promise of evil's utter defeat. A source of hope, for sure, evil is utterly defeated and the faithful vindicated, but also trepidation. How will we measure up before the perfection of God when He returns?

Austin Farrer offers this:

ADVENT brings Christmas, judgement 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 judgement 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 (as now) 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 brings Christmas, judgement runs out into mercy.  For the God who saves us and the God who judges us is one God. Yes indeed.

God bless,

LSP

Christ The King - A Sunday Sermon

 

It's the Feast of Christ the King today and the readings at Mass present us with a glorious vision of the majesty of God. In Daniel's prophecy we see the Ancient of Days, mystically enthroned in fiery power and the Son of Man given "dominion, glory and kingdom," everlastingly. St. John the Divine takes up the theme,  "Jesus Christ" is "the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the prince of kings of the earth," the Alpha and Omega. Triumphant, then everything changes.

In John's Gospel we find Jesus in the Praetorium, on trial for his life before Pilate, before the power of the idolatrous Roman state. We know what comes next, Christ, the King, is scourged, crowned with thorns and crucified. And this jars, it doesn't seem right. Surely Pilate should be whipped as a pagan usurper in the Holy City, and aren't the false prophet Caiaphas along with his followers the ones deserving execution for blasphemy and treason?

Yes, according to the logic of the world, of the Beast, of Caesar, and the math of Satan. But Christ's kingship is not of this world, he says as much to Pilate. No, his is the Kingdom of God, the kingdom of love, and he witnesses this truth to the full with his sacrifice on Calvary. There, on the Cross, Christ manifested his kingship as the God of love, defeating the ruler of this world and inaugurating the kingdom, establishing his dominion over sin and death and reconciling us to the Father.

It is a kingdom which will be fully revealed at the end of time, when our sovereign returns as he left, in clouds of glory. At that point,  "every eye will see him, every one who pierced him; and all tribes of the earth will wail" as the beast is burned with fire while the righteous shine like the sun.

But this is for the future. In the meanwhile, the Pilates of our age, of the godless state, to say nothing of false prophets, wax large. As it was in the Praetorium so it is now, Antichrist appears ascendant. And as foretold, they come with lying signs and wonders, "Look, we can conjure money out of thin air, from nothing. We are Gods." A satanic parody of creation, and that's just our financial system; enough to deceive the very elect.

Do not be fooled. They're not gods and neither are we, "It is he that hath made us and not we ourselves." He, Christ, is our true Sovereign, the king of kings and lord of lords who, on his return at the end of the age will blow wickedness away like smoke before the wind and the Beast along with Satan and his apostate angels will be cast into the lake of fire.

Wait for this in confident hope and as we do, as we watch and pray, ask God to fill us with great faith and love such that when he comes our savior and king who reigns from the Cross will recognize us as his own, as his faithful soldiers and servants, sheep of his pasture, sinners redeemed by his precious blood, and will raise us at the meeting to glory.

Christus Rex,

LSP

A Short Advent Sermon

 

You're perhaps staring in baffled, slack-jawed consternation as our country descends into banana republicdom, with all the risks therein. Or maybe you're wondering why Texas is wet and freezing, like Aberystwyth in July.

Whatever the case, here's something different, a sermon for the first Sunday of Advent in the form of the season's governing Collect:

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

And for all those who like to say the Divine Office from the 1928 Book of Common Prayer, and even for those who don't, here's a link. 

Say your prayers, kids, and sanctify the day. It's important.

God bless,

LSP

Sunday Sermon

If you use the new fangled lectionary, chances are you heard the Parable of the Talents this morning at Mass. Remember the story? A man goes on a long journey and entrusts three servants with his money, five Talents to one, two to another and one to the last. 

When the man returns he makes an accounting, and the first two servants do well, they've increased the money entrusted to them, but the third hasn't. He hid his talent in the ground and returns it, only to get a ferocious response, "You wicked and slothful servant!" 

The parable's often interpreted as a cautionary tale in favor of  good stewardship; use the various things God's blessed us with wisely for the growth of his kingdom, at interest. So don't be shy, fill in that pledge card!

All well and good, if underwhelming, and the treatment of the last servant seems harsh. Why is he so wicked? It makes little sense until we consider the number of the treasure.

The five Talents represent the five books of the Law, the Pentateuch, which are described by two Talents, the commandments to love God and neighbor, "on which hang all the Law and the Prophets." This is embodied in the one Talent, in God, Jesus who is the fulfillment of Law and Prophecy. 

No wonder, then, that the sum of the treasure amounts to eight, the number of eternity, new creation, and resurrection, Christ rose on Sunday, the eighth day. The treasure entrusted to his servants is ultimately nothing less than God himself, the indwelling presence of Christ.

Now we understand the wickedness of the final servant. Imagine, on the last day, when God returns and demands an accounting, a reckoning, "What did you do with the treasure I gave you, with myself?" The time for lies and excuses is over and we reply, "I hid it in the dirt, I buried you." At that point Dies Irae, and outer darkness awaits.

Pray for mercy and the increase of the grace which has been given us, nothing less than the indwelling presence of Christ. So that, at the end, when the Man comes around, he will welcome us into the joy of his kingdom.

Here endeth the Lesson,

LSP

A Cheery Little Advent Message

Here's a cheery little message to get you ready for Advent:

When confronted with Americans who have seen their standard of living falling for the last twenty five years and are sick and tired of hearing drivel about white privilege, black lives matter, safe spaces, gay and transgender “rights”, micro-aggressions, rape culture, misogyny, $15 minimum wage, and a myriad of other offenses against feminism, these easily offended “warriors” will piss their pants. These trivialities will seem so quaint when they are confronted with an angry guy with a gun on the streets or when they are told to report for duty as we wage war with Russia and China. The foolishness of the culture wars will become strikingly apparent when economic collapse and life or death choices confront our special snowflake generation.

Special snowflake generation. I like that.

God bless,

LSP