by CCW | 10 December 2017 15:33
Well, Apocalypse Now to be sure, with “signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring; men’s hearts failing them for fear”. Sounds like the evening news. But perhaps you took some comfort even from the Dies Irae last week in the contrast between the forms of the secular apocalypse and the features of the sacred apocalypse; the one seemingly hopeless and in despair, the other precisely about hope and joy. Not however by putting any trust in ourselves but by looking unto God and his Word.
Advent is inescapably apocalyptic. It is about our watching and waiting upon the motions of God’s Word coming to us, the Word which awakens us to the truth of God which is the true and only measure of our lives. On The Second Sunday in Advent we are awakened to the presence and the truth of God coming to us in the pageant of Holy Scripture. In the face of the impending doom and gloom of our world and day, we are awakened to hope and joy. “Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning,” Paul tells us, referencing the Hebrew Scriptures, though, ironically, what he says will extend to the writings of the Christian Scriptures including his own letters. But learning what? He tells us the purpose of the “things [which] were written,” the purpose of the Scriptures: “that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.” That word “hope” is mentioned four times in today’s epistle. That hope is about our life in Christ now and always. The point is wonderfully captured in Cranmer’s celebrated Collect which expresses an Anglican sensibility about the Scriptures as God’s Word which we are to “hear…, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest; ” in short, fully immerse ourselves in them. Why? Because they gather us into the life of God.
In his homily on A Fruitful Exhortation Unto the Reading and Knowledge of Holy Scripture, Cranmer notes that “he that keepeth the word of Christ is promised the love and favour of God and that he shall be the dwelling-place, or temple, of the blessed Trinity.” That means attending to the Scriptures. “The Scripture of God,” he says, “is the heavenly meat of our souls; the hearing and keeping of it maketh us blessed, sanctifieth us, and maketh us holy. It turneth our souls; it is a light lantern unto our feet. It is a sure, steadfast, and everlasting instrument of salvation.” Scripture is a doctrinal instrument of salvation because it is written for our learning. It turns our souls to God.
This is a high doctrine of Scripture that emphasizes a learning that is about wisdom and truth in contrast to an instrumental reason which all too often manipulates and destroys by reducing ourselves and one another to machines, objects, and things at the expense of the thinking that makes us truly human. Advent offers a corrective and a critique of human reason at once confronting us with the continuing sagas of folly and wickedness in a world where power trumps truth and opening us out to the redemption of our humanity by recalling us to God through his Word and Son.
We are provided with a way to think the Apocalypse, the sense of the ending of all things, by virtue of learning about our end in God now and always. Such is hope and love.
“What if this present were the world’s last night?” the poet/preacher John Donne asks in one of his holy sonnets. How do we face the ending of things personally and collectively? The sonnet provides a way of thinking which complements today’s readings.
“Mark in my heart, O soul, where thou dost dwell, / The picture of Christ crucified” he says and bids us interrogate or ponder that image. Is that image meant to cause fright? The stark image of the crucified Christ that he seems to envision is about the suffering Christ who identifies with the sufferings of our humanity, perhaps as distorted and twisted in ways suggesting the devastating effects of the plague that decimated northern Europe in the 14th century and beyond, continuing to make its presence felt into the 17th century. Donne calls attention to the tears and the blood of the Crucified pierced by the crown of thorns but as well he recalls us to the words of the Crucified as found in the Scriptural accounts of the Passion, particularly St. Luke’s. The balance between image and word is intriguing and instructive. He points us explicitly to Luke’s first word from the Cross. If the picture of Christ crucified cannot cause fright, how much more the words of Christ from the Cross cannot condemn but only bring comfort. “And can that tongue adjudge thee unto hell, / Which prayed forgiveness for his foes’ fierce spite?” “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do”, as Luke records.
The last six lines of the sonnet answer the twofold question about the face and the words of Christ with an emphatic “No, no.” Neither the recollection of an image of Christ crucified nor are the words of the Crucified meant to condemn us or frighten us. Instead they awaken us to mercy and pity. What seems so ugly and horrible – the picture of Christ crucified – becomes instead a “beauteous form” which “assures a piteous mind.” In the face of the world’s alarms and all the forms of social, economic, political, and environmental disarray, we are bidden to look to Christ. As Calvin puts it, “Christ is more than a thousand testimonies to me.” The image and the words of the Crucified proclaim mercy and love.
The Lucan Apocalypse, like Matthew’s account of the end-times, does not mean a retreat into the ghettoes of complacency and security, hiding our heads in the pretensions of our piety, as it were. Matthew’s Apocalypse immediately exhorts us to a life of service and commitment to others by way of the works of corporal mercy. Luke goes directly to prayer and watching ending the twenty-first chapter of his Gospel with “all the people came to him in the temple to hear him” before going on to Judas’ betrayal of Christ and the Last Supper. “Do this in remembrance of me.”
It suggests the purpose of the Church as the place where we “hear, read, mark, learn and inwardly digest” the Word of God, audibly and sacramentally, for the good of our souls, the good of the Church, and the good of the world. The end-times are all about gathering us back to God in Christ. It means placing our own thinking under the authority of God’s Word. That alone is a powerful critique of human reasoning which in itself is so destructive and deadly. The challenge is to think the Scriptures and let their wisdom enter into our being and shape our understanding, like Mary’s fiat mihi, her “be it unto me according to thy word.” The Scriptures open us out to hope in the face of the fearful uncertainties of our world and day.
Such is the power of the Scriptures reflected in the hymns and the art of the Church. “The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man”, the wise philosopher Ecclesiastes concludes. His word adorns, too, the entrance-way of our Church. “Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God”. A curious phrase from Ecclesiastes, it means to pay attention to the purpose of this place. As the passage continues “and be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they consider not that they do evil.” The counter to our folly and wickedness is found in the wisdom of God. That must remain the purpose of this holy place.
Today, too, we honour Eric Nott and Barbara Hughes whose service and dedication have contributed greatly to the continuation and the mission of Christ Church as well as remembering the devotion and sacrifices of Helen Gibson to this place. In so doing, we take comfort in the proper sense of being strengthened by the Word of God proclaimed and celebrated in this holy place, praying for the continual advent of God’s Word and Son to us and in us whatever the times. It is all and always apocalyptic. Do not be cast down in despair but look up in hope and joy.
Fr. David Curry
Advent II, 2017
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