Readings:
Isaiah 64.1–9;
Psalm 80.1–8, 18–20;
1 Corinthians 1.3–9;
Mark 13.24–end

Collect:
Almighty God,
give us grace to cast away the works of darkness
and to put on the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which your Son Jesus Christ came to us in great humility;
that on the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious majesty
to judge the living and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through him who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Reflection

Last week was the last Sunday of the Church year, when as a Partnership we celebrated and worshipped Christ as King, taking his place at God’s ‘right hand’ – a sign of power and glory – reigning over his kingdom of believers, past, present and future. Before the service, about 7:40, I glanced – than gazed in wonder – from my study window at the sight in the sky, which I quickly photographed before it drifted away (see below). Moments before I looked out, two jet planes must have crossed, from my viewpoint at right angles, leaving vapour trails which I then saw through the gap in the dark clouds, framing the sight. Many thoughts ran through my mind at what I saw, which to me, was unmistakably the Cross of Christ. Maybe the most significant thought was the advent hymn, ‘Lo he comes with clouds descending’, from a verse in today’s gospel reading, “Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.”(Mark 13:26 NRSV). This verse is thoroughly appropriate for both Christ the King and Advent Sunday because it’s a verse about both Jesus’ authority and his second coming. It stiches the two together, as it were, to join the end of one year to the beginning of the next. The focus of both is his one purpose for coming – “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45 NRSV).

It was like a sign or reminder to keep my eyes focussed above all the things going on in the world around me that compete for my attention, and see the wonder of God’s purpose and plan for humanity, especially through the festive season ahead of us. 

It has reminded me of similar thoughts from 8 years ago when touring the areas around Jerusalem where Jesus was born and later ministered – Bethlehem, Bethany, Mount of Olives, Gethsemane. But here the signs were not upward in the sky: they were buried beneath 20 centuries of archaeology!

Excavating through accumulated layers of debris – physical, political, religious – is very difficult, but when all’s been said and done, it’s important not to lose sight of the facts of Jesus’ life in the midst of the weird and wonderful ways people have subsequently chosen to remember them, in the buildings, legends and liturgy that have been erected around them! Getting to the real life of Jesus is a challenge, but very refreshing. 

Something I noted was that there are caves everywhere in the Land of the Holy One: caves for hiding, caves for storage, caves for hermits, caves for loos, caves for dwellings, caves for tombs, caves, caves, and more caves! So, clay-brick houses were often built (and still are) on to existing caves providing cheap, rough space, used for storage and stabling for domestic animals. 

So it could be, that Joseph and Mary, while staying at the ‘journey-breaking’ place of his extended family in Bethlehem, there was no ‘place or space’ away from other people in the busy guest room upstairs for the privacy of a birth, except for the cave downstairs at the end with the domestic animals. Immediately we have a picture coming together so that misunderstood ideas of ‘inn’, ‘stable’, ‘cave’, ‘no room’ of the nativity, now make a lot more sense. His extended family would also have been on hand to assist with the birth. For me, that makes for a much more real, more tangible, more human – and ultimately more believable – birth narrative than what we so often hear.

I hope that over this Advent and Christmas period, you may be minded to focus above all the tinsel and traditional debris of the season to find and worship the real Jesus in your heart, discovering his purpose and plan for humanity, in and through the worship at our churches throughout the Partnership. I hope you will then discover for yourself the joy of the shepherds, as they came to find the same Jesus, maybe in a cave at the end of a mud-brick, family home 20 centuries ago, and, like them, go home rejoicing and sharing the good news.

Dave Talks