RECOLLECTIONS   NOVEMBER 21, 2004

THE SUNDAY NEXT BEFORE ADVENT

The cumbersome title for this Sunday announces an ending and a beginning.  We have reached the end of the season of Trinity, the longest season of the Church Year.  We are about to begin the short season of Advent, the preparation and penitential season that precedes Christmastide.  This Sunday is one of looking back and also one of looking ahead.  Trinity Season is a time of instruction in our Christian Faith.  Advent Season is a time when we should put our lessons that we learned to work in our lives.

Psalm 145 is the last of the Psalms assigned to David and is the only Psalm which is designated in the title as a Tehillah -- a word derived from the same root as Hallelujah.  This title has passed to the entire Book of Psalms, which is entitled in Hebrew, Sepher Tehillum, or "Book of Praises."  Psalm 145 is a psalm of extreme praise to God, exalting Him above all others for all time.  The ancient Hebrews declared that he who uttered this psalm three times a day with the mouth, tongue, and heart, would be a happy person.

Today's Collect, (page 225), is well known as the "Stir Up" Collect, due to the first two words.  Many preachers have used this Collect to try to set fire from their pulpit to the congregation sitting peacefully in the pews.  The words lend themselves nicely to a lively, pulpit-pounding-shake-them-out-of-their-seats-sermon, guaranteed to keep the congregation awake.  The Collect is first found among a series of "daily prayers" in the Gregorian Sacramentary.  "Stir up," (in Latin "excita"), has a double reference - both to God's power and to man's will.  Our 1928 Book of Common Prayer version of this Collect is not a true translation of the original, at least in the latter half of it.  Originally Advent was a longer season of the original, at least in the latter half of it.  Originally Advent was a longer season of preparation for the Coming of the Christ Child. It was of a much more penitential nature, comparable to Lent.  As the Lenten Season lengthened over the years, Advent shrank.  Our Collect was taken from the "remains" of a previous Advent Collect, which read, "that, they, more readily following after the fruit of (thy) Divine working, may obtain from thy goodness, larger assistances."  This has a little different meaning than what we now read.

The Epistle, from Jeremiah 23:5-8, is a vision of the coming Davidic Messiah.  Jeremiah lived about one hundred years after Isaiah during the time of the terrible 40 years in which Jerusalem was first partly destroyed, devastated, and finally burned and desolated (586).  He predicted that Babylon would be the victor because of the idolatry and wickedness of the Jewish people.  In today's reading, Jeremiah predicts the reunion of Judah, the Kingdom of the North, and Israel in a new land to be given to them by God.  He also names the coming Messiah as "Jehovah-Tsidkenu" (The Lord, our Righteousness).  This can also be translated to the more familiar, "Immanuel" (God with us).  See Isaiah 7:14 and 8:10.  In the midst of the turmoil and despair of the collapsing nation of Israel, Jeremiah looked ahead to a new Exodus to be wrought by God, and a new Saviour.

The Continuation of the Holy Gospel is from St. John 6:5-14.  It is told with the Holy Eucharist as the focus.  This is an appropriate selection with which to end the Church Year.  All of the teachings of the Collects, Epistles and Gospels are gathered up in this service.  In the Eucharist all of our hunger and needs are met.  At each Holy Communion there is a new Advent; Christ comes to His own with His precious Gifts and Graces, and God's age-old promise finds fresh fulfillment.

In our Gospel reading, Andrew says of the young boy's offering of five barley loaves and two fish, "What are they among so many?"  We have all faced this situation ourselves the our inadequate time, money, ability, even love, to satisfy the needs of so many.  Sometimes we fail to offer anything at all, saying "What is the use?  There is not enough!"  The boy with the lunch reminds us that if we give what we have of our time, our talent, our possessions, and especially of our love, inadequate that these may seem to be, the power of God can make them sufficient for His purposes.

ADVENT PREVIEW

Advent colors are traditionally violet or purple, a penitential hue.  The Old Sarum use is blue.  Advent III, is a temporary "break" from the somber colors and a rose colored candle is used.  This compares to Lent IV, Rose Sunday.  Each Advent Sunday another candle will be lighted in our Advent Wreath.  On Christmas Eve, the Christ Child Candle (white), in the center of the Advent Wreath will be kindled, to signify the birth of Jesus.

GIVING THANKS - EVERY DAY

On our national Thanksgiving Day Holiday, may Christians will say prayer to God just before they begin to eat a bountiful feast.  Most of these thanks-offerings take place only in homes and churches, or where special holiday dinners are being served.  It is unusual to see people, other than clergy, who are eating in restaurants give thanks to God for their food, in public.  But people do notice those who publicly say "Grace" before meals.  Sometimes other diners will stop eating and talking and stare at those who are following the teaching of St. Paul before they consume their meal.  "Give thanks always for all things," St. Paul exhorts in the fifth chapter, twentieth verse of Ephesians.

In An Outline of Personal Prayer, by the late Frank E. Wilson, former Bishop of Eau Claire, he states, "Religion without thanksgiving is like a song without music."  He also wrote, "Thanksgiving for past blessings prepares us for future blessing.  God could doubtless get along without our gratitude, but we cannot get along without offering it."  (Pg. 39,40.

Dean Gresham, author of Wings of Healing, wrote, "Not only does thanksgiving register our gratitude for benefits received, it touches springs of receptivity in the soul and releases new powers of helpfulness.  Thanksgiving will pass into thanksliving." (Page 26).

"Prayers of thanksgiving should be said every time we pray, not only before meals."  Bishop Wilson also wrote, "It is a strain upon God's Providence if we expect Him to keep on pouring out His Blessings upon unappreciative people."  (Page 39)  Wherever you are on Thanksgiving Day, willingly give your thanks to our heavenly Father for your food, for your family, and friends, and for your life.  Bishop Wilson wrote on page 38 of his Outline of Personal Prayer, "What we do know is that spiritual forces run throughout the whole creation, and wherever human need appears, there prayer has its place, for prayer is the means by which God's Power is released into human life and it always does good."

A COLLECT FOR THANKSGIVING - From the Book of Common Prayer of Canada and Ireland

O ALMIGHTY GOD AND HEAVENLY Father, we glorify Thee that Thou hast again fulfilled to us Thy gracious promise that while the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest shall not fail.  We bless Thee for the kindly fruits of the earth which Thou hast given to our use.  Teach us, we beseech Thee, to remember that it is not by bread alone that man doth live; and grant us evermore to feed on Him Who is the true Bread from heaven, Jesus Christ our Lord; to Whom, with Thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, world without end.  AMEN.

THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE

One of the latest words to be over-used on popular television shows is the word, "reality."  Webster's Dictionary states that the word, "reality" as the meaning of:  "Someone or something real," and "the character of being true to life or to fact."  Another definition reads:  "the character of being true to life; that which has objective existence, and is not merely an idea."  Also "That which is absolute or self-existent, as opposed to what is derivative or dependent; that which is ultimate."  Sometimes some of the popular television programs do not seem to follow this definition, as their portrayal of "reality" seems far from our own real-life experiences.

An older way of thinking about our existence is to say we are living "in time," which is to attempt to live by a plan, not just haphazardly getting through each day somehow, hoping tomorrow will be a better day for us.  Time is the way in which we measure our plans for our lives.  More often than not, our plans do not reach a good conclusion, we always seem to "run out of time."  We have so much to be done, and so little time to accomplish all that we wish to do each day.  We spend time, we waste time, we try to make time for all that we wish to do within certain periods of time.  We look back over a day, or even a lifetime and fret that we have so much yet to do.  "Where did the time go?"  We wear watches to remind us of the time and to keep us "on time," but we never have "enough" time.

There is another kind of experience of time.  The Holy Scriptures speak of Christ as being the same "yesterday, today, and forever."  This means that God is forever the contemporary of every man.  In the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have seen and may even know, the life God wills to live with us and we with Him.  In Christ we see that time is not, as we so often experience it, a meaningless chain of events.  All time is God's time and is totally involved with His purpose for us and our lives with Him.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made.   We live in time, and we also live in eternity.  It is part of Christian living to realize this and to act upon it.  Most Christians sense this, perhaps without defining it to themselves.  There are moments in our lives when we say, "This is right for me," or "This is God's Will."  Then we know that time and eternity are in harmony.

But there are other times when we are bogged down in the sheer weight of our existence and we feel no joy or purpose in our lives.  Then, we often feel that life has no meaning.  Time seems to drag along, oh so slowly.  We even speak of "time standing still," although we know that is an impossible action.  It is at times like this, that we can so easily become depressed and doubts creep into our minds:  Where is God?  Doesn't He care about me?  Does He really exist?  It is during such times that we must call upon the strength of our faith in God.  Read Holy Scripture, pray for guidance and perseverance of your faith.  This can help you to continue to be in a state of Grace until it is succeeded by a state of Glory.  If you are bogged down by doubts about the "reality" of Jesus Christ, do call your priest or bishop.  They are there to help you.  They recognize, as do all Christian believers, that most of us, because we are humans, will have low periods in our lives, and will need help from those who are steeped in the Faith and are trained to help us reach out to touch "only the edge of Christ's robe," (St. Matthew 9:21,22) and we "shall be made whole."  This is a phone call that you must make!

We are called to recognize that we will reach a final point when we shall pass beyond the measure of time.  At this point we will fully know the Christ Who has always been with us.  Time seemingly flaccid and without purpose will cease, and we will understand what it means to live in God's eternity (where there are no clocks to measure time).  Please read Ecclesiastes 3:1-14.