“The night is far spent, the day is at hand:  let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”                            (Romans  xiii. 12.)

We are beginning the new church year.  We lit the first of four Advent candles.  We will hear the exhortation today.  We are celebrating Advent – a season that is both anticipatory and penitential.  We are anticipating celebrating the nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ.  We will remember his humble beginnings on earth.  We will marvel at the depth of the love that brought about this miracle.  We may even wonder what it would be like to meet Jesus in person.

Today, we heard, “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee.”  Our Gospel is describing Jesus’ triumphal entrance into Jerusalem.  It is quoting an ancient prophecy by Habakkuk and directs our thoughts to the intent of Advent.  As we think about the Lord coming to us in Advent, we have two considerations.  The first is imagining the joy of sharing Jesus’ first coming.  His meek appearance gives no indication of the overwhelming sacrifice we know he came to make.  At Christmas, it is hard to find anything but joy in the promise of God’s gift to mankind.

But even good news can have a sharp edge to it.    I’m sure all of us have, at some time, looked out the window and saw a friend or relative arriving unexpectedly.  We all relate to the inevitable panic about to occur.  You are thrilled to see them, and look forward to catching up on everything that is happening in their life.  Then the realization hits you.  You are not ready for visitors.  The morning paper is still on the dining room table with a half-finished cup of coffee.  Your slippers are by the easy chair, forgotten when you shuffled off to bed in your stocking feet.  Even worse, you realize the last time this visitor came, you were equally ill prepared.

The two minutes it takes for the visitor to get to the door are spent vacillating between hiding the most flagrant examples of sloppiness and preparing excuses for the things you won’t have time to hide.  Then, the first ten minutes of your visit are encumbered with silent vows to do better next time.  You promise to keep things in their place and expend the time to dust before it is too late.  You question how you can modify your schedule to insure that you are always ready for visitors.  You know that with a little preparation each surprise visit can be made so much better.  Of course, eventually you relax, certain they have seen all your faults and you have nothing more to hide.  Finally you can enjoy their visit.  You can openly and honestly welcome them when you realize they accept you as you are.

Isn’t it funny how relatively insignificant events in our lives parallel the really important things in life?  This example is so commonplace in our lives;  almost all adults have experienced it at one time or another.  As common as this experience is, the basic lesson to be learned from it is invaluable if applied to all aspects of our lives.  Compare it to confessing your sins to God.  As Anglicans, these confessions are privately rehearsed as we say the General Confession.  But that doesn’t change the process.  As you approach confession, you realize that you are not much better prepared than last time.  Then you decide which offences to hide and ignore;  and you begin to make excuses for those that can’t be hidden.  You wonder how, in the future, you can avoid those that cannot be excused.  Eventually, you just confess your sins.  They are acknowledged.  You endure the embarrassment of repeated backsliding.  You promise to perform a penance to prove your good intentions and avoid future repetition of the same sins.  Finally, you are fully aware that God has accepted you as you are.  Once that is done, the rest of your visit with God is pure joy.

Let us return to wondering what it would be like to meet Jesus face to face.  We are obligated to guide our actions by the only perfect example the world has known.  What would we do if we saw Jesus walking to our door?  In that first instant, we might be duplicating the scenario we described before.  We would be embarrassed that we weren’t better stewards of his bounty.  Then we would realize that Jesus isn’t really worried about papers on the table or slippers on the floor.  Jesus is worried about how often we pray.  Jesus is worried that we fail to praise God for His glory and generosity.  Jesus is worried about our inability to remember the Ten Commandments when temptation rears its ugly head.  Jesus is concerned that we don’t even remember the Summary of the Law when we’re driving on the freeway.

The good news is that we probably don’t have to worry about Jesus appearing at our door.  The bad news is we know we will appear at His door one day.  Jesus is present in our lives every day but on that day we will no longer be able to repent.  Remember the traits attributed to Santa Claus in “Santa Claus is coming to town?”

“He knows when you’ve been sleeping.

 He knows when you’re awake.

 He knows when you’ve been bad or good

 So be good for goodness sake.”

This jingle applies as well to Jesus.  He does know all and loves us in spite of that.  This reminder is appropriate and relevant every day of our lives.  Jesus really does know what we are doing every day.  Jesus really does know what is buried in our hearts at any given moment.  Jesus really does know what we are thinking.  Some people found humor in President Carter’s regret about “lusting in his mind”.  Others recognize the truth in his regret.  That truth is memorably expressed in the following saying:

Guard your thoughts, for they become words.

Guard your words, for they become actions.

Guard your actions, for they become habits.

Guard your habits, for they build character.

Guard your character, for it becomes your destiny.

We are embarrassed when we think inappropriate thoughts in the presence of others.  Our embarrassment is greater if we inadvertently express those thoughts verbally.  It is no better when we allow an action to reflect those thoughts.  Imagine the embarrassment of facing Jesus and realizing that He knows our thoughts, hears our words, sees our actions, knows our habits, understands our character, and will judge our destiny.

Some people convince themselves that God can’t see the evil things we do because that would ruin His innocence and goodness.  They then feel free to continue those offences.  It is truly a mystery that God can know all and not be changed by it.  But, be assured, God does see everything we do.  And, when we are judged, we will be judged by His eternal unchanging standards.

The tradition of penitence during Advent is not as formalized as our practices during Lent.  The 1928 Book of Common Prayer does not require fasting on the days of Advent.  It is not common to pick a particular discipline as our penitence as we do during Lent.  However uncommon, it is practiced by some and is recommended to all wanting to be prepared for our visit with Jesus.

There are two sides to our Advent meditations.  We anticipate the joyous celebration of the Nativity of Jesus, which will come in its own time.  But, we must be penitent at the thought of facing His judgment, at a time we will not know.  “The night is far spent, the day is at hand:  let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light.”