Letter from the Minister

Advent: Judgement and Hope, Redemption and Restoration

Since ancient times, the Christian church has followed the annual rhythm of the liturgical year which begins four Sundays before Christmas and includes seven seasons. These seasons unfold in a pattern that follows the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus and the coming of the Holy Spirit.

Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas and continues through the day before Christmas. This year, the first Sunday of this four-week period falls on 29 November. The name Advent, derived from a Latin word for ‘coming’, is considered a time of preparation, hope, and expectation, as the church awaits both Christ’s earthly birth as the baby born in Bethlehem and his final coming “in power and glory,” as we confess when reciting the Nicene Creed.

The theological word that describes Jesus’ final coming is ‘apocalyptic’, and if truth be told, many Christians find the apocalyptic Jesus very uncomfortable or difficult to engage with. Most of us favour the Holy Child, Emmanuel: the loving and gentle Jesus, who comforts us and teaches through stories and parables. Christians and non-Christians alike love the image of Christ the shepherd, holding a lamb in his arms or carting the lost sheep home on his shoulders, one of the very first images and icons – Christ the Good Shepherd. We like the Jesus whose teaching we can turn into helpful advice for how to make our day just a little bit better and the Jesus we agree with; and sometimes, we love the angry, justice-seeking Jesus – the Jesus who turned over tables in the temple. Yet, the apocalyptic Jesus, who talks of judgement, promises another Advent when he will come again in glorious majesty to be our judge. This is very much a part of the Good News of celebrating Advent now.

The Good News at the heart of Advent is that the One who comes as Judge comes also as Redeemer. This is the God who took our humanity upon himself, entering our world in the vulnerability of a child and sharing fully in our human life. The Good News at the heart of Advent is that the God who comes as Judge is the God who loves us enough to confront what diminishes us and separates us from one another, calling us back to the life for which we were created: a life of receiving love, living in love and sharing love.

The four weeks of Advent offer us the space and time to prepare for Christ’s birth as well as his second coming: to make things right, to give, to share, to forgive and to apologise. The season affords us the opportunity to let go of our grudges, to let go of ways in which we hurt others and to walk in the Lord’s ways – ways of righteousness and justice. (Psalm 89:14)

Christ’s coming among us as a vulnerable child gives us hope. The Christ who will come again as Judge fills us with hope too, because the one who judges is the same one who loves, forgives and redeems us. We can therefore face his coming with confidence, holding firmly to that hope we proclaim.

May he whose second coming in power and great glory we await, make us steadfast in faith, joyful in hope, and constant in love. Amen.

“Yes, I am coming soon.”
“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” (Revelation 22:20)

Every blessing,

Georgina