Advent part 2
Last night I preached again and decided to think further about how we might live in the spirit of humility, simplicity and joy. I pre-empted next week’s reading and based my sermon on Luke 1 and Psalm 62.
In my Advent sermon a couple of weeks ago I invited us to do three things to get the most out of this season:
- To live in a spirit of simplicity
- To live in a spirit of humility
- To live in a spirit of joy
There are so many demands made of us in this season – our time, our money, even our emotions are played on – by the people we love for the amazing present we think we can’t live without and certainly by adverts on the TV. By the time we get to December 25th: the first day of Christmas (!) we are ready to pack everything away and feel relieved we’ve made it and now it’s over…
You may recognise this scenario, you may not – but at the heart of Advent there remains an invitation – an invitation to do nothing for Christmas!
Mary and Martha welcomed Jesus into their home and while one worked to make the house all nice and get the meal ready, the other stopped and waited on Jesus’ words. In Mark’s gospel we here Jesus tell us to watch and wait for the time is coming.
We’ve already heard that Advent is the season for waiting and preparation and we think in our own minds that we just hope that we get everything done in time.
As Christians we have an opportunity to rediscover and marvel at the way of life that we are invited to live out – but how is it done? My suggestion is that it is knowing who God is that gives a clue in how we can live differently,
To live in a spirit of simplicity: is to recognise that like Mary and the entire Jewish nation we know that our hope comes from God alone, verse 5 of Psalm 62 says, ‘Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him.’ The first four verses are full of angst and worry about what the Psalmists enemies are going to do to him, but then he clicks – no, I will be at peace because God alone is my hope, verse 6, he alone is my rock and my salvation, he is my fortress, I shall never be shaken.
When our priorities put God first, we catch a glimpse of this amazing God who is redeeming the world in his Son. So, first, to have a spirit of simplicity is to simply put God first.
To live in a spirit of humility: is to live always in total confidence of God’s love, protection, and guidance and therefore to have no concern for yourself when others insult you or praise you. Secure in God’s love, you don’t have to base your identity on whether or not others acknowledge you. This is very difficult and we often forget that our identity in Christ is the most important, but for Mary and the Psalmist the knowledge of God’s sovereignty and might is foremost in their minds, Psalm 62 verses 7 and 8 say that, ‘7 My salvation and honour depend on God; he is my refuge, my mighty rock. Trust in him at all times, O you his people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.’
In Luke 1 we get the sense that Mary knows these Psalms inside and out and therefore her response is simply, ‘yes’. So, to live in a spirit of humility, we are simply to say yes to God.
In living in the spirit of simplicity and humility we open our hearts, minds and bodies to the possibility of what God can do in us – by saying ‘yes’ we receive that final component – a spirit of Joy! To live in a spirit of joy produces in us something of the mystery of God: heaven and earth collide and a song of praise is sent to heaven like sweet smelling incense to the Lord: in Mary this spirit of Joy produced a song of praise, just like that of Miriam when she crossed the Red Sea, Anna upon seeing the Christ child and many more examples I am sure! Mary’s song of praise, also known as the Magnificat, went something like this…
Therefore to live in the spirit of simplicity, humility and joy, we are simply to know who God is – and this Advent we are all invited to stop, wait and know that he is our rock, our refuge, the one who loves us and the one who protects us, the one we are waiting for and the one to whom we say ‘yes!’
