Peter Espeut SUNDAY COMING will be the third Sunday in the season of Advent. For Christians who belong to the older denominations, the season of Advent is the beginning of the Church Year, and I would like to take this opportunity to wish you a "Happy New Year!"
Traditionally, the year is divided into seasons which assist Christians to reflect on and celebrate the mysteries of Christianity. The Church Year begins with the season of Advent which is a season of preparation for the great Feasts of Christmas (when we celebrate the great mystery of the Incarnation) and Epiphany (when we celebrate the manifestation of Jesus to the Gentiles). After a period of what is called "Ordinary Time", Ash Wednes-day signals the beginning of the Season of Lent, a penitential time of preparation for the greatest Christian Feasts of Holy Week (Palm Sunday, Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday) when we celebrate the mysteries of Christ's Death and Resurrec-tion. The Easter Season extends through the Feasts of the Ascension and Pentecost, after which another period of Ordinary Time brings the year to an end with the Feast of Christ the King.
For Christians in this tradition, the Season of Advent is a preparation for the coming of Christ - both the celebration of His coming at Christmas and His Second Coming, for which we wait with hope and expectation. In this sense, all Christians are "Adventists", for it is an essential part of Christian doctrine that Jesus will come again to judge the world, although we know not the day or the hour; and all Christians are to live lives of work, preparing so that when He comes he will find us ready, with our lamps lit.
In pre-New Testament times the Jews waited patiently for the coming of the Messiah who would be the New Moses to liberate them from foreign domination. The herald of his coming would be the New Elijah, who would be dressed in garments of camel's hair held by a leather belt (2 Kings 1:8), who would eat locusts and wild honey, and would preach a message of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John the Baptist was that new Elijah, and his message was startling: "Tax collectors also came to be baptised, and said to him, 'Teacher, what shall we do?' And he said to them, 'Collect no more than is appointed you.' Soldiers also asked him, 'And we, what shall we do?' And he said to them, 'Rob no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.'" (Lk 3:12-14). Each Christian is called to be a herald of the Second Coming, by speaking a similar message relevant to his or her particular situation.
The message of repentance still very relevant today is an important prelude to the coming of the Messiah, and during Advent Christians all over the world examine themselves with a view of cleansing themselves to be ready for that sheep-and-goat day. We will sink or swim depending on whether we fed the hungry and visited the imprisoned, and did development, not - as some believe - on faith alone.
During Advent we try to put ourselves in the place of those who waited patiently for the coming of the Messiah and we reflect on the events which preceded His ministry. We sing hymns such as 'O Come, O Come Emmanuel', 'Come, thou long Expected Jesus', 'Maranatha', and 'On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry'. The Song of the Angels 'Glory to God in the Highest' normally sung on Sundays, is not sung in Advent (so that on Christmas Eve when it is next sung, it will be highlighted). And we remind ourselves that the second coming of Jesus will be like a thief in the night; the exact date and time is not to be known. So we must prepare and be ready.
In this older Christian tradition we do not sing Christmas Carols in Advent. Christmas Carols are first sung on Christmas Eve night, and then are sung throughout the rest of the Christmas Season (until Epiphany). It is so jarring to hear the radio stations playing Christmas Carols in November, and then have them stop dead on Boxing Day. It is the radio stations and the media which demean Christmas and create the impression that it is only a time for shopping. I must say that this year I have not heard many Christmas Carols in November, and I congratulate the radio stations for that small mercy. I would encourage them, however, to continue playing Carols until January 6, the celebration of the day when the three wise men from the East visited the new-born King.
Even while the New Testament was being written, there were Christians who grew impatient, and began to doubt whether Jesus could come again as he had promised. The author of the Second Letter of Peter chided his readers (3:8-14). Thank God he has not yet come to judge, for many are not yet ready to face the heavenly court. God is being patient with us, giving us time to make ourselves free from spot or blemish.
Good advice for us here in Jamaica. Although we are nominally a Christian country, with more church buildings per square mile than any other, we are a society racked with crime and violence; where the majority - including so-called Christians - believe that the solution to the problem of violence is more violence; where bribery of public officials, police brutality and the abuse of human rights are rife; where wrong or right is determined by political tribalism; where race and class prejudice are common; where the majority of Jamaicans are disadvantaged by the education system (by design); and where rural areas are systematically underdeveloped in favour of the cities and big towns. We do not deserve the title 'Christian Country', and give shame to the name.
We need to heed the message of Elijah, of John the Baptist and of the modern day heralds of the Kingdom. Honest and good government, and a well-ordered society, is not just a secular matter. It is the very yardstick of our future hope!
The Rev. Peter Espeut is a Roman Catholic Deacon ministering in Guy's Hill and Ewarton in rural St. Catherine
