Advent 3 The Lord is Near – Asking 15th December 2013

Advent 3   The Lord is Near – Asking                    15^th December 2013

   

This morning St Giles is being made much of through two broadcasts on London-based Premier Christian Radio internet apart receivable by 11 million people in the UK of whom an estimated 143,000 listen daily for 12 hours or more. Today’s the third of a four part Advent series I produced which we’re drawing into both eucharists today.

‘The Lord is near’ series engages through scripture, song and story in the wonder of Advent season. It’s about the journey to Christmas in Horsted Keynes as we go through Advent this year seeking to come close to the Lord.

We chose four headings suited to Advent - repent, believe, ask, receive - and in the third programme we are looking at asking. Advent means coming. We ask the Lord Jesus who came at Bethlehem to come again as Lord of the earth and as we do so the prayer he gave us has special force. ‘Thy Kingdom come’, we ask, ‘on earth as it is in heaven’. As we ask we commit ourselves to action.

As parish church of Horsted Keynes we’re working with others to speed the coming of God and his Kingdom and realise the vision at the end of the Bible where St John speaks in Revelation Chapter 11, verse 15 of ‘the kingdom of this world becoming the kingdom of our God and of his Christ’.

How are we working for that to happen in Horsted Keynes? For a village population 2000 we’ve got a remarkable total of 40 organisations many involving church members – Brownies, Friends of Chernobyl’s Children, Lift scheme, Royal British Legion, Toddler Group are just five of them that make a difference to lives. I think of one example of how this autumn, through the church led lift scheme, Beryl Webb was taken daily to hospital in Brighton for radiotherapy through a dozen or so volunteer drivers. Beryl phoned me this week to thank those of us who’ve been praying for her as she’s found her tumour has indeed shrunk which facilitates the next stage of her treatment.

The vision for building God’s kingdom is kindled when we pray ‘Thy kingdom come’ at the eucharist, ‘eating the bread and drinking the cup, proclaiming the Lord’s death until he comes’ (1 Corinthians 11:26). Let’s listen to the end of Noel Richards and Gerald Coates song which expresses the church’s prayer for the coming of Jesus in Advent season:

Hymn: Great is the darkness (Come, Lord Jesus)

Fr John:  Advent’s a call to ask for the Lord’s return and for ‘the kingdom of this world to become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ’.

As I kneel in St Giles I think of those who’ve knelt here before me with a passion for that kingdom. Archbishop Robert Leighton who ended his days here after his struggle to pour oil on the troubled waters of 17^th century church disputes. School teacher Sidney Peek who died in 1910 of black water fever in Africa on missionary service aged just 21. Former Prime Minister Harold Macmillan who, by contrast, lived to 92. All of these, and many others, sought wisdom here from God to build his kingdom and not their own.

Today’s disciples are about the same work of seeking the kingdom of God.

James Nicholson churchwarden speaks about how we have special pray weekly for the work of St Giles and how we’ve acted in recent years to build God’s kingdom locally through upkeep of our church building and churchyard, pastoral care of villagers and initiatives like the village lunch, as well as overseas through Faith in Action, Liuli and Guyana Diocesan Association.

5.5min

Fr John: Let’s listen now to Our Lord’s description of how God’s kingdom grows in the world

Female voice from Premier staff.

A reading from Saint Mark’s Gospel, Chapter 4  

Jesus said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.’ He also said, ‘With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth; yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.’ Here ends the reading.

Fr John: In Advent season we think of the coming King and his kingdom and of how that kingdom is already growing around us first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. This mysterious growth is all around us, watered by the prayer and work of believers.

Veronica Griffiths describes how Family Support Work has grown up as a work that advances God’s kingdom through service of the needy across Sussex and how St Giles and villagers contribute to that work through prayer, financial giving and through food, clothes, toys etc.

Fr John: ‘Thy kingdom come’ is the Advent prayer and the subject of Lewis Hensley’s great hymn:

Song: Thy kingdom come, O God

St Giles was once the focus of the nation’s attention when back in 1986 we hosted the funeral of Harold Macmillan. People remember how Mrs Thatcher led world leaders here and how the cottages along Church Lane had security personnel guarding the scene from upstairs windows.

This last week of celebrations centring on Nelson Mandela makes me wonder whether he visited here for Macmillan’s grave in our churchyard became for a time a shrine for African nationalists. It was Macmillan who oversaw the dismantling of Britain’s colonial legacy starting with his 1960 ‘winds of change’ speech in the South African Parliament. People remember President Kennedy’s visit here to Macmillan just before his assassination in 1963 which has also been a recent news focus 50 years on. We treasure the legacy of Harold Macmillan, his faith and his work for God’s kingdom enthused by his Christian vision expressed in regular church attendance at St Giles.

Repent, believe, ask, receive – Macmillan like the rest of us asked for wisdom and no doubt he also failed to ask at times so that his decision making fell short. Advent reminds us of God’s coming kingdom and our need to seek it so the world is put right.

Let’s end with a moment of reflection actually asking God in our hearts to make us better instruments of building his kingdom of justice, love and peace as we approach the Christmas feast together.