The Coming Kingdom of Advent

As you may be well aware, next week begins Advent. As I thought about our scripture passage this morning, I felt it would be appropriate to direct our attention to the coming season of Advent so that we might be reminded of its significance. So, for those of you who do not know, the word advent means “coming” or “arrival” and the Christian calendar celebrates Advent during the four Sundays preceding Christmas. This is a time to prepare our hearts and minds for the celebration of that first coming of Christ remembered in the holiday of Christmas. Advent focuses our attention on the scriptural prophecies and gospel narratives surrounding the event and meaning of the in-breaking Christ. So today, as we worship, let us begin to reflect on the significance of the Advent season by examining its meaning in the life of our church.

As you have noticed in the past, and as you will see in the coming weeks, our church will decorate with several important colors and objects. First, the color of the Advent season is purple. This is a color used to represent penitence and fasting as well as a royal color to usher in the celebration of Christ the King. But this color is not peculiar to the Advent season. Purple is also the color of suffering and sacrifice used during the Lent and Easter season. Thus, there is an important connection being made by way of the common color: the birth of Christ cannot be separated from his death. The in-breaking of God's love in the birth and life of Christ is intimately related and filled with meaning through the death and resurrection of that same Christ. Thus, the Purple of advent is completed, in a sense, by the purple of the Lent and Easter season.

Although the abundance of Red and Green seem inseparable from Christmas, they do not have meaning specific to Advent as a formal event during the church calendar. However, those colors do have meaning. There are old European practices which incorporated the notions of continuing life and hope through the ever-green and holly. Thus, Red and Green became representational colors for on-going life and ever-lasting hope. So although these colors are not formal Advent colors, they do provide additional meaning as we mindfully worship.

The decoration of the sanctuary with different greens is an important and meaningful display that pertains to the above colors. The tree, boughs, and wreathe signify the ever-lasting life found in the in-breaking Christ. A central component to Advent is the presence of the Advent wreathe. The wreathe acts as a story teller of meaning. Each part of the Advent wreathe has a unique meaning which works with every other part to tell a meaningful and powerful story. It is in the notion of a circle that we find its particular power and meaning. A circle represents the infinite or the unending. There is neither a beginning nor an end to a circle. Thus, the circle is “ever-lasting.” As a result, the circular wreathe has a two-fold eternal emphasis. The ever-green has an ever-lasting—symbolically eternal—color of life, and is shaped in the never-ending—symbolically eternal—circle. The church uses these colors and shapes to bring our attention to the eternal God who provides ever-lasting and life-giving hope through the gift of Love.

In addition, the wreathe contains candles which possess their own unique meanings that help to narrate the wreathe story. Anchored to the life-giving and eternal wreathe are candles which offer light. Here we find meaning in the Light of God offered to the world through the in-breaking Christ. Christ provides the night-dispelling light by which we are transformed from a life of bondage to a life of freedom. The middle candle is the Christ candle which represents the centrality and foundation of Christ for our lives. Its white color represents the innocence and purity of his message and ministry. The four outer candles represent the four centuries of waiting between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ. As each candle is lit, a century of darkness recedes until Christ bursts into the world and fills the entirety of the world with his light. Thus, the totality of the wreathe narrates a story of God's eternal Love anticipated and then given through the Christ event.

All of the Advent objects and colors help us to focus on the spirit of Advent. This is truly a time of expectation, anticipation, preparation, and yearning or longing. We are the children of God who expect the fulfillment of God's promises in the completion of God's Kingdom. We anticipate its establishment and completion by preparing for it. We prepare through active participation in the up-building of God's Kingdom, following the direction and guidance of Christ. We long and yearn for that time to be now, faithfully persevering the difficulties that accompany an incomplete Kingdom. Thus, Advent directs our attention to the sustaining force of our longing to see the Kingdom made complete: Christ. The hope we have in Christ as God's in-breaking Love produces the desire to see the Kingdom made complete.

So what about this Kingdom? What about this incomplete Kingdom that asks for us to contribute to its establishment? Turn with me to our text this morning; turn to John 18. As you do, please be reminded of the spirit of Advent. Keep in mind that we are readying ourselves to be in a spirit of expectation, anticipation, preparation and longing. To be in this spirit we must understand the nature of that Kingdom toward which we move in expectation, anticipation, preparation, and longing.

John 18: 33-37

In our scripture passage this morning, the author of John's Gospel leads us to the issue of Kingdom in this exchange between Pilate and Jesus. In every situation where we find Jesus, we must ask ourselves what reason the author has in recording this event. It is clear here that this event is important in understanding the nature of the Kingdom. In Greek, the word for “kingdom” is basileia, but it is not used in the same sense by Jesus and Pilate. Pilate, a Roman governor, recognized Herod as one of the two “kings” to the Jews. Although the position of king, or tetrarch, was actually a puppet institution for the Roman government at this time, Pilate is using the word “kingdom” to refer to this particular political and measurable space within the Palestinian world. Thus, Pilate inquires about what it is that Jesus has done. Has he claimed kingship? If so, then that would be a seditious claim against Rome deserving death. But Jesus immediately clarifies Pilate's clouded terminology.

In using the political sense of the term Kingdom, Pilate is placing Jesus into a specific time and place that does not adequately reflect the reality of the divine Christ. The divine aspect of Christ prevents the Kingdom from being merely a political, geographic space within this world. Thus, the messianic Kingdom talk transforms the this-worldly “term” into a transcendent other-worldly idea with no location in time and space. Jesus tries to explain this idea a little more succinctly when he says that “My Kingdom is not from this world” (v. 36). Jesus could not have claimed to be the King of the Jews if this meant sedition against Rome. Rather, Jesus meant that to be King of the Jews was to usher in the Kingdom of God in which there were no physical boundaries. In fact, Paul carries out this notion when he talks about the physical distinction of circumcision. In creating a transcendent kingdom, Christ has transcended the very physical distinctions that were typical in Jewish faith.

These are the famous words of Paul in Galatians: “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (3:28).

So what is this Kingdom that causes us to stand in expectation, anticipation, preparation, and longing? It is a Kingdom that is not of this world. It is a Kingdom marked by no physical boundaries because it transcends those distinctions. This is a Kingdom in which we are all one in Christ Jesus, liberated from a life of bondage by the ever-lasting gift of God's Love. This is the Kingdom of Light, ushered in by Christ, for all who would accept the Gracious Kindness of God's Mercy. It knows no time. It knows no place. It is in this world, but not of this world. It is expected, anticipated, prepared, and longed for by the people in this world. But it is not for people of this world. It is for God's children. The people of God.

So this morning, as we reflect on the beautiful meaning and power of advent, in its story-telling wreathe and significant colors, remember the spirit of Advent which draws our attention toward the up-building and establishment of God's Kingdom. May our lives reflect the expectation, anticipation, preparation, and longing that is necessary for the completion of the Kingdom of God. May we be ever mindful of the glorious story that we take part in, a story that is told in the wreathe of advent as well as in the heart of each Christian here this morning. May we not forget the power and meaning of the Advent season as we worship and exalt the Most Glorious, Most High, Almighty God. For this is a God that is eternal in being and in love, offering us life-giving Grace in Jesus the Christ.

Benediction:

May the God of Love and Kindness fill us with the courage and strength to build up the Kingdom of God. May we exalt the God who ushered in the Kingdom through Christ by devoting our words, thoughts, and actions to the purpose of completing that Kingdom. Let us not be bound by fear, selfishness, or weakness, but willingly strive to see the work of the Most High God done on this earth. For we live and love in this world, but not of this world. We live and love those in this world, recognizing they have worth and value beyond this world. Let us not forget these things in our busy lives of work, learning, and leisure. May our spirits embrace the Advent season, and may our lives bring Glory to God. Amen.