Keep calm and carry on

Come then, Lord, and help your people,
bought with the price of your own blood,
and bring us with your saints
to glory everlasting.

In the name of the one true living God, source of all being, eternal Word, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

What a glorious place the Temple was. What a gracious sign of the abundance of God. What a — temporary, fleeting, mortal thing. All those stones so beautifully crafted, lovingly polished, chosen with discerning eye, mounted with pious care — all gone now, turned to rubble, turned to dust, or recycled: lost. Not one stone left upon another. Just a retaining wall is left. That’s the way we see it now: one wall with cracks in it. That’s the way Luke’s readers would have seen it. Already then in the year 70 the Roman Legions of Vespasian under the generalship of Titus had reduced the Temple — and the people of Israel — to ruin.

That’ll show ’em. That’ll show ’em who’s boss. Won’t it?

Jesus told the people admiring the Temple, back in the year 30 or so, that the Day was coming — the Day of the consummation of time; the Day when all this would come to a head. And he told them what it would mean — what was really going on beneath the surface.

What was happening on the surface would be — what we pray about every week: war, civil strife, and natural disaster.

It will look like the beginning of the end of the world, but don’t panic. Keep calm and carry on. It’s the end of the beginning. It’s a birth pang of the new creation— and you are the midwives.

As Herbert O'Driscoll said to us in his sermon at the 10:30 Service January 31, 2010 (http://stalbansedmonds.org/worship/):

In a time of great change, you can be mourners of the past or midwives of the future.

And Jesus calls his church, calls you, and calls all of us together, to be midwives.

Jesus calls us forward into a new creation.

He is promising something that he has already got hold of, and he has already experienced. He is the first of the new born, the first fruit of the struggles of birth of the new creation.

Nothing you may be called to go through will be more than you can in the Spirit endure.

Know this: that he has already gone before, and he has sent the Spirit to comfort and guide you on the way.

Whether you face death alone in this life’s course, through disease, accident, violence, or other causes, or whether you are among those, as so many are to this day, who are called into martyrdom for the faith, he will be there with you. As he has gone through all this before.

They arrested him. They persecuted him. They brought him before a king and a governor.

He took the opportunity to testify, to tell the truth to the powers of this world.

And he was put to death.

In his footsteps have followed disciples, saints, martyrs, and living witnesses to the truth: witnesses to the truth of God and the reign of God.

Remember the story of Alban: his hospitality, his faith, his courage, and his steadfast hope. Remember his faithful witness and testimony in the face of persecution. He was arrested. He was brought before a judge. He confessed, and he was condemned for his confession. Steadfast to the last, he was a witness to the one true living God who created all things. And his witness is a witness that endures.

It endures because he and we are called into a better building project than Herod’s.

We are called, ourselves, to be built up as living stones into the body of Christ.

Like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5, NRSV)

You are the people of God, chosen and called. The hope that is in us, the hope instilled in us by Scripture, fed in us by the Holy Meal of the bread and the wine, and nurtured in us by faith, comes to fullness in the work and witness we have as the people of Christ.

We are his hands and his feet in the world in this place and in this time. We are his voice of encouragement, his welcoming embrace, and his faithful witnesses.

The one true living Church that endures all things is the faithful fellowship of believers.

Gathered and going forth in the name of Christ, with the Word of Scripture and the water of Baptism, the Bread and the Wine of the Holy Meal, with each other and with the Spirit,

Carrying on, embracing and holding fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life, which God has given us in our Savior Jesus Christ.

And you will say on that day:
Give thanks to the Lord,
call on his name;
make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously;
let this be known in all the earth.

AMEN.



LORD God Almighty,
we look for you, we long for you; we watch for you, we wait for you.
Give us wisdom to know you and courage to serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom.

LORD, we ask you to give strength to all who are weary; strengthen our faith in times of trouble, when there are wars and rumors of wars, when there is famine and earthquake, may we continue to put our trust in you and to work for the coming of your kingdom.

We pray for all who are victims of war, earthquake, floods, famine, fire, poverty, injustice, and tyranny; for the homeless, the destitute, and the unemployed. We remember all who have lost vision and hope.

We give thanks for the coming of your kingdom; love will triumph over hatred, war will be no more. We pray for all who have entered into the fullness of your glory and for all our loved ones departed. The Lord is our strength. He alone is our salvation.

[David Adam, Glimpses of Glory (SPCK, 2000)]

seen from a mountain-top

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

Collect for the xxv Sondaye after Trinity (1549, 1552, 1559)

STIERE [Stir] up we beseche thee, O Lord, the wylles of thy faythfull people, that they, plenteously bringing furth the fruite of good workes; may of thee, be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christe our Lorde. Amen.

Zephaniah 3:14-20

Sing aloud, O daughter Zion;
shout, O Israel!
Rejoice and exult with all your heart,
O daughter Jerusalem!
The LORD has taken away the judgments against you,
he has turned away your enemies.
The king of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst;
you shall fear disaster no more.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:
Do not fear, O Zion;
do not let your hands grow weak.
The LORD, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
as on a day of festival.
I will remove disaster from you,
so that you will not bear reproach for it.
I will deal with all your oppressors
at that time.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the LORD.

Canticle 9 (Page 86, BCP) The First Song of Isaiah, Ecce Deus (Isaiah 12:2-6)

Surely, it is God who saves me; *
I will trust in him and not be afraid.
For the Lord is my stronghold and my sure defense, *
and he will be my Savior.
Therefore you shall draw water with rejoicing *
from the springs of salvation.
And on that day you shall say, *
Give thanks to the Lord and call upon his Name;
Make his deeds known among the peoples; *
see that they remember that his Name is exalted.
Sing the praises of the Lord, for he has done great things, *
and this is known in all the world.
Cry aloud, inhabitants of Zion, ring out your joy, *
for the great one in the midst of you is the Holy One of Israel.
Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit: *
as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be for ever. Amen.


Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Luke 3:7-18

John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire."

So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

* * * * *

Robert Louis Stevenson, “The Sea Fogs”, The Silverado Squatters, (London: Chattus & Windus, 1883)

One Sunday morning, about five, the first brightness called me… The sun was still concealed below the opposite hilltops, though it was shining already, not twenty feet above my head, on our own mountain slope. But the scene, beyond a few near features, was entirely changed. Napa valley was gone; gone were all the lower slopes and woody foothills of the range; and in their place, not a thousand feet below me, rolled a great level ocean. It was as though I had gone to bed the night before, safe in a nook of inland mountains, and had awakened in a bay upon the coast… Far away were hilltops like little islands. Nearer, a smoky surf beat about the foot of precipices and poured into all the coves of these rough mountains. The colour of that fog ocean was a thing never to be forgotten. For an instant, among the Hebrides and just about sundown, I have seen something like it on the sea itself. But the white was not so opaline; nor was there, what surprisingly increased the effect, that breathless, crystal stillness over all. Even in its gentlest moods the salt sea travails, moaning among the weeds or lisping on the sand; but that vast fog ocean lay in a trance of silence, nor did the sweet air of the morning tremble with a sound… An eagle, or some other very great bird of the mountain, came wheeling over the nearer pine-tops, and hung, poised and something sideways, as if to look abroad on that unwonted desolation, spying, perhaps with terror, for the eyries of her comrades. Then, with a long cry, she disappeared again towards Lake County and the clearer air.



John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (1939)

All night they bored through the hot darkness, and jackrabbits scuttled into the lights and dashed away in long jolting leaps. And the dawn came up behind them when the lights of Mojave were ahead. And the dawn showed high mountains to the west. They filled with water and oil at Mojave and crawled into the mountains, and the dawn was about them.

Tom said, "Jesus, the desert's past! Pa, Al, for Christ sakes! The desert's past!"

"I'm too goddamn tired to care," said Al.

"Want me to drive?"

"No, wait awhile."

They drove through Tehachapi in the morning glow, and the sun came up behind them, and then suddenly they saw the great valley below them. Al jammed on the brake and stopped in the middle of the road, and, "Jesus Christ! Look!" he said. The vineyards, the orchards, the great flat valley, green and beautiful, the trees set in rows, and the farmhouses.

And Pa said, "God Almighty!" The distant cities, the little towns in the orchard land, and the morning sun, golden on the valley. A car honked behind them. Al pulled to the side of the road and parked.

"I want ta look at her." The grain fields golden in the morning, and the willow lines, the eucalyptus trees in rows.

Pa sighed, "I never knowed they was anything like her."

The peach trees and the walnut groves, and the dark green patches of oranges. And red roofs among the trees, and barns rich barns. Al got out and stretched his legs.

He called, "Ma-come look. We're there!"

Ruthie and Winfield scrambled down from the car, and then they stood, silent and awestruck, embarrassed before the great valley. The distance was thinned with haze, and the land grew softer and softer in the distance. A windmill flashed in the sun, and its turning blades were like a little heliograph, far away. Ruthie and Winfield looked at it, and Ruthie whispered, "It's California."

Winfield moved his lips silently over the syllables. "There's fruit," he said aloud.

Casy and Uncle John, Connie and Rose of Sharon climbed down. And they stood silently. Rose of Sharon had started to brush her hair back, when she caught sight of the valley and her hand dropped slowly to her side.

Tom said, "Where's Ma? I want Ma to see it. Look, Ma! Come here, Ma." Ma was climbing slowly, stiffly, down the backboard. Tom looked at her. "My God, Ma, you sick?"

Her face was stiff and putty-like, and her eyes seemed to have sunk deep into her head, and the rims were red with weariness. Her feet touched the ground and she braced herself by holding the truck-side.

Her voice was a croak. "Ya say we're acrost?"

Tom pointed to the great valley. "Look!"

She turned her head, and her mouth opened a little. Her fingers went to her throat and gathered a little pinch of skin and twisted gently. "Thank God!" she said. "The fambly's here." Her knees buckled and she sat down on the running board.


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The Third Sunday of Advent, Year C, RCL

Zephaniah 3:14-20, Canticle 9, Ecce Deus, Isaiah 12:2-6, Philippians 4:4-7, Luke 3:7-18.

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