Adventide and the Commitment to do that which is Good
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, the founder of Cistercian monasticism, preached a very notable Advent sermon on “The Three Comings of the Lord” which can be understood as being ad homines, in homines and contra homines. In the first sense, God comes to us; in the second, by God’s grace he can be within us; while in the third, he will come at the end of time as the judge of both the living and the dead.
St Bernard describes this middle coming further, in explaining that:
“Because this coming lies between the other two, it is like a road on which we
travel from the first coming to the last. In the first, Christ was our redemption; in
the last, he will appear as our life; in this middle coming, he is our rest and consolation.
If you keep the word of God in this way, it will also keep you. The Son with the Father will come to you. The great Prophet who will build the new Jerusalem will come, the one who makes all things new. This coming will fulfill what is written: As we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, we shall also bear the likeness of the heavenly man. Just as Adam’s sin spread through all mankind and took hold of all, so Christ, who created and redeemed all, will glorify all, once he takes possession of all.”
The Season of Advent, thought of in this way with its sense of longing and anticipation, also has within it an important call to preparation. Thus, the language of St Bernard invites us to see in this season a microcosm of the work of our entire lifetime: as confident in the knowledge that, by faith in Christ and his sacrifice for us, we are justified before God – we seek the goal, too, of sanctification and therefore strive to live our lives ever more closely in accord with what God wills. This will only be completely possible by God’s grace in the life to come; that the joyful prospect of God’s coming to us, which is at the heart of Christmas, can help us renew our commitment to live out ever more fully the Christian way. This illustrates the sense in which the Season of Advent is both always joyful, and yet at the same time, challenging, by virtue of its call to renewed commitment to do that which is good.
On a quite different plane, the concept of Advent as arrival makes it very fitting to note (as I did in the Sermon last Sunday) that Fr. Ian McCormack, who is presently the vicar of St George in the Meadows, Nottingham, England, will be joining us here in February next year, Deo volente, as an associate Priest of this parish.
Fr. Ian became known to the Vestry here during the wide-ranging Rector search process. So, immediately following their decision to call me as Rector, Fr Ian received and accepted their subsequent invitation for him serve here as an associate Priest. The Bishop approved of his coming which enabled the start of the inevitably lengthy visa and administrative processes required before this could be formally announced as it is now.
Fr. Ian was brought up in London before going up to Oxford to read history, after which he trained for Holy Orders at Mirfield where he also later taught. He has been the incumbent in two parishes before becoming Rector in the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham, in a parish under the pastoral care of the Bishop of Beverley. He has a particular interest in church history and the Oxford Movement which will serve him well as he undertakes the role here in the parish of heading our new Grafton House initiative. We greatly look forward to welcoming him here in the New Year!
The Rev. Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff
Rector