“Oh that you would tear the heavens open & come down..” ..the prophet Isaiah in the midst of a chosen people making heavy weather of life & of faith, as he desperately challenges God once & for all to do the impossible.. & He did..He tore the heavens open & sent us a Saviour He gives us 3 wks of Advent..of adventure & risk to prepare for that momentous moment ..not again please, but always for the first time.. we begin by acknowledging rift/gap between where we are & where we need to be in 22days time if he is to be born in us.. “you were angry when we were sinners, we had long been rebels against you..” ; Lord have mercy “we were all unclean..all that integrity of ours like filthy clothing..” ; Christ have mercy “we have all withered like leaves, & our sins blew us along like the wind..” ; Lord have mercy May Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us our sins & bring us to everlasting life. Amen.
2 wkends ago staff of St Bede’s/St Joseph’s College Bradford came to us on retreat..an Advent-like time out & away..in last 3yrs they have undergone process of amalgamating the two Schools & forming largest RC vith form in country with St Benedict as its patron to acknowledge their spiritual links with us..& now having to dramatically reduce staff numbers to meet tightening budgets..a reformation in progress, & they came here to ponder & to pray..shared two stories with them which fit well for us as we begin this Advent period of self emptying & self appraisal..a skilled potter sets to work; having “thrown” clay, he begins to work it on his wheel, gradually feeling shaping imagining & praying his pot into reality..& having worked it, fine tuned its detail, he places it in kiln for its initial firing..rather like emergence of Christmas cake, there is great excitement & anticipation he looks at it, feels it lovingly into life, only to find hairline crack in it..his professionalism tells him to smash it & begin again..yet his spirit & wisdom seizes the moment of opportunity..he carefully fills the crack with wax, then glazes whole pot & places it into kiln for final firing..it emerges looking perfect & only potter knows of its imperfection..its lack of sincerity..sincerity [ in Italian sine cere..without wax ].insincere but authentic, its crack acknowledged, the pot loved especially for its emergence from potential failure & breakdown.. ”Lord you are our Father; we the clay you the potter, we are all the work of your hand.”..second story is of a priceless Egyptian vase thousands of years old, kept on display in Victoria & Albert Museum on a deep window cill on a fine wide staircase..one day a visitor stumbled on stairs & fell into window recess & onto the vase smashing it to pieces..museum staff reacted immediately cordoned off whole area & painstakingly gathered every piece fragment of vase..recovery took some days & vase & fragments taken away by curators to begin their careful work of restoration..months later project almost complete..every fragment found glued back together vase intact..last task was to repaint the vase to make it look as good as new..the experts advice came as a surprise..to leave it now as it is, showing every crack, every piece of vase caringly glued together..its insincerity there now for all to see & regret, but woven with its true story of brokenness & restoration, its value now much greater for its authenticity..two stories two templates for our Advent journey..”he will keep you steady & without blame until the last day, the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, because God by calling you has joined you to his Son, Jesus Christ, & God is faithful.”..our potter, Christ himself, shaped us moulded us lovingly prayerfully into life, a precious unique shape & character, & his firing of us in the kiln of ordinary daily life will always subject us to risk..”the absence of risk is a sure sign of mediocrity”..his Father risked his Son, a Son whose incarnation, his becoming flesh, resulted in many cracks imperfections & potential breakdowns finally being acknowledged & addressed; with grace & authenticity in face of insincerity, he instituted redemption..restoration after failure, an ongoing opportunity for adventure &reformation ..& who but the Holy Spirit could give us such a set of readings this very first Sunday of Advent which fit unerringly to the beginnings of the IICSA inquiry, where our beloved Community are so involved..implicated, responsible for insincerity breakdown in trust & lack of accountability..& in recent years, an authentic decision to risk showing genuine remorse & to begin an advent journey towards an incarnation..& pray when will that moment of new birth happen for our Community & for each of us individually?..when will Christmas begin?..when each of us allows our heartbeat to slow down & begin to beat in unison with divine heartbeat, then the Christ child will be born..not again but for the first time..& among us, this our faith family of restorers & redeemers..this is a living Church not a museum, a family no longer complacently asleep, now on the watch for more of our fellow damaged pots & vases, each a sacred vessel, holding cradling the presence of the divine in person, as spectators & attendees here eventually risk becoming fellow curators of ours..”cure-ators” curers & awakeners.. [1stAdventYrB;Mk13;33-37]