November 30th 2014
2 Peter 3: 1- 10
I have always been fascinated by the phrase,” The Day of the Lord”.
In another parish I served we held an annual service for the Emergency First Responders of the community. On one occasion The President of the local Firefighter’s Association stood up to read the Old Testament Lesson. His voice carried throughout the church with the resonance of an Old Testament Prophet who sought to call God’s people to prepare for, “The Day of the Lord”. More than a few knees shook as his voice and those words exuded authority, power and judgement
St. Peter’s words call God’s people to prepare for a moment unknown, which will arrive at a time which is unknown, and in a way which is unknown. Yet for all the unknowns attached to the moment, St. Peter points out, the Day of the Lord will arrive.
St. Peter also names the simple reality that God’s time is not our time, yet in God’s good time there will come a moment when each of us will be held accountable for the things that we have done and the things we have left undone.
For some, the concept of that Day ever arriving causes a sense of fear and anxiety. Others welcome and anticipate the moment with a sense of serenity and calm.
St Peter addresses a community of faith who are struggling with the reality of being a faithful witness in a world that taunts and derides their claim, as people of faith, that Jesus will come again. That Second Coming has invariably been linked with a concept of Judgement.
An interesting question arises for each of us in this reflection. Whose judgement do we fear most? God’s judgement or our own ? God’s judgement, we believe will be tempered with a Divine love and compassion upon which we depend. Our judgement of self, is not
always that forgiving. We can name, when no one else can, those things which we have said or done which fall short of God’s expectations of us, or our expectations of ourselves.
The Season of Advent, which stretches out in front of us, is a time when we prepare ourselves to celebrate the wonderful Day of the Lord, when God’s Love is expressed in the person of a little baby. Divine Love is expressed in a way which is both comprehensible and incomprehensible. Divine Love which lifts us up and enfolds us with forgiving compassion. A Divine Love, freely given, there for us to experience as we are empowered for mission and ministry as a response to that great Love in our daily lives.
- Reverend Canon Christopher Pratt
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