As a society we so often accept poor substitutes rather than the fullness of life experience that is offered to us. When we journey through the season of Advent, it can at times feel like a poor substitute for the season of Lent. The reality is very different – because the character of the season of Advent is not about penance but about waiting and preparing. We tap into the longing of generations of people who waited and longed for the Messiah, the Christ to come. We listen to a series of prophecies written hundreds of years before the ‘day of the Lord’ actually dawned, as the people speculated what such a wonderful day would really be like. The reality of the commandment to rejoice that is so central to the liturgy today is also very different from the individualised sense that we often have about what is means to be happy.
Recorded at St Paul’s, 6pm Vigil (7’03”)
Advent, Sunday 3A