The Episcopal Diocese of Tennessee



The First Sunday of Advent, Year B, November 27, 2011, Church of the Advent Nashville

“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 1:3).

Grace is where we begin today, at the very beginning of the Church Year: Advent Sunday, which curiously enough presents us with a vision not of the beginning but of the end of time, with “the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory” (Mk 13:26) to begin his reign on earth. But grace is where we need to begin, because “the life of the world to come” that we talk about in the Creed is a world that comes about only through grace, through God’s power and presence in our lives and in our world.

Grace is what we need; without the grace that comes from God we’ll never arrive at the fullness of life that we were created for. Grace takes us beyond ourselves but it’s required for us to achieve our destiny, which cannot lie wholly within ourselves and our own powers but which must lie within the purpose and power of God. It’s the grace of God that St Paul invokes upon the Church in Corinth in our second reading today. The answer to the question, “Who am I and what is my calling?” can’t be answered by ourselves alone but only by and through God’s grace.

So we pray in our collect for Advent Sunday, “give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light”. It’s significant that the first prayer of the Church Year is a petition for grace, that essential prayer that looks to God for what is necessary to live the Christian life. Grace not only orients us toward our destiny and the vision of the end of all things, but it’s what we rely on here and now. Our collect asks for grace “now in the time of this mortal life” because that’s where we need it, to make that necessary move from darkness to light. Not only does our destiny lie beyond ourselves but so does the daily living of life, where we seek to move from where we are to where we need to be. No matter who we are, no matter what our situation, no matter what our circumstances, there is that move that lies before us. St Augustine pointed out that “The Law commands; grace supplies the strength to act”. We can know where we need to go and still be powerless to get there. If we are going to do the things we need to do we in our turn are going to need God’s grace, his power and presence in our lives.

Now here’s what I’m talking about: maybe you know the scene in the movie, The African Queen, where Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn are travelling down the river in their boat in order to attack the German warship on the lake. When they get to the mouth of the river they get stuck, really stuck, in the mud flats and false channels of the river. They’ve been travelling for a while; they’re tired and sick and they can’t find a way forward. Not only do they not know which way to go, but they don’t have the physical strength to get there even if they knew the way. Suddenly rain begins to fall, lifting the boat and carrying it out to the main channel and out into the lake. Now that’s like grace: something unforeseen, out of our human calculation, something that can’t be summoned up at will and that lies outside of our human power. Now I’m not saying that grace can be reduced to an unexpected rain storm, but I am saying that we are not the masters of our fate, the captains of our souls (as the poet puts it). We depend on God’s gracious margin for the living of our lives. We depend on God’s grace to get us unstuck and moving again.

Notice how St Paul twice uses the word “strengthened” in our reading today, in the same breath with the word “grace.” He also uses the word “enriched.” He talks about “spiritual gift” as well. All of these are illustrative of what grace means. You don’t need to be stuck to be the recipient of grace, but you do need to be open to the strength that comes from God, to the riches of his power and presence that come only as a gift.

Grace is a good way to begin our Church Year. As a community that is founded upon grace, the Church encounters that grace especially in the sacraments, most familiarly in the weekly celebration of Holy Communion. Sacraments are defined in part as “outward and visible signs of an inward and spiritual grace”, and the means by which that grace is given. As we gather on this Advent Sunday to ask God for grace, that grace is made available to us in the Breaking of the Bread. We come to the altar rail and God strengthens us and enriches us through the gift of his Son Jesus Christ, through the Body and Blood that are the signs of his risen life.

Grace is also what our confirmands need today. Those being confirmed and received today in the sacramental rite of Confirmation are encountering the power and presence of God in their lives, through the laying on of hands and prayer. The traditional confirmation prayer asks God to defend each candidate with his heavenly grace that they may continue his forever, and daily increase in the gifts of the Spirit. God’s grace has already been at work in their lives, bringing them here today, but now through the prayer of the Church they are given grace again. God is at work in all of us, all the time, but in this celebration grace comes into focus in a new way for us. We are grateful today for your witness which reminds us of the grace of God that is always operative for each and every one of us. Grace comes through his gift and takes us beyond ourselves and our own powers. God’s grace brings us from where we are to where we need to be.

- The Rt. Rev’d John Bauerschmidt, Bishop of Tennessee

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