The Advent Collect

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that at the last day, when he shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.  Amen.

Ann B. Davis, the deceased actress who was perhaps most famous for her role as Alice, the housekeeper on The Brady Bunch, and also a lifelong member of the Anglican communion, is reported to have once said, “The thing I like about the Bible is that it quotes the Book of Common Prayer so much.”  Now before anyone gets distressed about her Biblical ignorance, I hasten to point out that she was a comedienne.  The statement was meant to be funny, but also a polemic.  Underlining not the supremacy of the BCP but rather how heavily it borrows from the Christian Scriptures.

This may come as a surprise to many, especially given the drift of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Church of Canada away from understanding the Bible in its “plain, canonical sense” as says the Jerusalem Declaration.  Surprising as it may be, it reminds us that at least we STARTED from a good place.

Further on the Bible quoting the BCP heavily, I direct your attention to the Advent collect* at the beginning of this post.  It is a case in point.  The collect is a restatement, sometimes word for word, sometimes in summary, of the Bible’s exhortation to us as we anticipate the second Advent of Jesus Christ (when he shall come again in glory to judge the living and the dead).

After addressing Almighty God (God as all-powerful is a significant biblical theme, I think), it then asks for what?  Grace.  Unmerited favor.  St. Paul says to his beloved Ephesians, “You are saved by grace through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:8 ESV).

And it asks grace for what?  For something the same apostle Paul exhorts us to in Romans.  Here it is a direct quote from his words, grace to cast away the works of darkness.  In anticipating the coming our Jesus again he says this:

 “The night is far gone; the day is at hand.  Let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” (Romans 13:12 ESV)

And when should we do this?  Now.  Again as Paul says, this time in his second letter to the Corinthians:

“Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” (II Corinthians 6:2 ESV)

Now in the time of this mortal life in which your son Jesus Christ came to visit in in great humility…  In his letter to the Philippians Paul says that our attitude should be the same as Jesus Christ,

“… who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”  (Philippians 2:6-8)

And so we cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light now in the time of this mortal life to what end?  Why?

So that when he comes again in glory to judge, and he will, says Matthew:

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.”  (Matthew 25:31)  To sit, to be enthroned is to judge.  It is the king in the Ancient Near East who is judge.

So that when he comes to judge the living and the dead (I Peter 4:5 and II Timothy 4:1) we may rise to the life immortal.

“For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.  For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” (I Corinthians 15:52,53)

And thus in this Advent prayer we see all of these nourishing Biblical morsels rolled all together in an excellent petition – a request.  A request for grace and assistance to put off the various works of darkness in which we find ourselves entangled – pettiness, selfishness, cloaking and dissembling with small lies and big lies, entitlement, lack of concern for others (especially the poor and the modern equivalent of widows and orphans), etcetera. 

And we do need grace, we need help to do that.  At least I do as I observe the poor showing of my solo career on that front. 

And not just the casting away bit.  Help to put on the armor of light.  Grace to replace vice with virtue (and not so that we can be like little Jack Horner and congratulate ourselves on our goodness – what a horrifying species of pride that is).  No, grace to replace vice with virtue because virtue (the armor of light) is beautiful – it brings life and it blesses.  And it is rather good training for the life immortal.

* A collect is a prayer, typically used in public worship but which may be used privately, which “collects” the ideas and themes of a season or day.  A more extemporaneous example would be the prayer that a preacher prays at the end of a sermon which reflects its themes and ideas.