The Rising Sun
The first Collect of the liturgical year doesn't just point us back. It also points us forward.
Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.
Associated passages: Romans 13.8-14, Matthew 21.1-13
Last year, my Advent calendar was a drawing of a tree covered in snow. It didn’t have chocolate in it. Instead, each day brought a small picture of something related to Christmas: a snowman, a Christmas tree, a robin. I would enjoy, every December morning, opening the flap for the day to discover what quaint image awaited me. Aside from the secular nature of most Advent calendars, they demonstrate that Advent is a time of waiting.
This Collect, assigned for the first Sunday in Advent and to be prayed every morning and evening until the Christmas Eve, sits in the shadow of the Nativity. Every day of the season of Advent is looking forward to the day when we celebrate again the incarnation of the Son of God. We remember how Israel waited for the coming Messiah, who in his own person would fulfil the law. But this Collect points us not only to remember the past, but to consider the future.
It does this by linking the two comings of Jesus. We refer to both his coming ‘in great humility’, and his coming ‘in glorious Majesty.' It also links how we live ‘in the time of this mortal life’, with whether or not we ‘we rise to life immortal.’ These two lives, mortal and immortal, are linked with the two Advents, the humble and the majestic. This gives the centre of the Collect a chiastic structure:
- now in the time of this mortal life, a. in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; b. that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead,
- we may rise to the life immortal.
But it’s not only the linking of these two Advents which make us consider the future, but the primary request of the prayer does the same. The Collect begins with a request for the Almighty God to ‘give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light.’ This is a direct quote of Romans 13:12. So what does this mean in its context?
In Romans 13:11-14, Paul likens our coming salvation to the rising sun, which calls us to wake up and prepare for the day ahead. ‘The night is far gone; the day is at hand’ (Rom. 13:12). We therefore need to do things which are appropriate for the daytime. We must ‘cast away works of darkness.’ These things are named: orgies, drunkenness, illicit sex, sensuality, quarrelling, jealousy (v. 13). They are summarised as ‘gratifying the desires of the sinful nature’ (Rom. 13:14). The point is that these things cannot be done when Christ returns, anyone who does them will be consumed in Christ’s judgement.
Christ’s judgement is why Paul says we prepare by putting on the ‘armour of light’. Why does Paul use the metaphor of armour for this new life? Armour does one thing - it protects the body from destruction. We need this armour to protect us from the judgement Christ will bring. “The fires of heaven burn hotter than the fires of hell”, as Dallas Willard would sometimes say. What he’s getting at is that to be in God’s presence without being prepared is a more unbearable thing than to be separated from God in hell. This is why we need to put on the armour of light - we need to prepare ourselves to live in God’s holy presence.
With Christmas on the horizon, there are things we do now to prepare for that day. We might buy gifts for friends and family, we may store up and prepare food, or we could put up decorations so that the house is ready to celebrate in. We are preparing ourselves to live in a way appropriate for Christmas day. In the same way, there are things we need to do now to prepare for the day when Christ returns. We need to live lives which we can continue to live in the new age, not lives which gratify sinful desires.
Does this take place outside of Christ Himself? No. We love our neighbour and put off the works of darkness by putting on the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:14). This is why we pray for grace. We cannot put on the armour of light, the armour of the new creation, by human effort or ingenuity. It requires God’s activity in our lives. The way we can stand in Jesus’s presence at the second Advent is by uniting ourselves with Him now, by faith.
The season of Advent is a time of waiting, but this time of waiting is not only a time for quiet contemplation, although that is an important part. This Collect applies Advent to our daily transformation, a manoeuvre typical for the Book of Common Prayer. The Collect, in a thoroughly scriptural manner, connects the season with our sanctification. The Collect turns what could be a wishy-washy Advent season into a cry from the heart for the grace of God to transform and prepare us for the coming age of His Son.