11/30/2025 ~ First Sunday of Advent ~ First Sunday of Lectionary Year “A” ~ Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44 ~ The Sunday in Advent on Which We Celebrate Hope ~ The Sunday After the Secular Holiday Known as Thanksgiving ~ EKC YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yb08VoqmRM8
HARPSWELL TV YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrAnpGeDh7w

Light As Armor

“…you know what time it is, the time in which we are living. It is now the moment, the time, the hour for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer, closer to us now than when we became believers, than when we first accepted faith. The night is far spent, gone; the day draws near. Let us, then, lay aside the works of the night and put on the armor of light.” — Romans 13:11-12.

Most Sundays I stand in this place between 10 and 11 a.m. But in San Francisco it’s between 7 and 8 a.m. In London, England, it’s between 3 and 4 this afternoon and in Sydney, Australia, between 2 and 3 a.m. tomorrow, tomorrow morning, Monday. (Slight pause.) As I asked earlier, what time is it for God? [1] (Long pause.)

This next thing may sound like a leap. It’s not. I think most of you know I’ve been involved with musical theater. Occasionally someone will ask, “What’s your favorite musical?”

Hands down, it’s Follies— music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, libretto James Goldman who also wrote the very serious play A Lion in Winter. Since for some of you Follies might be an obscure show, let me tell you about it as one topic the play tackles is time. (Slight pause.)

This is a fact: starting in the early 1900s a number of shows had as a part of the title the word Follies. These were variety shows with new but similar material each year. This play is about a reunion of performers from a number of shows over the years and takes place in the Spring of 1971. And it takes place where the shows were presented, a theater, which is about to be demolished. This specific story is about four people who attend the party.

At the beginning of the musical you realize something strange is going on since what appears to be the ghosts of Follies girls glide on and off stage. At the same time live characters are there but they don’t recognize those ghosts are present. Those four main characters— two couples— exchange dialogue and have songs.

Ghosts of these four main characters also inhabit the play but appear to be living the 1940s. The dialogue helps us understand what had been true in the 1940s is not how it’s remembered in 1971 and has not even turned out the way the people in the 40s had hoped.

At times all eight characters— old and young versions of the same people— are on the stage simultaneously but never interact with their other selves. However, what all eight say reflects on what had been true and untrue in the 40s and what is true and untrue in the 70s. In short, time is twisted for the audience as they watch. So what time is it, really— the 40s or the 70s? (Slight pause.)

I think every song in the show explores this theme of time. But one song in particular reflects back on previous times and the turns life takes.

(Quote:) “The road you didn’t take / Hardly comes to mind, / Does it? / The door you didn’t try, / Where could it have led? / The choice you didn’t make / Never was defined. / Was it? / Dreams you didn’t dare / Are dead. / Were they ever there? / Who said— / I don’t remember, / I don’t remember / At all / Chances that you miss. / Ignore. / Ignorance is bliss— / What’s more, / You won’t remember, / You won’t remember / At all, / Not at all.” (Slight pause.)

You can feel both pain and truth in these words, those questions, as the song asks what is happening now against what these people wanted to have happen. Equally the song underlines, even emphasizes the pain found in seeing what for the audience seems to be two different eras happening simultaneously. (Slight pause.)

So, what are your memories of the life you wanted for yourself? What is your reality now? And yes, the play does ask, “What time is it, really?” (Slight pause.)

I was at the opening night of Follies. Perhaps it’s my favorite because I constantly reflect on life— what my life was like, where I’ve been, where it’s gone, what it’s become, where it’s going.” And yes, there is some pain and truth in all those questions. (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the work known as Romans: “…you know what time it is, the time in which we are living. It is now the moment, the time, the hour for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer, closer to us now than when we became believers, than when we first accepted faith. The night is far spent, gone; the day draws near. Let us, then, lay aside the works of the night and put on the armor of light.” (Slight pause.)

In this passage Paul assumes readers, listeners will know the “time” referred to is not chronological time. Indeed, rather than using the obvious Greek word for time, chronos, Paul uses kairos— God’s time— very different.

I would suggest in God’s time the words past and present are meaningless. Why? God is near to us, stands at our side, always.

Further, God’s presence is not linear— now… and now… and now— but eternal. And for us there is pain and truth in that observation. After all, we are mortal. How do we understand or even think about the eternal?

But then Paul takes us beyond thinking about the eternal since the Apostle proclaims that now, within our present and real mortality, within our real time we need to wake from sleep. Paul thereby insists we need to cease dwelling on or dwelling in the past. We need to understand that God is with us now and as we move forward.

Why? What has happened? Or perhaps the more appropriate question is Who has happened? Jesus, the Christ, has happened.

Because Jesus has happened, time as it has been known to humanity before this event, before this advent, has ended. And because Jesus has happened (quote:) “The night is far spent, gone; the day draws near. Let us, then, lay aside the works of the night and put on the armor of light.” (Slight pause.)

For some the past is a safe place. Night is safe. Shadows are safe. For those who seek that safety, light is threatening. And there is pain and truth in that observation. There are those who want to hide from and take refuge in pain.

Further, while Paul speaks in terms of night and light, what Paul is actually addressing is being aware of the difference between falsehood and truth. Yes, falsehood can feel comforting and truth can feel painful. But for all the potential for pain, Paul invites us to live in truth, to live in the reality of the presence of God. (Slight pause.)

Today is the first Sunday in Advent, the Sunday on which we commemorate hope. Having said light represents truth I also need to say light represents hope.

And in Advent we celebrate the hope found in Jesus. What is the reality of that hope, the truth of that hope? God is with us. God is at our side.

And yes, there is pain and truth in that observation because we do recognize our own mortality. Pain is also there because we too often forget about hope.

But the truth, the hope in that observation is God is real. God walks with us. God is not simply a memory of the past in which shelter might be taken. God is a reality now.

So as Paul suggests, we need to be awake— awake to the reality of God. We need to be awake to the hope, peace, joy, love we find in the reality of God throughout Advent and beyond. Amen.

11/30/2025
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “I earlier referenced the Goldman, Sondheim show Follies. The word follies can be taken two ways. It is a show title. But we all have follies, fantasies of some kind which ignore reality. Perhaps the most difficult of our follies is we daily need to decide who we really are as opposed to any false image of self we might imagine. We need to be willing to see the truth and the pain of the answer: we are children of God who walk in the light of God and seek the truth of God.”

BENEDICTION: Let us know and understand that our hope is in God. May we carry the peace of God where ever we go. Let us share that peace and that hope, which is God’s, with all whom we meet. For God reigns and the joy of God’s love is a present reality. Amen.

[1] During A Time for All Ages the pastor showed two pictures of the same people taken about 40 years apart. The change in them was evident. The question: how does God see them, old or young? What time is it for God?