Purify my conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in me a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, Prayer Appointed for the 4th Sunday of Advent)
In Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, readers are introduced to the memorable character of Ebenezer Scrooge. At the start of the story, he is a cold-hearted miser who despises Christmas. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice is how Dickens describes him. But his life is redeemed following a visitation from three ghosts; the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. These encounters transform Scrooge into a better, more generous man.
In the season of Advent, the emphasis is usually on two tenses. There is Advent Past or the 1st Advent. This is what we celebrate during the 12 Days of Christmas as we look back to the Incarnation, the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Then there is Advent Yet to Come or the 2nd Coming. Many of the Scripture readings during Advent cast our eyes forward to the day when Jesus the King returns.
But that leaves us with a question: what about the present? Is Jesus now distant from us and we simply wait until we die and go to be with Him or He returns? Is there any sense in which there is an Advent Present? The prayer for the 4rh Sunday of Advent answers with a resounding yes. It declares that there is an ongoing Advent of the Lord, a daily visitation.
Now, this Advent Present is different from the other two. In the others, Jesus was/will be physically with us and visible. That is not the case presently. Instead, Jesus is with us by His Holy Spirit who He sent on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2). He had promised He would do this and that it would be better for us (John 14-16). And so Advent Present occurs as the Spirit continually indwells and fills us.
It is not surprising then that the prayer’s request is that God would purify my conscience. Purification or sanctification is the work of the Spirit. And because it is an ongoing process, thus the need for this “daily advent”. This is similar to how we think about God’s saving work. When He first comes to us, He forgives our sins and declares us righteous because of the righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone (justification). At the end, when He comes again, we will be free from even the presence of sin and will live forever in our glorified, resurrected bodies (glorification). But in between, He has not left us or forsaken us but comes by His Spirit to make us more and more like Himself (sanctification).
And as with all senses of Advent, the issue is one of preparation. Jesus told numerous parables imploring people to be prepared for his coming. For example, in Mark 13, he tells of a man going on a journey who leaves his servants in charge, giving them commands and telling the doorkeeper to stay awake. The reason to stay awake, to be alert, to be prepared is they don’t know when the master will return. And you don’t want the master to return and find you unprepared. Instead, you want him to find a mansion prepared for himself.
And so, Advent, in all its senses and tenses is asking us this question: Are you ready? Saints, I encourage you to use not only the Advent and Christmas seasons to ponder that question but to reflect on it all year round. Does the way you live your life and the decisions and choices you make demonstrate this priority? Will our Savior find us ready when He returns or will He find us unprepared? I pray that by the daily visitation of His Spirit, He will find each of us ready so that His second Advent will be a cause for our rejoicing.
