This evening we have come to the end of the four week Church Season which precedes the Festival of Christmas.  This evening we have come to the completion of Advent, . . . during which we have contemplated the Last Things that shall consummate our human mortality.  You see, . . . if History has a beginning; if we can measure Existence only so far back, before which there is no evidence of Time; . . . if History has a beginning, then History shall have an end.  . . . But before that end arrives, you and I will, in all likelihood, die.  Death is one of the Last Things our human mortality must experience.  . . . But most of the world’s religions are convinced that, in the end, the worth of our lives shall be judged by the One Who is the source of our existence; . . . most of the world’s religions are convinced that the judgement of our lives shall consist of our living selves being kept because of their value . . . or discarded for their repugnance.  Our own Judeo-Christian tradition is no exception.  The Lord God Almighty has made it clear to us that Heaven shall be the destiny of those whom He judges favorably, . . . and Hell shall receive those whom God discards.

    But tonight we remember that things are not as grim as our contemplations might suggest; . . . tonight we remember, once again, that the Lord God Almighty has given us the means by which our mortality shall have a happy outcome.  Tonight we remember that angels, persons of light who dwell with God in the habitations of Heaven; . . . angels have taken the trouble (have been sent by God, in fact) to speak to mere shepherds -- nomads; the least notable of all mortal humans; . . . tonight we remember that angels have pronounced to mere shepherds that all of humanity has every cause for courage and hope:

Be not afraid [the angel says]; . . . Be not afraid; for behold, I bring to you good news of a great joy which will come to all the people; for to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is [your] Lord.

The angel’s description of the happiness being sent to us is extravagant:  it is good news of a great joy.  . . . And then the angels sing to the shepherds; the angels sing the glory of the great and wonderful God who wishes to do such a thing for mere humanity:  . . . “Glory to God in the highest, [the angels sing]; . . . Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased!”  . . . The Lord God Almighty is pleased with us; . . . is it too much to say that He loves us?  The Lord God Almighty loves us and has stacked the deck in our favor so that the outcome of our mortality shall be happy!  He has provided us with a clear, shining Way up to and through the portals of eternal felicity.  Hence, the Introit (Hymn 91) which the choir sang at the outset of this Liturgy:  “Break forth O beauteous heavenly light, And usher in the morning.”

    . . . The first time I ever heard Schop (that’s one of the tune names for Hymn 91:  Schop); . . . the first time I ever heard Schop it was sung out of the Episcopal Church’s 1940 Hymnal, and it captivated me.  I was captivated by the declaration that, “This child, this little helpless boy, shall be our confidence and joy, The powers of Hell o’er throwing.”  . . . Some years later a revised version of that hymn was published in the Episcopal Church’s 1982 Hymnal which has somewhat toned down the language.  The revision now says merely that “This child, this little helpless boy, shall be our confidence and joy, the power of Satan breaking.”  . . . By the late 20th Century liberal Protestantism was having trouble reconciling the loving and merciful God Whom they preached with a God Who would condemn a human person to eternal torment; . . . and so, being unfamiliar with absolute Justice, liberal Protestantism closed down Hell and opened up a number of euphemisms, the sinister, soul-snatching personage of Satan being a favorite; hence, the revision to Schop.  . . . Now, don’t misunderstand me.  Satan is very real, . . . but he hasn’t the power to damn you; . . . he has only the power to deceive you.  . . . Satan has the power to deceive you so that you make yourself damnable.  Which makes liberal Protestantism’s attitude toward Hell rather curious, . . . because the only one in all the Old and New Testaments to speak of divine judgement leading to eternal wailing and gnashing of teeth in a fiery Hell of everlasting torment is Jesus Himself!  Speaks of it ten times.  I would think that since Jesus is the Son of God and eyewitness to and very conversant in things which mere mortal humanity can only guess at; . . . I would think that Jesus, Son of the Living God, is trying to tell us something about the outcome of a spiritually careless and unchaste, albeit religious, life, . . . and liberal Protestantism ought to listen.

    But I digress, because, as I have said, tonight we remember that the Lord God Almighty has stacked the deck in our favor so that the outcome of our mortality has every chance of being happy.  . . . The Lord God Almighty has provided us with a clear, shining Way up to and through the portals of everlasting felicity.  And that way is Jesus!  Jesus is the shining Way through Death and Judgement into the durable life of God’s heavenly sons and daughters.

    Jesus, Who, having no human father, is the Second Person of the Trinity incarnate with the flesh of the Virgin Mary.  Jesus, Incarnate God, born of the Virgin Mary this night in a stable so as not to displace a single human being from their station in this life.  . . . Jesus, Incarnate God, born of the Virgin Mary this night in a stable, Who grew to become a man of utter simplicity; . . . utter simplicity and detachment from the authority of the world over Him; detachment from the demands of His own flesh; detachment from the illusions of Satan’s lies, but, instead, completely focused upon loving and obeying and living in harmony with the sacred will of the Lord God and Father Almighty.  . . . Jesus, Incarnate God, born of the Virgin Mary this night to become a man of simplicity, detachment, and focus upon God . . . in order that, at the heavenly Father’s request, He might be an expiation for the sins of all humanity and a shining Way for each and all of us who, putting our entire trust in His grace and love and lordship, will die to sin in the waters of Baptism so as to be infused with a life that Death cannot hold, Judgement cannot condemn, and Hell cannot receive.

    . . . Tonight we stand on the threshold of all that.  . . . Having contemplated the Last Things that shall consummate our human mortality, . . . we remember tonight that God has sent a beauteous Light to break forth upon us and usher in Hope.  Tonight we remember that this little helpless boy, born of the Ever-Blessed Virgin Mary in a stable; . . . this little helpless boy shall be our confidence and joy, because by dying for our sins and rising for our justification, He has overthrown the powers of Hell to hold us or to torment us.  Tonight we remember that the Lord God Almighty has given us Jesus . . . to be a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, . . . and Prince of our Peace.  Alleluia!