Sunday 16th November, 2nd Sunday before Advent, Trinity 22

On the 12th February 1990 I walked onto the campus at Leicester University to see that someone had painted on a hoarding the words “Nelson Mandela is free”. They evoked a powerful feeling of joy and hope which I still remember. Nelson Mandela had been in prison for longer than I had been alive and, like so many of my peers, I had almost given up hope that the evil of Apartheid would ever end. But the previous year the Berlin Wall, that other great symbol of repression, had fallen and suddenly anything seemed possible. Things we had thought would never change had changed suddenly and completely. The feeling was euphoric.

Our readings today look forward to a future in which God will sweep away injustice finally and forever. “The sun of righteousness shall rise”, says Malachi, “and you shall go out leaping like calves from the stall”. The psalmist likewise offers a vision of freedom and justice so complete that the whole of creation joins in the song of praise.

These days it can seem that injustice and oppression are once again on the rise, and the vision of Malachi and the psalmist is wishful thinking. But we look for the firstfruits of the Kingdom of God, and those of us who remember the hope and the joy have tasted them. What God has done before, he will do again, and more. The Sun of Righteousness has dawned in Jesus, and the song of praise has already begun. Let’s add our voices to the choir.

Every blessing,

Roger.