There are three signs this morning that tell me it’s the second Sunday in Advent. Two candles burning on the Advent wreath. John the Baptizer emerging from the wilderness to preach a baptism of repentance. And Nancy Clarke with her oboe. It just isn’t Advent without the sound of that oboe.

On Jordan’s Banks the Baptist’s cry,
Announces that the Lord is nigh.
Awake and hearken for he brings
Glad tidiings from the King of kings.”

Happy New Year! No, I haven’t slipped a month. Nor did you slip into a turkey induced coma and sleep right through the so-called “holiday season.” Today is the Feast of St. Andrew, the brother of Peter, one of the fishermen-disciples of Jesus. And falling on a Sunday, it’s also the first Sunday in Advent, and the start of a new church year. So, happy new year! We’ll just let the world catch up with us.

Of all the seasons of the church year, I think I like Advent the best. I loved it as a kid, growing up with those advent calendars and the 25 little windows that counted down to Christmas. (We have one for every child on the way out of church this morning.)

We are at the end. The Sunday of the Fulfillment. The last Sunday of the church year. Next week, if there is a next week, we start all over again with Advent, looking toward the second appearing of Christ as we prepare to celebrate His first appearing. But today marks the end.

The Bible begins “in the beginning,” when God created the heavens and the earth. The Bible ends at the end, when the heavens and the earth God made in the beginning come to their end. What has a beginning must also have an end. God made the heavens and earth out of nothing, ex nihilo, in the beginning. What’s left at the end will not be not nothing, but a new heavens and a new earth, a new creation, which has already come in the crucified and risen body of Jesus. His salvation will last forever, Isaiah says. His righteousness will never fail.

Today’s readings for the 2nd to the last Sunday of the church year have a little something for everyone.

For the lawyer, we have the scene from the book of Daniel, and the heavenly courtroom. The Father, the Ancient of Days, is seated on His throne, with brilliant white clothing, and white, wooly hair. His throne is flaming with fire, and a river of fire is coming out from before Him. He is attended by thousands and thousands of angels, the hosts of heaven. The court is seated, and the books are opened. There is silence. Court is now in session.

The final countdown, the last three Sundays of the year, the last days. Our thoughts turn to eschatology, words about the end. Today’s readings all deal with the end, each in their own way. The reading from Hebrews reminds me a bit of my 8th grade art teacher. She believed that art should not only be good, it should be sturdy as well. She had what she called her “shake test” which every piece had to pass. She would pick up the work and give it a little shake. If anything fell off, back it went to the artist for repair. Everything had to survive the shake test.