In about a month’s time – on 1st January – countless people – perhaps you, perhaps me – will make New Year resolutions. This year I really will try to do this, try to do that – but many of us – certainly me – by about the middle of January have either forgotten our good intentions, or have just given up!

Today – the first Sunday of Advent – is the beginning of the church’s year, and I should like to suggest a resolution for all of us: to re-centre our lives on Jesus Christ, within the fellowship of his church.

One of the great things about being a disciple of Christ – as we all are – is that we can always start again, over and over again. In fact, the whole of our Christian life is a series of new starts – and occasionally stops (!)  This was the experience of Jesus’ original 12 disciples, as they came to know and love him more and more, often misunderstanding him, often letting him down – but in the end, allowing themselves to be loved by him, and to enter into communion with him.

And this is the story of the people we call saints. The saints are people who constantly have to start their Christian lives over and over – making mistakes, committing sins, and then once again, allowing themselves to be loved back into communion with the Master, drawing closer to him, being absolutely honest with him (after all, the only people we are absolutely honest with are those we love, and who love us.)

And his one question to us, as it was to Simon Peter on the beach after the resurrection (do you remember the story in St John’s gospel? – Simon Peter, devastated after the crucifixion of his Master has thrown in the towel and gone back to his former trade – fishing!  And then, one morning he’s out fishing, when he sees a guy on the beach who he vaguely recognises, and this calls out ‘Come and have breakfast!’  And at that moment, Simon Peter recognises the crucified and risen Lord – his Lord, our Lord – and without taking off his clothes he dives into the sea and makes for the beach, and joins in the beach party and breakfast. It is after breakfast that Jesus asks that excruciating question: do you love me – and he has to ask Peter three times: Do you really love me?  Lord, you know that I love you. Then, said Jesus, feed my sheep, i.e. lead others in my pattern of life, lead them to me, because I love them too.

So Peter had to start again, and so do we. Advent gives us a few weeks to start again in all kinds of ways. Let me suggest a few.

Perhaps we can resolve to make Sunday Mass our absolute priority, and not allow ourselves to be deflected  from Jesus’ love – for our Eucharist, whatever else it is, is a love feast, a weekly rendezvous with our Lord and Master – and if it doesn’t look or feel like that, then perhaps we should ask ourselves why? Is there something in our relationship with Christ – or perhaps with the church – or perhaps with another person – that needs resolving? To meet together as the Lord’s people, in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day, in obedience to the Lord’s command – this is the bedrock of our faith, whatever critics may say. So – Mass each Sunday with no ifs or buts – a new start – that’s Advent resolution one.

Secondly, we could make a resolution to start going to confession again – regularly – even if we have not been for years, and we have a wonderful opportunity in the parish here on Tuesday evening. We all go to various people for check ups – to the dentist, to the optician, etc. – and those of us who drive have to take our vehicles in for an annual MOT inspection. But how much more important than all these things, to have a check up on our spiritual health?  Our teeth, our eyes, and the rest of our physical bodies, will eventually decay and die (like my car) but our souls will live for ever, and we want them in the best possible ‘nic.’ for our life of eternity with God. So it is sensible to go to confession at the very least once a year, to reflect on our lives, to align them once again with Christ and the gospel, and hopefully, to receive some advice and encouragement from the priest – who is a fellow Christian, and a penitent himself. So regular confession a new start – that’s Advent resolution two.

Thirdly, prayer – and what about coming along to a weekday Mass during Advent? And what about really resolving to read a little portion of scripture each day – I recommend My Day By Day and Bible Alive for this purpose. The daily readings of Advent are really beautiful and help us to wait expectantly for Christmas. One of the great saints once said that ignorance of the scriptures is ignorance of Christ – and this is true. So the reading of scripture each day a new start – Advent resolution three.

Fourthly, what about our personal lives – our relationships, and especially the married relationship – our families, our extended families. Is there anything there that needs healing, that needs facing or bringing to the surface......perhaps painful, perhaps embarrassing, perhaps hurts and misunderstandings of years ago. Advent is a wonderful time to address such issues, with Jesus, who asks us only none question : do you love me? For he knows the secrets and sorrows of our hearts, probably better than we do ourselves, and he offers a depth of healing, forgiveness and acceptance that the world just cannot give. So a look at our personal lives, a new start – Advent resolution four.

Fifthly, what about our working life? Are we (to quote today’s second reading) living the kind of life, or doing the kind of work that God intends for us? Are we in a rut?  Is change possible, or desirable?  For we are to serve God, and other people, in our jobs and careers whatever that may be, just as much as we serve him in church. Are we working just too many hours, and is this detrimental to our family?  Do we need to pause, take stock, and think about our working lives?  Perhaps so – a new start maybe – Advent resolution five.

Finally, what about God’s world?  Do we really care about it, feel responsible for it?  Do we steward it wisely, and are we concerned about the quality of our environment?  And if so, what active part do we play?  Perhaps the whole issue of climate change will, in future years, come to be seen as the issue which unites the human race, for we are all equal inhabitants of this planet and we must act together if the planet is to be saved. I do hope some of you will come in the Wave March next Saturday – which promises to be a very pleasant and entertaining day out – and by doing this you will saying to the Lord, not only “I love you”, but also “I love the world you created, for me, and for every other human being, and I acknowledge my responsibility for it”. So conscious care for God’s creation – a new start – Advent resolution six.

I shall finish with a medieval prayer for the 1st Sunday of Advent. May this holy season give us all a fresh start where we need it, and encourage us to look forward to the coming of Christ, the centre, the meaning and principle of all creation.

Let us pray:

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and to put on the armour of light, now, in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son our Lord Jesus Christ came to us in great humility: so that, on the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty, to judge the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.