As you can see from the bulletin, the sermon is entitled "From December to December..." Please raise your hand ... and don't worry, I'm not going to call on you ... raise your hand if you know where that comes from. Nobody? Perhaps if I tell you that it is an excerpt, and that there should be the "..." prior to the word "from" as well as after the last December. Still no one? Perhaps if I give you some more of the words: "Each evening from December to December ... before you drift to sleep upon your cot ..." Now I see a few heads nodding. "...think back upon all the tales you remember .... of Camelot." That wonderful movie version of the musical came out some thirty-three years ago: Camelot, starring Richard Harris as King Arthur and Vanessa Redgrave as Guinevere. Camelot is the story of peace, joy, love, prosperity that once filled the land of England, during the time of the legendary Knights of the Round Table, the ones who's motto was "Might for right. Right for right. Justice for all." Camelot is also the story of how all this peace, love, joy and prosperity was disrupted and eventually destroyed by the unfaithfulness of Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere, and of his best knight, Lancelot.

This great king knows that he is not above the law; the law of the land which condemned treason by death; his wife and favorite knight are guilty of treason by virtue of their betrayal of the king. Arthur will not bend the law or misuse his authority for his personal benefit, even if it inevitably leads to the destruction of Camelot, no matter how much he would prefer to do so. Those of you who have seen the film may remember the climactic last scene which takes place on in the early morning just prior to a mighty battle, the battle which is a result of this betrayal. In that final scene, Arthur's forces are preparing to line up against those of Lancelot in this conflict that has been forced upon the kingdom, and exacerbated by the treachery of Mordred.

In the early morning mists, as Arthur reluctantly prepares for the battle, he discovers a boy hiding in the bushes with bow and arrows at the ready. The boy is about twelve or thirteen years old. Arthur questions the boy, who tells the king that his name is Tom. "I'm Tom, m'lord ...Tom, from Warwick." (That's Warwick, England; not Warwick, Rhode Island). And Tom then reveals why he is there. "I've come to fight for the Round Table. I intend to become a Knight of the Round Table."

The king, despairing about all that is coming unglued in his kingdom, disillusioned about the shattered peace which his Round Table had symbolized, asks Tom, "And when did you decide upon this extinct profession? Was your father a knight? Was your mother saved by one? Was your village protected by knights?" Tom's reply was simple, yet profound. "Oh, no, m'Lord," he says. "I only know of them - the stories people tell."

This reply gives the king pause. Arthur's eyes brim with tears as he considers the meaning of what he has just heard. And then he says to Tom, "From all the stories people tell, you wish to become a knight. Tell me ... what you think you know ... about the Round Table."

Tom replies with great excitement: "I know everything. Might for right. Right for right. Justice for all. A round table where all knights would sit in unity. Everything!" King Arthur, as Camelot is crumbling around him, realizes that he has just heard this boy speak the words of hope. Tom spoke of the hope that Arthur had lost sight of in those dark days. The boy's words re-kindle Arthur's faith and confidence that all was not lost. Instantly, Arthur knows what to do. He forbids Tom from fighting in the coming battle and commands him rather to hide behind the lines until the battle is over: "You will remember what I the king tell you ... and do what I command. You will run behind the lines ... you will return to England, Tom, you will live, and grow old, and have children, and you will remember ... you will remember the story of Camelot!".

It is then that he says to Tom,

It's a great scene. The king continues, "Camelot, Camelot! Now say it loud with love and joy!" And Tom throws his head back and replies, "Camelot. Camelot!" And the king goes on,

Arthur then takes Excalibur, commands Tom to kneel, and touching the sword to each shoulder says, "I knight you Sir Tom of Warwick, and I command you to return home and carry out my orders." The king will go on to fight the battle, but "Sir Tom of Warwick" is commissioned go to his home and workplace to tell the story of Camelot.

Then the King's aide reminds Arthur to hurry, for it is time for the battle. Arthur responds, with triumph in his voice, "I have won my battle, and here in this boy is my victory. What we did with the Round Table will be remembered! You will see." And as the movie credits are about to roll, Tom runs off and Arthur calls out, "Run, boy, run; oh run, my boy! Ru-uu-uu-nnn! Oh, run." And Arthur sends Tom off on his mission to tell far and wide the story of Camelot.

This is a great story for Advent. I love it that the author of this play chose "from December to December" for the period in which the boy should remember about Camelot. The liturgical calendar of the church runs from Advent to Advent; this year it is literally from December to December. In the church calendar, this first Sunday of Advent being the first day of the new church year. The liturgical year provides for us a way to remember the story of the King of kings, the Prince of peace, from beginning to end and from end to beginning again, year after year after year.

History ... His Story, God's story with us ... began in perfection. It began in "a fleeting wisp of glory," if you will -- at a time in the Garden of Eden when all was peace, hope, love and joy -- in a way, like Camelot in the strong and heady days of Arthur's Round Table. And like Camelot, paradise in Eden was lost through unfaithfulness, the unfaithfulness of a trusted, beloved man and woman.

And in a way this is the story of each of us, as it is played out in our lives over and over again. We have our fleeting glimpses of glory, we have those times in our lives when everything seems just so right and good, those times when God's presence and love and grace is realized and accepted and felt, but something happens to cause it all to come crashing down. Our glimpses and tastes of glory may have been shattered, lost, broken or marred by disease or death, by betrayal or blight, or by our own unfaithfulness and fecklessness toward God. Yet time and again God uses His "Sir Toms" to instill hope, to encourage. And time and again God goes about His restoring work in our lives: forgiving us, taking us back, giving us His love and grace all over again.

In a cycle that continues, our story is like the story of Camelot, for we, like Arthur, know that the shattered vision is not the end of God's story with us. No, God's story never ends with Paradise in shambles. The Good News of Christ presents us with a vision of what the Kingdom of God really is, it presents us with a picture of what we are seeking to restore, the Bible concludes with the glorious hope of what the kingdom will indeed one day be. In the meantime, we are the "Sir Toms of Warwick;" we are commissioned by our King to remember and to tell the story strong and clear to those who have not heard. We are called to tell the stories of the Kingdom of God - to remind ourselves of how the church is to look in the fullness of God's time and to share this story with those who do not know it. We are called to remember how God would have us act and how he would have us be.

I've learned that the novel on which the movie Camelot is based is entitled The Once and Future King. Again, how appropriate. Jesus, our Lord, is also a once and future King. Indeed, the story we remember year in and year out is that Christ has come, Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. In Advent, we recall the expectation and waiting and watching and longing for the first Coming of Christ into the midst of our humanity. We also recall the promised second coming of Christ. God has prepared a heavenly Camelot for His children, a place where Paradise is indeed restored, where peace, love and joy abound; Christ will come again to take us there.

In Advent we especially remember, and we anticipate, the promises of God: past, present and future. Like Sir Tom of Warwick, we may have never seen a "knight"; we have never seen Jesus or an apostle or, for that matter, God Himself. Yet, like Tom, we do "know" everything, because we have heard the stories about the Kingdom of God. And we have believed them. Like Tom, because we have heard the stories, we, too, want to enter the battle; we, too, want the commissioning of our King; we, too, want to be part of this "Camelot" of the Kingdom of God. And, like Tom, it is our mission not only to remember, each December to December, but also to tell the stories far and wide -- reminding those who have heard them, and proclaiming them afresh to those who do not know, the story of the Good News of Jesus Christ ... and the "Camelot" of the Kingdom of God.