I
always think that it’s lovely that we celebrate Christmas in the
middle of winter when the weather is often the most miserable (unless
you are in Florida where I am at the moment!). Outside it is
usually dark, cold and wet. Then we begin to light candles and
put up coloured lights and decorations to remind us of the coming of
our King. It is a time of great hope and hopefully also a time
that will bring joy. ‘Advent’—which simply means
‘coming’—is meant to be a time of preparing for two things.
We are preparing for the coming of Jesus at Christmas, and we are
also remembering that Christ will come again at the end of time.
Each Sunday in the Creed we say that, ‘He will come again to judge
the living and the dead.’ We don’t know when that will be,
but we believe that it will happen. The Lord asks us to ‘stay
awake’ and not to forget him, because none of us know when we will
die, but the important thing is that we do not forget the Lord, who
loves us and who created us. And so each Christmas we remember that
Jesus came among us, for us, to help us, to teach us
about God, about the world to come, and above all to die for us so
that we can join in the happiness of God when we die ourselves.
The
best way that we can prepare ourselves is in the heart, by trying to
give time to God and being open to what He wants to say to us.
The Lord is constantly speaking to us but often we are not listening
because we are too busy or distracted. People sometimes ask me
if God speaks to me. Yes God speaks to me all the time, but not
through visions or voices. It's usually through other people or
through the Scriptures. It has taken me quite a while to learn how to
listen so that I might hear what God is saying to me. Advent is a
good time to try and listen again and hear what the Lord has to say
to us. That is why the readings are about getting ready for the
one who is coming, and not being so distracted by the world around us
that we forget him.
One
thing that is characteristic of the Gospels is that they are full of
hope. The message of God to us—the Good News—is always one
of hope and it is certainly something we need in a world where we are
constantly hearing of so many terrible things happening around us.
However, we don't hear of all the wonderful things that are
constantly happening around us. The many acts of kindness that
people continually do for each other, looking out for each other
especially when we are struggling. This is the Spirit at work
in us and this is what makes the world bearable, in spite of the
awful things that happen.
So
for the time of Advent let us ask the Lord to help us hear him again,
by being quiet every so often, by stopping what we are doing for a
moment and maybe just saying, ‘Come Lord Jesus.’
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