Advent middle ground

 Longing for light - Waiting in darkness 


Advent is a controversial season in the church calendar for some. It divides opinion as to whether it should remain a ‘sombre season’ of anticipation awaiting the celebration of the birth of Jesus and his promised coming again, or whether we should join in with the rest of society in building up to Christmas and taking the opportunity of sharing the wonderful story of why Jesus was born. 

Recently I spoke to a fairly new Christian who didn’t know what Advent was. And why should they have ? As churches, we’re really not very clear about it a lot of the time. I tried to explain the intricacies of it as much as I could. I explained some of the different views, views of people who embraced Advent completely and didn’t allow any Christmas celebrations until after dark on Christmas Eve and others who joined in completely with the celebration of Christmas throughout December whilst still not ignoring an Advent message of anticipation, hope, peace, love and joy. And of course there are plenty of others somewhere in between. 


Perhaps a little to my surprise the person I was talking to really liked the idea of Advent and thought we needed to stress it much more clearly. They suggested using this as an evangelistic season clearly talking about why Jesus was born, about the miracle of new birth, about a Saviour being born, about a young mother obediently following the will of God, about shepherds representing ordinary people everywhere who were amazed at the awesome signs of a new born king and about the potential transformation of lives for all of history… Sounds like a great message to share! 


And the second coming wasn’t to be ignored either. Into a world of doubt and scepticism there remains a desire for searching and questioning, a desire to ask questions. Sometimes we’re afraid of the tough questions, but rather than be fearful we need to embrace the questions, tell the stories, share the good news and the hope that Jesus brings. 


How do we do this ? Well, it is (and I know not everyone will agree!) I think, by taking the middle ground. That means celebrating the anticipation of Christmas with others, enjoying the decorations and the carol singing and the concerts and parties, whilst taking the incredible opportunity to remind people that this is about Jesus. This isn’t sombre and it isn’t just about anticipation. It isn’t just about about waiting, because some of that waiting, some of that longing, has been met in the form of Jesus already, and whilst we continue to wait for the fulfilment of a world full of peace, justice and love, we embrace the good news of a Saviour who is active in the world every moment of every day, who is active in our lives, who is good news for all people, everywhere, at all times. It’s a message to share confidently. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Characters around the cross reflection

Today I want to think about some of the characters involved around the cross. Some played important and good roles, others were those who turned on Jesus, and sought to hurt him. I want to begin with a short reflection about Jesus written by Gregory of Nazianzus, A.D. 381 “Who was Jesus? He began His ministry by being hungry, yet He is the Bread of Life. Jesus ended His earthly ministry by being thirsty, yet He is the Living Water. Jesus was weary, yet He is our rest. Jesus paid tribute, yet He is the King. Jesus was accused of having a demon, yet He cast out demons. Jesus wept, yet He wipes away our tears. Jesus was sold for thirty pieces of silver, yet He redeemed the world. Jesus was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, yet He is the Good Shepherd. Jesus died, yet by His death He destroyed the power of death.” The Power of Numbers...The Crowd Mark 11:1-10 : When they were approaching Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, he sent tw
Read more

Marriage thanksgiving

Today we have dedicated this service to giving thanks for the gift of marriage… All of us I’m sure will join with me in offering prayers to ask God to continue to bless married couples everywhere, but marriage itself can never be taken in a vacuum. The Bible tells us and human nature dictates that actually we are all part of a much bigger family, married, unmarried, old or young, and as such each of us have commitments to each other. And that commitment must surely be to love… If you have a sense of humour, and I’m sure you all do (!) you may like to hear some of the things the Bible says about love in marriage. In the book of Genesis (29:20) we read that Jacob worked for seven years for Laban to earn the right to marry Laban’s daughter, Rachel. We’re told that the 7 years of work seemed to him just like a few days because he loved her so much! He worked seven years for her father so that he could marry her. I am tempted to say he had it bad! Moving on a little, The Song of Songs in
Read more

Holy Week - some questions, some thoughts..

Image
  Holy Week – the questions…   Speaking to someone recently I said how much I valued Holy Week. I’ve thought about that a bit more and wondered what it is about it that is special, and my answer seems to be that it really does encompass so much of what my faith is about… There are other events and things that have made me reflect more closely on my faith and had a great impact on me, but Holy Week is up there with those things that are formative in my faith.  So, what is it about for me? Well, I think it’s something to do with the questions raised, and the answers given, or sometimes not. It’s about the statements made and the challenges offered and it’s about the promises made, verbally or implied, and the practical way in which God’s promises are revealed before us.  Palm Sunday is an exciting day in the church calendar. A day of palm waving and processions, a day of chaos in many churches as those processions move at different speeds in different directions, sometimes with d
Read more