.....Advent

As we enter the season of Advent, I hear many people bewailing the fact that “this Christmas is going to be unlike any other Christmas [they] can remember”.

They say this with a sense of embarrassment, weariness, even despair – and they refer primarily to the fact that they cannot afford to give presents as they have in the past, they cannot afford to host parties as they have in the past, and they cannot afford holidays as they have in the past.

As I think about these things, however, I find myself wondering how Christmas came to be defined by “conspicuous consumption”? Isn’t this the very thing we have so loudly protested in the past – the “commercialisation of Christmas”?

In that case, shouldn’t we rather be rejoicing at the way in which the painful developments within our global economy this year might mean that this Christmas stands a better chance than so many others of being reduced to its essentials – a heartfelt celebration of the gift of Messiah; the remembrance of the birth of a baby in our midst, whom we have come to know as both Son of God, and Son of Man? The possibility that we might be freed a little from our bondage to money, to live more humbly, more truthfully, more compassionately … in better accord with the values of the Kingdom of God, which Jesus said is bursting out all around us, both during this season of waiting and preparation, and at every other time, too!

Maybe it really is time to be reminded again of the vision that our God has for us; to allow that vision to renew our hope; and to hold our heads high, despite the troubling events all around us … maybe Advent comes at just the right time!

Yours
Rod