A Different Advent

How to do Advent without leading any worship? One of my folk at church asked me how I am coping yesterday.

As think about the wonder of God’s coming in Christ into the world, this year, with illness stopping me doing my usual rushing around, I am pondering a verse of a carol that will no doubt be sung somewhere in the next few weeks, about the shepherds and their journey. It is part of O come, all ye faithful:

See how the shepherds, summoned to his cradle, leaving their flocks draw nigh to gaze.

We too shall thither, bend our joyful footsteps…

For most people, this season is about activity, hurry, parties and presents, all good things, but not the most important thing. I am struck by the idea of “drawing nigh to gaze” because maybe that is the first step to understanding the theology of the incarnation. In my preaching, my leading of groups, my pastoral care of people, I have tried in my outlook to show to people a God who in Jesus is there for us whatever we face. The first response to that is not to do, but to be. The first thing shepherds, and later magi do, at the encounter of the divine is not to call a meeting, or plan a scheme, but worship. Perhaps that says something about what should be our priority.

The coming of God into a world of pain, hurt, misunderstanding, and darkness, is about his desire to transform those things not in six month’s time when he feels like getting round to it but NOW. He comes to heal, to mend, to reconcile, to bring light. All we have do is embrace the wonder, and realise the gift is real and is for us, no matter how we feel today. To know that presence can make today better, even if tomorrow feels daunting. I want to go back to work. I am impatient! But I have to accept I need time to heal. So maybe this Christmas for me will primarily be about quiet prayer, knowing he is here, and feeling loved by him, although when someone pointed out to me I might not be well enough to take midnight communion on Christmas Eve, I reacted quite badly to that but I have to accept it!

If we are struggling at this time with perhaps illness, or stress, or find Christmas and its expectations difficult, we simply need  to know we are not alone, to draw nigh and gaze. O come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord!