So it is Saturday afternoon and I have three services to write. Panic! My friend has just texted me to say "it is Advent Sunday tomorrow and I haven't done a thing." My colleague and I have just had an impromptu staff meeting to talk about issues that have erupted over the last few days. We are tired before we begin December!
It is my intention this Advent, then Christmas season (at least up to 6 January) to post an image on this blog, something I see that speaks to me of journeying, of longing, of waiting, of hoping, and to write a prayer to do along with the picture. I wonder what I will see to enable me to focus in these weeks. Spiritually this season is fantastic if you take time to do it, so perhaps I will do less church and more God in these weeks. Can I tell church to go away for a few weeks? I remember a lady in Ashington village in my last appointment telling me about the panic and stress of the season she "just wanted some space and peace to hear the angels sing." I love that quote.
The world thinks it is Christmas already. The media and the shops have been doing Christmas, adding to the pressure, for weeks. Chris Evans on Radio 2 at the end of his programme on Friday said, "Christmas starts on Monday, kids." I want a slow thoughtful walk to Christmas, hence this proposed prayer activity.
I post the day before Advent, an open door from our Christmas Fair at St Helens this morning. Of course Santa was somewhere beyond the door. I had my picture taken with him but not no present as I answered his two questions negatively, which were "have you been a good boy?" and "is your bedroom tidy?" As a little child, I hated going through doors into the darkness of the unknown, to sit on the knee of a man with a beard and a red suit. But Advent is about being brave enough to open doors and see what is there. God's gifts. I pray these weeks to panic less and expect and long more. I hope you will join me.
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