It’s been a sad day today for us and a stormy day for others. The wind is howling round Ripon and I’ve just come in from seeing some tractors who do a tinsel run every year to raise money for Yorkshire cancer research. It’s wild out there. Someone has just sent me a picture of roof tiles coming off the library roof a few minutes ago which nearly hit him on the head.
Regular readers will know when I have few words I turn to Nadia. I have few words tonight so here’s her plea for a different narrative.
“As we listen to our sacred story this Advent let us tune out not only the noise of cultural Christmas, but also our own assumptions and expectations about what we think this story means. Let us listen together with beginner's ears -- with ears that listen for God's surprising grace. The kind of grace which will knock the wind out of you.
Under the cover of a deep blue Advent darkness may Christ, this holy thief, rob you of your certainty about what you think the story of Jesus is all about. May this thieving God envelop you in the surprising story of God's suffering love which takes from us that which we can really really do without and replaces it all with God's own self.”
In the sadness and the storm God is about. And maybe tonight many of us just need to know that.
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