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Advent

There’s little doubt about what most of us will be doing in the next four weeks – the Christmas rush to get everything organized, cards written, gifts bought and sent, the preparation of food, plans about whose turn it is to go visiting, and anxieties about who’ll be offended if we don’t pay them enough attention . . . The rush is on, and it’s not surprising that there’s often a hint of panic in people’s conversations – ‘I’ll never be ready!’

In four weeks it’ll all be over, in five a new year will have brought us another set of resolutions, in six the decorations will have come down, the furniture of life will be back in place, and we’ll be back to – what? Will life be just the same, or will we be changed? If we take Advent seriously, I hope we will be changed, because we shall have had the opportunity to reflect again on what it means to say that God came into the world in the humility of the birth at Bethlehem, and that he still comes into the world in all its mess and pain and joy, longing for us to recognize him.

Advent is a godsend, a gift which stops us in our tracks, and makes us realize that we hold dual citizenship (of this world and the kingdom) in awkward tension. We are part of the scene – Christians sometimes appear to be rather superior about what we call commercialization, and say that the real Christmas isn’t about that. But the real Christmas is about precisely that: it’s about God coming into the real world, not to a sanitized stable as we portray it in carols and on Christmas cards, but to a world that needed, and still needs, mucking out. Advent reminds us that the kingdom has other themes to add to the celebration, themes that are there in the Scripture readings for the season: Repent, be ready, keep awake, he comes.

Advent reminds us that not only do we live in two worlds, the one that appears to be going mad all around us, and the one that lives by the kingdom of God’s values, but that we operate in two different time scales, in chronological time, and beyond it. And the point of intersection is now. Passages of Scripture read during Advent, and the Prayer Book collect for Advent which is often used, remind us that now is the time when we have to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. Now is when we meet God, because we have no other time.

At whatever level we operate, it’s a time for preparation. And whatever else we have to do, there are only so many praying days to Christmas. It is prayer that gives us the opportunity to focus our recognition of God in every part of our lives. Prayer is not just what we do in what we call our prayer time. Prayer is how we give our relationship with God a chance to grow and develop and, just like any other relationship, it needs time. We don’t stop being related when we are not with the person concerned. We don’t stop being a wife, husband, child, parent or friend when that person is out of sight, or when we are concentrating on something else. But we become less of a related person if we never give them time.

So, Advent says, make time, create a space so that our understanding of God’s love for us, and our love for God in response can grow. The world is saying, ‘Get on with it – don’t wait for Christmas to hold the celebrations.’ Advent says, ‘Wait, be still, alert and expectant.’

Some people find it helpful to have a focal point for their stillness; perhaps a lit candle. Any candle will do, but there are candles with the days marked on them, so that we don’t have any excuse for not remembering. And using a candle like this reminds us that before there were clocks people used candles to measure time. Christmas is bound up with time as well as eternity. We’re celebrating God becoming involved in our world in Jesus, and God invites us to make time for him.

The shopping days will come to an end – there will come a moment when we really can’t do any more. But the point of the praying days is that we get into the habit of remembering God who comes to us every day, and longs for us to respond with our love and service.