First Sunday in advent - Day 1

Well dear friends, here we are again for another Advent.  This is the third year of my ramblings and if you have been with me for the others and are back for more....... ummmm,..... well done? And thank you !  I do hope you will find something in these reflections and thoughts to help to focus you in on the real meaning of Christmas as we approach the 25th

As we enter Advent we do so on the back of  'Black Friday' - that delightful import from the States which has seen people brawling over televisions in Tesco stores and closing shops in a chaos of rioting and violence.  This year it really seems to have caught on in a big way and everywhere has been discounting everything this weekend.   Or at least that's what the adverts would have you believe.                                                                                                                                                    
Is this how we are preparing for Christmas these days?  Waiting outside shops at midnight so that we can fight our way to some piece of gadgetry we probably don't need and fight someone else to get our hands on it at any cost because it is half price?  Really depressing isn't it?

And although we all find it easy to watch our televisions in disbelief and tut reprovingly at the actions of people ' so unlike ourselves' the truth is we are all in the same camp.   We all find it impossible to resist the commercialism and the pull of the adverts.  The requests of the children.  The expectations of family members and the pressure to pull off the perfect Christmas lunch.   Despite the fact that we know fine well that these are not the important things and that the message of Christmas is the antithesis of all of that.

So, as we stand at the start of this Advent season lets take a few minutes just to reboot.  To restore the factory settings of our lives.  To divest ourselves of the ' spirit of the age' and reposition ourselves to be still and know that God is God.

Lord, the world is crazy and life is busy.  Christmas has become a madness of spending and partying and commercial hype.   This year I choose to step aside from all of this and take some time to prepare properly for the real Christmas - to celebrate the fact that you came and to remind myself that you have promised to return.

Please help me to negotiate the coming days with integrity and wisdom.  Not becoming stressed, not succumbing to temptation, not being greedy or lazy or indifferent.  Restore to me the joy of Christmas.  Speak to me about the truth of your incarnation and the hope and freedom this truth brings.  Take me on an Advent journey with you