Sitting here on the 3rd December, surrounded by an advent candle, 2 advent calendars and the 4 Christmas cards that we've received so far, which Ruth has proudly displayed on the mantelpiece, while we listen to Michael Bublé's Christmas album. All we need to finish the cliche, would be a Christmas tree in the corner of the room, an open fire with chestnuts roasting with snow falling gently outside. I've overdosed already on Christmas television adverts, the McDonald's reindeer advert appears to be the family favourite at the moment, closely followed by the John Lewis one.
I know that these days, advent calendars come in all shapes and sizes and are not only filled with chocolates anymore! I'm surprised every year by the ever growing list of contents you can choose from, everything from mini lego figures and socks through to miniature bottles of whiskey and gin! Our grandson, being dairy intolerant, has a home made book advent, his mum spends the year buying 24 books mainly from charity shops, which he opens one a day and then has it as his bedtime story.
Have you ever wondered what advent actually means? Advent means 'Coming' in Latin. Churches traditionally have an advent crown, featuring 5 candles in a wreath, but do we know all the symbolism it represents? The wreath which is made of various evergreens, signifies continuous life. The circle of the wreath, which has no beginning or end, symbolises the eternity of God, the immortality of the soul, and the everlasting life we find in Christ. The wreath as a whole is meant to remind us of both the immortality of our souls and God’s promise of everlasting life to us through Christ. There are various different ideas about the meaning of the candles and even their colour, but the first candle is lit on the 4th Sunday before Christmas, then 2 are lit the following week and so on, and finally the 5th candle is lit on Christmas morning. It's supposed to remind us of the coming of Jesus (the light of the world) into the world, born as a baby in a stable, not to be a countdown to a commercial frenzy!
As you know, we are still waiting for God to release the provisions to enable us to purchase a property to operate Time2 from, but we are convinced that we are in our 'advent', Time2 is coming! I read a quote this morning from the late Eugene Peterson (Church leader, author and translator of the Message version of the Bible), that someone who I follow on Twitter had shared, which has put our waiting time into perspective, especially as we are in this season of advent, awaiting the coming of a baby:
“Waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. We, of course, don't see what is enlarging us. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy.”
As you can imagine, this hasn't always been an easy walk of faith, but every time we're struggling we go back to the promises God has made to us. When we are struggling we will pray that he will give us a sign to confirm his promises, sometimes we get an unexpected call or text from someone but we often end up seeing camels! Only last week, Ruth prayed for a sign and that evening we were watching I'm A Celebrity (our guilty secret is out - please pray for us!) and there in the midst of the Australian jungle in one of the famous bushtucker trials were 2 camels! We're excited as we approach Christmas, as the wise men who followed a star to find the new born king are traditionally depicted riding on camels. WooHoo!!!
Talking of camels, it's great to see that the Royal Mail have issued a set of traditional nativity stamps again this year, but disappointing to see how few Christmas cards feature any traditional Christmas images. Also, we have been looking around the shops for a nativity set and have struggled to find anything suitable!
Can I urge you, as we journey through the rest of advent, to take time2 pause and remember what Christmas is about. Try not to get stressed over the tinsel and turkey, time spent with family and friends is more important.
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