Day 1

The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:5

Hope is Born

Welcome to the start of our online Advent Calendar as we journey towards Christmas.

In a couple of senses we are already running late.  The shops have been advertising for Christmas

since early November and Advent Sunday was actually earlier this week.  Nevertheless, in the

midst of the busyness I pray that as we open each ‘window’ that it will provide a moment

when we can pause to acknowledge the presence of God with us and be reorientated towards

Jesus in our daily expectation of the coming of ‘God with us’.

Sometimes the busyness of getting ready for Christmas drowns out our sense of the holy,

but as the evangelist  J John once remarked , “If you take ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas’ you’re left with just M&S”

(other brands are available!).

The world seems very fragile at the moment and for some the pressure to live up to

the ‘perfect’ Christmas that we see in the adverts can make the darkness and fragility

feel all the more oppressive.  And yet the message of Christmas is that in Jesus there is always hope. 

Somehow in the vulnerability of the baby born in Bethlehem lies the answer to the fragilities of the world. 

There is hope; and hope’s name is Jesus.

Richard