So here we are, again. Christmas swings round faster and faster every year. This Sunday, advent begins and the countdown to Christmas shifts into overdrive.
For some of us Christmas is all sleigh bells ringing, chestnuts roasting and all things merry and bright, whilst for others it’s a festive stress test of plate-spinning, turkey-basting and gift-wrapping. Some of us already have the perfect Christmas pinned down and organised whilst the rest of us feel like we are about to enter chaos central without a map.
So, allow me to ask you to stop for a moment – to “take a beat”.
Advent is its own season with its own tone (and not very many of its own songs!). If Christmas is all “Fa la la la, ‘tis the season to be jolly” then advent is a candle lit in deep darkness and the cry “come Lord Jesus”.
Advent is an aching for a move of God. It is the agonising tension between a world shrouded in darkness and the belief that people walking in darkness will see a great light. Advent invites us to cry out for our world in the sure hope that God has come in Jesus to bring salvation and will come again to make all things new.
The story of the coming (“advent”) of the Messiah (Christ) starts in darkness and disappointment with an aging and infertile couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth. Lack and loss are the defining characteristics of their lives. Furthermore, their childlessness speaks to the state of Israel in their day – spiritually barren and desolate.
Then grace disrupts the gloom:
Luke 1:13 “Do not be afraid, Zechariah. Your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will have a child. It will be a boy, and you must call him John”.
What is impossible to humanity is possible with God. The whole move of God to incarnate His son begins with a miracle: something comes from nothing, life springs out of barrenness.
Please pray that we would see that in ourselves and in our nation today. The spiritual landscape can appear to be desolate, the challenges around us insurmountable, yet God can make something from nothing! Perhaps, as the Bible Society data suggests, there are little lights of new life in Christ sparkling in the darkness in these days. Please pray, that sparks might become a flame, that we would see an awakening of faith in this land.
As Saint Andrew’s day approaches and our thoughts turn to the nation of Scotland, let us be praying for a new awakening in the land, for many more people to receive new life in Jesus.
So whether you are in search of the perfect Christmas or just looking for an excuse to indulge in a chocolate and movie binge-fest give a thought to advent. Pray for light in the darkness, for Messiah, Jesus to be welcomed into homes and hearts over the whole nation and nations.