We are used to seeing displays of Christmas cards in our shops – in fact, we now have ‘Cards for Good Causes’ available in our church building. No doubt, once 31st October, Hallowe’en, is over, those displays and decorations will give way to Christmas décor.
The commercial and secular world seems to rush towards Christmas, with little focus on preparation for that season and all that it really means. It’s rather different in the church, where Advent is a season of preparation for that great event, Those weeks before Christmas, at the darkest time of year, traditionally a penitential season, guide us to the renewal of hope and a new beginning.
But it’s too early for Advent; that starts on Advent Sunday, this year on 1st December. Or so I thought until an Advent book came thumping through my letter box, with a request to review it by early November, ready for the Reader website’s section on Advent books.
So, I have been reading Isabelle Hamley’s Embracing Humanity. It is a day-by-day examination of the way God chose and embraced the human world of interactions which bring joy, as well as pain, by sending his son to that human world. It even includes suggestions for group study. It provides a useful preparation for Christmas.
Perhaps not too early then, to prepare for the Season of preparation?
Loving God, help us to make space in our lives and in our imaginations
so that the wonder of your presence
would never cease to amaze us,
and as we see our humanity
reflected in your story,
help us to learn from you
what it is to be fully human
and made in your image. Amen
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