Friday, December 05, 2008

Advent Friday Five

"Imagine a complex, multi-cultural society that annually holds an elaborate winter festival, one that lasts not simply a few days, but several weeks. This great festival celebrates the birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, the prince of peace, a man who is divine. People mark the festival with great abundance- feasting, drinking and gift giving....." (Richard Horsley- The Liberation of Christmas)


The passage goes on, recounting the decorations that are hung, and the songs and dances that accompany the festival, how the economy booms and philanthropic acts abound....


But this is not Christmas- this is a Roman festival in celebration of the Emperor....This is the world that Jesus was born into! The world where the early Christians would ask "Who is your Saviour the Emperor or Christ?"


And yet our shops and stores and often our lives are caught up in a world that looks very much like the one of ancient Rome, where we worship at the shrine of consumerism....


Advent on the other hand calls us into the darkness, a time of quiet preparation, a time of waiting, and re-discovering the wonder of the knowledge that God is with us. Advent's call is to simplicity and not abundance, a time when we wait for glorious light of God to come again...


Christ is with us at this time of advent, in the darkness, and Christ is coming with his light- not the light of the shopping centre, but the light of love and truth and beauty.



What do you long for this advent? What are your hopes and dreams for the future? What is your prayer today?
In the vein of simplicity I ask you to list five advent longings....

Given the twists and turns of this past year I can see that my longings are a bit more selfish and materialistic than one might anticipate in a season intended to focus on Christ... I guess sometimes that's just the reality of life. With that being said here are my five:

1) That we sell our house. Every day there seems to be a new report about the economy falling apart. I'm not too worried about us personally, except that I recognize these reports can create panic in others leading them to believe they can't afford to buy our house. At this point an unsold house may not totally break us, but it certainly will be much more of a hassle than we want to deal with.

2) I hope that our transition to a new call goes as smoothly and seamlessly as one could possibly hope for. What will the good-byes entail or bring? What will the new stop be like and how will we be greated?

3) That Dawn might find a call that is fitting of her and our life, that it might fit with my call in a way that works for our whole family.

4) That I might be recharged spiritually. I want to see passions of faith rekindled so that it might be infectious for others.

5) That I might find a group of colleagues as helpful and supportive as I've had here with our text study group who has been absolutely AWESOME!!

2 comments:

Sally said...

I believe that God works within our realities, and sometimes honesty with ourselves is the best way to find and connect with God. May you be blessed as you seek the way forward...

chartreuseova said...

Best wishes during this time of changes and transitions.