Day 5 ( Doors)

The boys have got their chocolate Advent Calendars all ready to start opening today.  And as ever I wonder if they will manage to get through the next 25 days without cheating and scoffing the odd chocolate early - or opening door 25 before the end of the first week  😉


I remember when I was little, advent calendars were just bits of paper with a picture behind each door.  And yet the anticipation of opening those doors was immense.  It was such fun to have to wait each day to see what was going to be revealed.   Whilst waiting is something we really dont like to do and are usually pretty bad at , there can be real excitement and fun in anticipation.  Especially if we are absolutely certain that what we are awaiting is nothing but good.

Advent is not only about waiting for Christmas, it is about the Church universal remembering the promise of Jesus that He is coming back again.  If there was ever a time when the world needs Him back, surely it is now.  Brexit, the rise of the far right in many countries in Europe, the looming spectre of a Trump presidency and the unpredictability of Russia, the fragile state of the middle east and wobbling oil prices, China's rumoured economic crisis and the huge migrant disaster - everything suddenly seems to be so much more fragile than it has been for ages.  Even Im feeling a bit unsettled, and I dont unsettle easily!

So if the end goal is the ultimate return of Jesus ( a metaphorical December 25th) and we are at some point in the Advent Calendar as we wait for that return - what are the doors which we are opening as we wait?   Can I make a suggestion?   If we open the doors offered to us by the News at 6 we are probably going to find wars and rumours of wars.  No joy, no hope, no thrill of anticipation.   But if we open the doors offered to us by The Word we shall see something different.

Thanks to the lovely internet it is now easy peasy to find the promises of God concerning His return.   Here are 44 to get you started 😇   http://ipost.christianpost.com/post/44-bible-verses-about-second-coming-of-jesus-christ-besides-the-gospels.    You are, of course, reading this blog ( perhaps even every day :) ) which I hope might be a small part of one of those doors of hope and joy and anticipation.   We need to feed ourselves on the right stuff in the coming days so that we are tuned in to what God is doing and are able to discern His ways.  The world will try to tell us that chaos rules and market forces/economics/politics/military might have the answers.   The Word of God tells us that chaos is an inevitable part of the last days in exactly the same way that labour pains are an inevitable part of a new life being born.  Necessary but not the end goal.  Short term, manageable and a means to an end.   Focus on the Word and regardless of what is going on 'out there' , you will maintain a sense of peace, joy and anticipation even greater than that of the average four year old anticipating the arrival of Santa  !!

Day 4 ( Gabriel)

Luke 1 :26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.”  29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid,Mary; you have found favour with God.

I think sometimes the best way to read Scripture is with ones mind's eye.  To imagine the scene rather than just read the words.  So here's what I imagine is going on in this passage from Luke's gospel.

Firstly, there's an angel.   Not just any angel, but Gabriel,
What is he like I wonder.........?
Im imagining someone huge, shining and scary.  Huge because whenever Ive had any notion of angels being present I've usually just had the feeling that they are massive. Colossal.  Shining because Gabriel has come from the presence of God - and we know what that does, it transfigures, it made the face of Moses shine so brightly he had to cover up.  Dazzling is how I imagine Gabriel.   And given that whenever he appears he has to reassure people that it's OK, not to be afraid, don't freak out Im not going to hurt you - then I think scary is probably apt.
(for a quick overview on Gabriel this is quite a concise read  https://gotquestions.org/angel-Gabriel.html )

I wonder what the words ' greetings you who are highly favoured'  would translate as nowadays.  Perhaps  '  Hey Mary - God thinks you are brilliant'   or  ' Hi there, did you know just how special you are to God ?  Did you know that He is on your side?'   We read the slightly old fashioned language of our Bible translations and we miss the point.  Gabriel was telling this perfectly ordinary little nobody from the back of beyond that she has been noticed by God, seen by Him, singled out by Him.  Called.  Chosen. Loved. Favoured.    '' Do not be afraid Mary ; you have found favour with God'    

How had she ' found favour'?  What had she done?  Was she especially holy and good?  Was she devout and religious and had she been fervently praying for an angelic visitation or a that she would become Mother of the Messiah?   I doubt it.   In fact I suspect that Mary was no more holy and good and noble and pure than me.  Or you.   I dont think anything she had done had earned her the right to become the mother of Jesus.  I think God just chose her because   ' I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy'  ( Ex 33;19)  ie: because He wanted to .

Isnt it amazing that the God of the universe smiles down on ordinary, unexceptional, small people who have done nothing remarkable or noteworthy and offers to share His Son with them?   Isnt it incredible that just by being a human being we can ' find favour with God' ?  The world seems to have forgotten that God really likes people.  He is daily presenting Himself to ordinary men women and children and saying '  Hello,  did you know that I am with you and I'm on your side?  Did you know that I am standing at your door knocking and that if you open up I will come in and birth myself in you by My Spirit?'

Good news isnt it?

Maybe this Advent you will get the chance to tell someone.

Day 3 ( Elizabeth and Zechariah)

A couple of mornings ago for some reason I started watching a documentary called  ' The secret life of a Hospital bed'.   It films the occupants of a specific bed in each of four London hospitals and that particular day they were filming a couple in a maternity unit.   They were a black couple who had come from somewhere in Africa to live here several years ago.  She was 49.  They had been trying to conceive for over 20 years.  Here's the link if you have 45 mins spare to watch.  http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08449w5

If you dont, then here's a synopsis  😊

The husband was talking to the camera and said ' This time last year our pastor came to us and he said ' I can see you a year from now with three babies.  You are carrying one, your wife is carrying one and your wifes mother is carrying the third and you are bringing them up to the altar of the church.   I believe God is going to give you three babies.'     They were now pregnant with triplets and about to deliver them by caesarian section !    As the mother to be went down to theatre to be delivered her two sisters stayed behind in the waiting room.  The camera stayed on them as they prayed fervently and then started singing and praising and lifting their hands.   In the delivery room the husband was comforting his wife and praying with her as three babies were brought into the world.   It was such a joyful and unexpected thing to see on a documentary about British hospitals.   There was no commentary offered.  It was just a window into something amazing that God was doing for this family.   All three babies were well when they were born and despite the smallest being really quite tiny and needing some support in the baby unit, all three were clearly going to be fine.  They were given African names which meant things like ' God is faithful'  and ' God heard my prayer'.    Fabulous.

As I was watching it reminded me simultaneously of two people.    Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist.   And friends of mine who have had numerous failed attempts at IVF.

Im not sure how much has changed over the centuries.  Being childless back then was very difficult indeed - stigma and prejudice abounded and no children meant nobody to look after you in your old age.  These days being childless is still ' unusual' and the assumption is always that if you are a young couple then you will be popping out kids at some point soon.  It is still very hard indeed for people to talk about being infertile.  The emotional pain is immense for both men and women.  And the stresses of infertility often drive couples apart.

But if the problems havent changed much over centuries then neither has the nature and character of God.  He is still answering the prayers of infertile couples.  He is still leaving it way, way WAY too late to intervene - and then intervening anyway !! 😊  He is still looking for hearts which will praise Him regardless, will refuse to get bitter or resentful over years of seemingly unanswered prayers.  He is still answering those prayers in outrageous ways so that His undeniable miraculous power can be seen.  Elizabeth and Zechariah in Luke 1 must have been through decades of hope and disappointment, treatments and humiliations, resignation and sadness.  They were probably finally at a stage in their lives where they had truly accepted their childlessness and were just getting on with life and then..... BAM!

My IVF friends are still in the middle of that process.  Endless rounds of treatment have proved unsuccessful. They have clutched at pretty much every straw and have slowly come to the conclusion that IVF is not going to give them the baby they so passionately desire.  So they are now in the limbo land of ....' what next?'    It would appear they have no choice but to accept their lot and grit their teeth and get on with life.   And of course that is what they are doing.  They have no choice.   They cant see what God has in mind for them next year, or in twenty years time.  Or when they are in their eighties. All they can see is the childless reality of today.  And it is hard.

Lord today I thank you for Elizabeth and Zechariah and how their story can inspire us to hold on even when all hope is gone.  When logic tells us it is impossible and people tell us it is too late.  Your timing Lord is perfect and we cannot see even a fraction of the bigger picture into which you are painting our stories.  Where there are areas of our lives which are barren and lifeless, areas we have prayed for for years and seen no change - please help us not to get resentful, bitter and unbelieving.   For those who are longing for a baby this Christmas, please ignite hope again.  And keep doing the miracles you have always done, bringing light into darkness and life into lifeless places.    Amen

Day 2 ( Who do you think you are? )

This is a clever title for a television show about genealogy.  I always find it fascinating to watch people delve back into their family history to uncover stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things.  Or extraordinary people living through periods in history which seem so remote to us now.   The other show I always really enjoy is Long Lost Family.   Where people search for adopted children or lost parents or estranged siblings.  It is always so moving to hear peoples stories.

Today I was reading Matthew chapter 1 - the genealogy of Jesus.  My knowledge of Biblical history isn't brilliant but reading through the list of names you don't need to be a theologian to recognise that there are some interesting characters in there.   There are four women for a start!  Two of whom were ' foreigners' and two of whom were ' unsavoury characters' ,  There are kings and founding fathers mixed in with ne'erdowells and all sorts.   For a Jew, heritage is immensely important. And Matthew knows that in order to establish the fact that Jesus fulfils biblical prophecy about Messiah he is going to have to be able to prove that Jesus is of the line of David and a son of Abraham.   But in so doing he also reveals Jesus to be descended from a pretty mixed bag.   As am I.  As are you 😊😊

Jesus could trace his family tree right back ( through both Mary and Joseph)  to Adam but He was also ' adopted'.   He was born, in effect, to a mother and a step father and was entrusted by God to Mary and Joseph whilst all the time belonging to another kingdom and having a divine nature.   When I watch the people on Long Lost Family so many of them say how much they have loved and appreciated their adoptive parents but that there is still a gaping hole , a missing, a question mark, a deep longing for the birth parent.   I suspect that Jesus knows how that feels.   Mary and Joseph were undoubtably remarkable people and I'm sure they loved Jesus very much.  But they were human, sinful, fallible, normal working ordinary people.  They were not God.   Surely Jesus must have longed for and missed that face to face, heaven dwelling, angel surrounded, emerald rainbow presence of Abba.   He chose to live for thirty odd years with that aching longing so that He could search out, find, and bring back His long lost family - His brothers and sisters, you and I.  And so many people don't even know they have a big brother who is looking for them!

Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell are the presenters who get to knock on doors and tell people that someone has been searching for them. Sometimes people have no idea that they have siblings or step siblings, grandchildren, nieces and nephews.   It obviously makes for great television.  But it also touches something deep inside all of us.  We need to belong.  We want to be found.  We can't fill the void with anyone or anything else, however lovely and good they might be.

This Christmas Jesus is still looking for His long lost family.   Maybe you can be Davina or Nicky to someone you know and be the one who knocks on the door and says ' You might not know this, but someone has been looking for you for a long time.  Would you like to meet them?  '

Day 1 ( keep singing )

Whoop whoop!  It's that time of year again!!   Is it me or is it coming round ever more rapidly?  Hardly seems like any time at all since I was blogging about last advent!   

Usually at the start of this countdown to Christmas season I'm complaining that I am not feeling in the slightest Christmassy.  But yesterday I sang  carols in a choir at the switch on of the christmas lights and then headed out for a full blown christmas dinner with crackers and turkey and pudding and the works - so I'm actually feeling really quite festive already.   I thoroughly recommend starting your Advent with christmas carols.  So many of them are full of truth and hope.   One of the things I really love about this season is the fact that in so many shops and public places strains of the gospel message are being played over the airways.  People find themselves humming these tunes to themselves and singing along ...... for Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day...... the little Lord Jesus laid down His sweet head...... holy infant so tender and mild...... joy to the world the Lord is come...... these seasoned familiar words are so much a part of us that we can be humming them as we shop in Tesco barely aware of the truths which are rising up within us.   It is such a huge blessing to live in a country where singing is such a part of the culture and music celebrates the major milestones in our lives and our years.  

I remember when I lived in Edinburgh going to the firework display at the end of the Edinburgh Festival.   If you have never been then you wont be able to imagine the extent of the spectacle and the impact of the hundreds of thousands of fireworks being set off to the music of a full orchestra playing in Princes St Gardens and being broadcast simultaneously on the radio to the thousands of people standing in parks and on street corners all over the city.   It is truly breathtaking.   This particular year the fireworks were being sponsored by the Bank of Scotland.  The huge finale that year was set to the Hallelujah Chorus of Handels Messiah.  And the fireworks were amazingly formed in the shape of the St Andrew's cross ( the symbol of the Bank of Scotland)    So as I stood in the pitch black in a park half a mile away from the castle with the radio on , I watched dozens of crosses being fired high into the sky whilst a choir belted out the words

'And He shall reign forever and ever.  King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  Forever and ever Hallelujah!'

People all over Edinburgh stood with their eyes raised to heaven, singing their hearts out whilst huge crosses of fire hung in the sky.  It was the most amazing and powerful thing.  It gave me goosebumps. I believe it was significant for the city.   Something happens when people come together to sing and declare truth in praise to God. ( Even if they dont know that that is what they are doing )😊

So this Advent season whenever you hear a christmas carol on the television or radio or in a shopping mall or supermarket - sing along!   Join in.  Add your voice and take every chance to declare the truth.  There may come a day when ' religious music' is no longer tolerated in public spaces and then how we will miss our carol singing.