These are my texts for Thought for the Days – there might be some spelling mistakes! Monday 22
Advent! Welcome to almost Advent, this coming Sunday is that start of the four Sundays that lead us up to Christmas. This is a time of preparation.
I will try to repeat this point a couple of times over the next few weeks worth of Advent reflections. Be kind to yourself. You’re going to be bombarded with busyness – as a Church we’re busy with extra services and we need extra help to welcome people in, Wherever you work will be extra busy trying to complete things before the end of the year. The TV will be trying to lure you in with shiny adverts of what you need to get if you’re to have a proper Christmas.
There will be family pressure to visit these people or have those people come round and you know that It will be lovely but you also know that you’ll be rushing around cleaning things and tidying and it will put a pressure on your wallet.
So what I want us to try. I’m not that good at this. To try to just BE. To find a moment before Advent starts, to find a moment each day during advent, to just stop and pause and give thanks to God for something and to listen to the birds and to gaze out to sea, and breathe in the cold air and just be.
We are human beings not human doings and we try so hard to make everyone else happy and we do it well but in the process we forget that we ourselves need a moment to refuel, to receive some of God’s goodness and grace to us. The Church will be open through the week come by and light a candle and pause for a prayer.
Matt 11 in the message goes like this – 28-30 “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
So today, pause, walk with Jesus, and share with him your hopes and fears for this advent and receive from Him his gifts of goodness and grace.
Tues 23.
Remind me to talk to you again about a Blue Christmas. I want to mention it even before we get to Advent because it might cause you to cut some others some slack, to be gentle with yourself, to not get sucked into the pressure of having a false happy Christmas.
The idea of the Blue Christmas – the title comes from Elvis Presley song – please don’t make me sing it. It’s the simple idea that for many of us this Christmas season wont be the same. Perhaps someone has died in your family and this is the first year that they wont be with you, perhaps its not the first year but still its hard. And its extra hard because the TV shows us how much fun everyone else is having and it exacerbates our feeling of loneliness.
So my prayer is that you might feel able to be honest about this and say to someone This Christmas is not going to be full of fun and family and frolics but quieter. Telling someone this is really helpful. It’s a moment of refreshing honesty. It might be that through it you can support someone else who is also going to have a Blue Christmas.
I know that we all think that Christmas is about food and family, but it isn’t. Its about remembering that the light shines in the darkness. Its about God coming to us in our struggles and strife and the light shines in the darkness and the darkness – cannot over come it. Other translations say ‘cannot understand it’.
This is hope. We have struggled this year and in the Church we’ve seen quite a few of our saints go to be with Jesus, ascend to heaven, – and we feel their absence and mourn our loss. Its hard. But Christmas reminds us that in the darkness, that’s where Jesus comes, the light of the world. That in our darkness, the light does shine and darkness, doesn’t get it, just doesn’t understand it, and certainly it cannot over come it.
Peace to you today .
Wednesday 24th
Advent – this coming Sunday. You think that Advent is all about preparing for baby Jesus – but it isn’t – its about preparing for the Return of Jesus – the Angels – as Jesus is ascending, after his death and resurrection and then 40 days later Jesus ascends into heaven – the disciples are looking up as Jesus ascends and two angels are suddenly there and they say WHY , why are you looking up to the heavens, This same Jesus whom you have known, whom you have seen ascend, this same Jesus will return.
In John’s Gospel Jesus says In my father’s house are many rooms and I will come back and I will take you to be with me.
St Paul in Thessalonians speaks about Jesus returning with his saints and catching us up together with him and so we will be with the Lord forever.
So for many years the Church has encouraged Christians to think about the four last things – Death Judgement Heaven hell – and you’re thinking Oh my, it’s a bit early in the morning to be thinking about that!?
But Death? Where is your sting Grave where is your victory? It doesn’t mean we don’t weep and mourn, but we don’t mourn as those with no hope, because we have a hope, and it is steadfast and certain.
And Judgement? Well yes indeed. Throughout the bible we have been told that Vengeance is mine says the Lord. God is a God of Justice. But the key learning here is to remember that it is God who deals with the vengeance and the justice and the judgement – not you or me – so stay away from judging others, you don’t need to do it, that’s God’s job not yours. Our job is to love and bless. And if we do that then we need not fear the judgement.
And heaven and hell? Both the prophet Isaiah and St John in Revelations talks about a new heaven and a new earth – that’s fabulous. What does it mean to have a new heaven, what was wrong with the old one? Maybe nothing was wrong with it but that some how this new heaven is fuller and more wonderful?
So today we pray Your Kingdom come, your will be done. Your kingdom come, your will be done. And this advent remember its about preparing not for baby Jesus but for the Return of Jesus, for that time when God’s kingdom will come, when the earth will be renewed, Your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Amen.
Thurs 25– Advent candle 1 Patriarchs- This Sunday is Advent 1 – we light the first candle on the advent wreath, there are five candles, and this first one is for the Patriarchs. The Patriarchs are the founding fathers of our faith – they are the Patriarchs of Judaism – Abraham, Isaac, Jacob.
Abraham is the one who teaches us about Grace – he doesn’t always get it right but he’s the one with whom God makes this amazing covenant that God would bless Abraham with Land, a family and make Abraham a blessing to all nations.
Remember at this time he’s called Abram (Father) not Abraham (father of many) and so he trusts God, believes God, and God credits Abram, Abraham with the gift of Righteousness, with being Right with God.
Isaac – he’s son, there’s another son Ishmael, he’s an important person in Islamic Theology, but its Isaac who suffers – he has a rough old life I think – firstly there’s that moment when Abraham takes him up a mountain and almost but doesn’t sacrifice him (I will preach about that in January) and then he has this wonderful divine moment of answered prayer when it comes to meeting Rebecca, and then he has this final moment where his younger son lies to him and steals his brother’s deathbed blessing. But from Isaac we see someone who knows the promise of God, he never sees any of it fulfilled in his life time, but he persists with believing and trusting God. I think he’s the most amazing of the Patriarchs.
Then there’s Jacob – who runs away from fear of his brother Esau and in his tiredness sleeps and dreams of angels ascending and descending to heaven – surely God was in this place and I didn’t know it! Later in life he wrestles with God and so wins the name of Israel – he who struggles with God. What a great name.
Perhaps you are a Christian, so today is a good day to give thanks for those people who laid the foundation of your faith – for me that would be my Dad and Mum, my school chaplains. It might be that you’re not a Christian, well you should still find a moment to give thanks for those good people who instilled in you a sense of joy and moral purpose.
And today is a good day to give thanks to God for our Jewish brothers and sisters. It is their patriarchs who have shaped our understanding of God. Thank you.
Fri 26 Yesterday I talked about the Patriarchs and I wondered if you might like to know about the Matriarchs, the founding mothers of our faith. Patriarchs are limited to the three Abraham, Isaac and Jacob – (Moses would be a prophet, thank you for asking).
The Matriarchs would Sarah, Rebecca, Lear and Rachel.
Sarah means Princess, she laughs when God promises her a son – that’s not going to happen. We can read into this moment either Joy, Joy that God has promised, Joy that God has heard her crying her prayers. And so that might encourage you. But I think we can also read into it Doubt. There’s a form of laughter where we just laugh something off, Oh that will never happen – perhaps her laughter is dismissing God and His promises. And we’ve all struggled with where God is at in the prayers that we have prayed. And yet God remains faithful to us, God hears and a year later Isaac is born.
Rebecca – is a wonderful woman – you know when someone says So how did you two meet, Rebecca would have a great story – a servant of Isaac goes to this place and prays Oh dear God give me a sign, send me a bride for Isaac – and suddenly there’s Rebecca and she’s got a kind and generous heart – she gives him water, she waters his camels. It’s a great start. She marries Isaac, gives birth to twins Esau and Jacob, Jacob is her favourite – (Don’t be hard on Rebecca, – Esau is Isaac’s fav child) so possibly there’s a point here about trying Not to have favourites with your children – because it leads to sibling rivalry.
Jacob marries the beautiful Rachel but when he wakes up the next morning he finds that he’s married Leah not Rachel. And that starts off a whole chain of confusion and sorrow. She’s the wife who wasn’t supposed to be, but she turns into the most amazing mum. Meanwhile Rachel is always the favourite, even still today there’s the special Tomb of Rachel outside Bethlehem, but there’s no Tomb of Leah she’s subsumed into the what’s called the Tomb of the Patriarchs at Hebron.
Today is a good day to give thanks to God for the women who have laid the foundations of our faith. The women who taught us in Sunday school and youth groups and who have preached and led Churches we’ve been part of and they’ve helped us in our discipleship. Thank you.