Over the last while you have probably heard the phrase asked of you or heard someone ask another, ‘are you ready’ or ‘I suppose you’re all ready’ and people are referring to being ready for Christmas. Do you have your shopping done, have you got your decorations up, your tree trimmed, and so on? And while that is not so unusual for this time of year, what is unusual about it is, it seems to start earlier and earlier each year. This year some of the stores had Christmas things out before the Halloween things were put away, and people putting decorations up in their homes before mid-november. As I reflected on this, I thought it’s as if there is a real urgency about all this, as if people can’t wait for Christmas to get here, and while that would be a good thing if it were for the right reason, for the most part it probably is not. So why the urgency, probably for the joy and the excitement that Christmas brings, but we know that is only going to last for a time, so still why the urgency. I am not so sure, but the real urgency should be in the anticipation, the anticipation of what Christ’s birth now points us to, His second coming. The time we live in now is the time between Christ’s first coming and his return, and so the question we should be asking ourselves at this time of the year as we reflect on our Saviour’s birth, is not have we got our trimmings all done for the holidays, but how ready are we for Christ’s return. What preparation have we made for Christ’s coming again? In the gospels Jesus speaks to the urgency of being ready for his return using the words, ‘keep alert’, ‘stay awake’, ‘beware’, to indicate that this is something we should all be thinking about. In the parable of the Ten bridesmaids (Matt 25:1-13), five had come with extra fuel for their lamps while the other five going with only what was in their lamps, when their fuel ran out having to to go look for more, they missed the bridegroom’s coming. The bridegroom, being Christ in this parable, begs us to ask when he returns will we have our lamps lit waiting and ready for his return, or will we be like the five foolish bridesmaids gone of on our own tangents seeking fuel to refill our lamps only to miss his coming, and be left outside the door so to speak. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus speaking to his disciples about his return and the need to be ready, says, “about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Beware, Keep Alert; for you do not know when the time will come” (Mk 13: 32-33). We are now in the season of Advent, Advent meaning ‘coming’ and while it is wonderful to be ready and waiting for Christmas with all our preparations, let’s not forget to think spiritually as well and set our minds to preparing ourselves for Christ’s coming that lasts not only for the seasons of Advent/Christmas but for all time. “Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will not pass away” (Luke 21:33).
Blessings,
Rev. Hannah+
