For unto us a Child is Born, and His Name shall be Wonderful, Counselor, Prince of Peace.
The Lord be with you!
One of the great “thinking points” of Advent is that we start with the end in mind. Christ will come and stand on the earth and take dominion over all things. We long for that day. In the Bible it was this vision of the future that kept people hopeful through the darkest days. When we know how things end it gives us courage to face the journey between where we are and that end.
What is our vision of the end, not of all time – but of our own mortal lives? What do we see as our lasting impact, our impression on the world, our legacy?
So often life is not what we expected or how we expected it to be. When our lives are so wrapped up in the present that we can’t appreciate the past nor hope for the future, then we need to turn to Jesus and seek His healing.
When our lives are so wrapped up in the past that we cannot appreciate our present nor move into the future, then we need to turn to Jesus and receive healing and reorganize our lives.
When our lives are so focused on the future that we ignore our past and present then we are anxious and disillusioned.
We need balance – our Hope must be in Christ who is and who was and who is to come. In whom we can reinterpret our past and appreciate our present and live for the future. In this Advent, what life experiences do we need to reinterpret, what things have happened that we have failed to see God at work in? Understanding that God is ever present, and that Christ was at work in our joys and in our suffering, helps us to learn and to gain wisdom and encouragement. Some of my greatest failures were used by God to provide some of my greatest opportunities. It’s hard to see that in our current failures, but if we can recognize it in our past, we can understand it in our present.
As we learn in the Eucharist, our past must be reinterpreted in our present with a hope in the future.
Being a Christian is not an easy or thoughtless existence. Every day we have to look at our whole lives and allow God to reorder our thinking and our perspective. Advent is a time of deep reflection it’s a time of traveling like the Wise men following a star to meet Jesus.
This Advent, experience forgiveness that will set you free from the pain of the past so that only the lessons remain.
This Advent allow Christ to restore your hope in the future so that you can reorder your affections and your desires and your actions and live towards that future!
This Advent allow the peace of God to rule in your hearts!
Our lives in Christ are lived in a ray of sunshine shining through dark storm clouds, let us fix our eyes on things above and live in the Hope and the joy and the peace that is ours through Jesus Christ.
Star of wonder star of night, star with royal beauty bright, westward leading still proceeding, guide us to that perfect light! The Light of Jesus the Christ our Saviour!
Be assured of my prayers
Fr Andrew.
