Light in the Dark

The child in me has been caught up with memories of reading, re-reading and re-reading again of Shirley Hughes’ ‘Lucy and Tom’s Christmas’. At 5 am, Lucy and Tom rouse their parents - ‘Christmas has really begun’.

But Christmas is really a festival of night - of light in the darkness - of stars against the dark sky - of warmth against the winter cold. As we welcome the birth of Jesus, some warmth creeps even around cold hearts .. Emmanuel, God with us - no longer alone.

Advent Penitence

I am, as my children are too polite to say, beginning to have some difficulty with the days of the week. So with suitable Advent penitence, I note that it is now Wednesday and I should have posted on Tuesday. When I remembered, I was pirouetting on a step ladder attempting to fix some suitably naff Christmas lights to the exterior of the porch at Blogstead Episcopi. We’ve just done the ritual which I always find difficult - the choice of the tree and the installing of the same in such a way that something which is inherently crooked is made to appear impeccably straight. But it’s all Advent stuff - all the preparing, not just with heart and mind, but with body and action too for the coming of Christmas. And all the rushing and fuss, the crowded shops and car parks, the impossibility of finding out what to buy for Auntie Flo, the joy of receiving Christmas cards from the very people whom one has quietly removed from the list - all of it is part of the watching and the waiting in the darkness of our lives for the ‘great light’ which we hope to see.

Scottish Advent

The Advent wind begins to stir
With sea-like sounds in our Scotch fir,
It’s dark at breakfast, dark at tea,
And in between we only see
Clouds hurrying across the sky
And rain-wet roads the wind blows dry
And branches bending to the gale
Against great skies all silver pale
The world seems travelling into space,
And travelling at a faster pace
Than in the leisured summer weather
When we and it sit out together,
For now we feel the world spin round
On some momentous journey bound -
Journey to what? to whom? to where?
The Advent bells call out ‘Prepare,
Your world is journeying to the birth
Of God made Man for us on earth.’

That’s Advent 1955 by John Betjeman. Why is Advent a favourite for me? Well. Partly because it’s counter-cultural - against the grain of everything else that’s happening at this time of year. Partly because in calling us to face the ‘Four Last Things’ - death, heaven, hell and judgement, it calls me to think about things from my rather gloomy religious past - about things which are as far as can be from the daily blandness of much of our church life.