This is a special time of preparation but what am I preparing for? Is it the annual round of Christmas services? (yes I have a work plan sketched out all ready!) The feasts I will attend and enjoy?! (I wonder, if I am abstemious now will the pounds not pile on if I stuff myself later?!) The second coming of Christ? (uhmmm? you what?) That traditional advent theme is not something I usually concentrate on at this time of year. But it is there in the set readings for the Sundays of Advent.
My reason for not majoring on this theme is that it often seems to have been hi-jacked with those who want to use it as a pretext to attack others. "When he comes again he will make straight the pathway" has been interpreted by some who want to say "I am right and you are wrong and when God comes he will prove me right and then you will know it!" As someone who believes in shades of gray in issues that some consider black and white I do not find such an attitude helpful.
Christmas celebrates incarnation - God with us and resurrection continues this theme. Life with its many ups and downs, with its contradictions and paradoxes can have meaning, direction and purpose because God is with us. God is with us in the questions as in all of life's rich tapestry. God's continuing second coming is God's presence with us at each moment. At Christmas we celebrate that Jesus was born in Bethlehem and so was with the people then in a physical, fleshly way. Many saintly people have emphasised the presence of God with them. The last recorded words of John Wesley were "The best of all is, God is with us."
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