Advent
Advent is often seen as a time of waiting and preparation. We await the Christmas season and prepare our hearts and minds to receive again the indescribable gift of the incarnation of God as a helpless infant. The Word made flesh dwelling among us. It is a serious and solemn time but also a time of celebration and joy.
In our inner city parish we also wait. We wait for the powers to be to make the decisions that will decide and shape our future. We await the arrival (or not) of a priest to lead us and encourage us, to take us forward and to help bear our burdens. We wait and prepare and struggle along unsure of the outcome not knowing where our waiting will take us.
In Advent the outcome is certain - Christmas morning will come and will we be ready? Will the food and presents be bought. Will the guests be invited? And what of the guest of honour? Will there be room for Him in our celebrations?
Whatever is happening in our lives and our churches the most important thing about Advent is finding room for Jesus in our lives, our churches and our celebrations. Jesus will come even if a priest for our church does not.
In our inner city parish we also wait. We wait for the powers to be to make the decisions that will decide and shape our future. We await the arrival (or not) of a priest to lead us and encourage us, to take us forward and to help bear our burdens. We wait and prepare and struggle along unsure of the outcome not knowing where our waiting will take us.
In Advent the outcome is certain - Christmas morning will come and will we be ready? Will the food and presents be bought. Will the guests be invited? And what of the guest of honour? Will there be room for Him in our celebrations?
Whatever is happening in our lives and our churches the most important thing about Advent is finding room for Jesus in our lives, our churches and our celebrations. Jesus will come even if a priest for our church does not.
posted by Scog Blog at 8:16 PM
2 Comments:
"we wait for the powers that be to decide" haven't we missed the point? surely God is involved? Can we stand before God and say that we did all we could - we constantly(or even regularly) asked Him to be involved to give wisdom and discernment to those who can make a differenece - not just the Bishop and ArchDeacon but the others involved in making decisions - the priest trying to help us, the lay people still trying to be involved.
How often do we pray about this - together or on our own? My own prayers at the moment are fairly desparate affairs of the 'Please God - do something' variety. Not very eloquent or with much room for a reply.
I see our church declining - the faithful becoming fewer and fewer week by week. I am starting to feel really cross and sad in church instead of joyful. I don't know where God is at St P's anymore.
Advent was never meant to be so painful. Although on the other hand, we can share the pain of labour with Mary. Sadly for us though we have no way of knowing if our labour will bring forth a live birth or if we are having a phantom pregnancy.
Sorry I don't feel very hopeful at the moment.
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