Advent covers the period over the four Sundays before Christmas, so it usually begins at the very end of November; a fact unknown to most makers of Advent Calendars. It is a time of preparation, but not just for Christmas, but also for the Christian belief that Christ Jesus will return to earth to bring this world to an end and replace it with what he called the “Kingdom of God”. This is not a simple doctrine and the church has always struggled to understand it fully, as do I. At its heart is the idea that this world remains imperfect, but one day perfection will come. So we wait and prepare, as Christians have done for the last 2000 years. Some might say that this is evidence that Jesus was deluded; we are waiting for an event that will never come. My counter to this is that God deals with eternity; 2000 years or 2000 million years are all alike on that time scale. Particularly in an age when we crave instant results, this is an alien concept. However, Advent speaks with its own quiet voice about a God who is beyond our understanding but who reveals himself through love; the reality of a world where God’s time is not our time. We need to set aside our preconceptions to enter into this world; the four weeks of Advent are a time when we are reminded to do this.
Rev David Poyner