Saturday 3 December 2016

Advent

It's officially that time of year again. The time of year when the weather gets colder, we see multiple decorations of tinsel, Santas, snowmen and so much more. The Christmas songs get put on repeat in shops and it seems we can't escape the ever evident fact that we are now in December and on the 25th it will be Christmas day.

But what is the lead up to Christmas about? 

Is it about those songs, the decorations, the eating of chocolate as you get to open a new door on your advent calendar or about so much more?

As I get older I see that there is much more to this time of year than spending the next few weeks worrying about what presents to buy, making sure the cards are sent out in time and that we have enough food in to see us over the Christmas period.

The Christmas period screams out as being a time of giving, a time of being with those we love and that's reflected in the story of Jesus. He was born as a gift from God to help others and soon after his birth others were coming to celebrate and worship him and offering gifts. Even if we don't believe in God a lot of us will have heard that story through  nativity plays we may have been part of as we were growing up. 

What I'm trying to say is Christmas is based around giving and the lead up to it should be about how we can take that gift and turn it around so that we can each day spend some time thinking what can I do to help others before Christmas and acting upon those thoughts.

So instead of going through the usual rush beforehand and the opening up of an advent door to a piece of chocolate everyday I want to challenge you to think about what can I do today to make a difference and act upon it.

A small group of us have created a small acts advent page that started on the first Sunday of advent (27th of November). We created it to share a new thought each day to reflect upon and challenge us in this lead up to Christmas. Take a look and join in if you wish: SmallActsADVENT

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