Another Advent

We're in that season again, counting down to Christmas. Our high streets are decked with twinkly lights, the Black Friday sales have attracted as much revenue as possible, and Nativity play rehearsals are in full swing. I'm looking forward to Christmas—largely because I plan to take some much-needed time off from study and work, and I also won't have to make the big dinner! In the meantime, though, there's all sorts to do in preparation.

Advent means 'coming' or 'arrival'. Christians mark this time of year as a period of reflection on Jesus' coming to earth. Sermons in this season tend to focus on various events and characters from the Gospel accounts of Jesus' birth (in Matthew and Luke in the Bible). We can get quite familiar with the idea of angel visitations and the motley crew that turned up to see Jesus, but it's all really rather astonishing.

For starters, his mother was a young virgin, who awaited the advent of the promised child in a unique way, as he grew inside of her. I can't even begin to imagine the mixture of emotions that she experienced, as her period didn't come, when she felt the first flutters of movement, as her bump became more obvious, and as labour drew closer. If the idea of a virgin birth seems ridiculous, is it as wild as the idea of God taking on human nature? The two work together: if the child is of human conception, it's just another human child. Mary, though, was told, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God" (Luke 1:35).

The tea-towel clad shepherds seem to add another layer of oddity to the Nativity play. In our context, farmers don't generally need to hang out with their flocks by night—not without a decent barn to keep them in, anyway. Shepherds are an unlikely feature of any birth story, but as a despised group in that time, perhaps especially one that related to ancient religious hopes. They were just minding their own business, doing their work, when suddenly the sky burst into light, and they were unexpectedly invited into the awesome story.

The last figures to join a typical Nativity scene are the magi or wise men, who travelled from the East after a significant star arose. In the Bible, there's no record of them finding Jesus in a manger—it may be that he was up to two years old by the time they visited. Having chosen to follow the star, in some ways these foreigners were the ones most intentionally involved in the story, even though they got side-tracked looking for the royal child in a palace. Their quest to pay homage stands in stark contrast to the attitude of Israel's religious leaders, who researched the prophecies, but simply informed king Herod's destructive rampage.

As we begin this Advent, there's so much that remains unfulfilled about the arrival of the Saviour of the world promised to ancient Israel. The idea of 'peace on earth' seems as unlikely as God passing through a birth canal. Sure, we may speak of experiencing peace in spite of what's going on around us, and that's a wonderful testimony to the reality of Jesus at work in our lives today. Even so, I long to see the whole world come to know our Saviour, and be united under the Prince of Peace.

Together with the church down the ages, as we celebrate Jesus' birth, I'm looking to another Advent, when he returns to rule and reign over all. If this also seems outlandish, the God who took on human flesh is perfectly capable of fulfilling all that he has promised. Whilst many will dismiss or resist the promise, perhaps some who we think of as distant from God's purposes will turn out to be far better at anticipating King Jesus than we might imagine. Others may be surprised to find themselves invited to share in the anticipation. And, for those who already allow the hope of Christ's coming again to grow inside us, it can spur us on through all that saying yes to God's call involves.⬦

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