The Rector’s Ramblings…

December begins with the season of Advent and a time of waiting. All Christians are really ‘wait-watchers’ during December. The colour in church is purple, a reminder that this season is a penitential time when we recall while we wait for our Lord Jesus how we fall short of what God wants and how often our thoughts and actions offend him.

We are also waiting not merely for the birth of Christ but for something even more profound: the second coming of Christ as judge at the last day. It’s with this point that we realise how far adrift modern society is from its Christian past. How often do you think people really weigh up how they will be judged at the end of time? How frequently do they imagine themselves being measured for how they have led their lives? It’s quite a thought – will I pass or will I fail?

This concept of judgement is viewed with scorn by many and sheer disinterest by others. The starting point often these days is: how does this help me to fulfil myself? Or: how can I guarantee my own future happiness? It is a lone voice which says to such a person that he or she is starting in the wrong place.      

Many older people can look back at their lives and trace the hand of God in them and see quite clearly where God’s will was done and personal ambitions simply went by the wayside. They realise the enormous waste of energy that went with trying to meet their own ambitions or targets.

Much easier then, to ‘let go and let God’ – to adopt a permanent attitude of waiting on God, listening in regular disciplined prayer and reflection, not just in Advent season.

Rev Nick