In the Bleak midwinter...

Are you ready?

Well, here we are – a week before Christmas Eve. Are you ready?

Turkey ordered?

Food shopping list complete?

Decorations up and tree decorated?

Presents bought?

Sometimes in the run up to Christmas we lose that sense of expectation and excitement. It gets buried under tinsel and wrapping paper, the stresses and pressures of everyday living.

As the third Advent candle was lit today – rose or pink- to highlight that Christmas is getting very close and that our joy is increasing as we move towards both remembering the birth of Jesus some 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem, and his return at some point in glory, that all will recognise.

Today’s reading about John the Baptist highlights our predicament. We seem to live, as CS Lewis put it in ‘The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe’ in a world where it is ‘winter, but never Christmas’.

The shortening days can sometimes reflect our lives, that the ills of the world drag us down and we see little to give comfort or cheer. Our faith can also become stressed and become less secure. We have doubts that niggle and fester, that can make our faith seem less real and more remote. Just as with the Pharisees in today’s account - they question who the messenger might be - but ignore the message - they are caught up in the tinsel and wrapping paper of God’s Messiah will only appear if the person fits their understanding of who that person must be.

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Similarly, we can have set views of what church, Christ’s body, should be like. Ways we should worship, ways things must be organised. Thus we too fall into a similar trap.

This Sunday represents the joy of the coming of Christ into the world, Emmanuel, God with us.

How? The readings OT and NT today speak of the Good News that God has promised. Isaiah speaks of the one anointed to bring Good News to the poor, the broken hearted, the oppressed and freedom to the captive – not just prison, but those trapped in difficult situations – of the body, the mind and the soul.

Thessalonians speaks of praying without ceasing – giving thanks in all situations – not an easy thing to do.

speaks of the joy as God intervenes into the chaos of our lives and brings joy.

The John reading – with its bold statement “Prepare the way of the Lord!” make a clear straight road is about the coming of Jesus.

A question arises: who are we most like?

Are we like the Pharisees – always seeking more confirmation, not sure of who we are in God, therefore living where it is winter, but never Christmas.

Or

Are we like John the Baptist – sure in our faith and who we are in God? John is clear in the role he has to play in the fullness of God’s plan. He came to prepare hearts and minds for the coming Saviour.

So, what is our role in all of this? We need to ready ourselves, to move into the warmth of the light Jesus brings, confident in our faith, and prepared to do our part in spreading the Good News that John pointed towards and Jesus brought, and still brings today.

I am at this stage reminded of the last verse of the carol, ‘In the bleak midwinter’:

What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;

if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;

yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

Over the last few years it has felt at times that we, in this parish, have stayed in that bleak midwinter, with small breakouts of light.

However, our PCC have, through, prayer and careful discussion arrived at a plan to move us out of winter and as it were into Christmas – it is not going to be an easy journey at times – it will require much from all of us – as we play our part, and give our heart. That is to say our desire to see God transform us and our parish as we seek to be that Good News to those we are here to serve in the community.

So, beyond Christmas, I am looking forward to seeing our path being 'made straight’ in January that we might be as a parish one voice, thundering out the message of Good News that Jesus brings.

I left a situation hanging earlier - that of when our faith can become stale, remote and unsure. It is at these times that we can and should, encourage one another, and support each other as we grow into maturity of faith in Christ. This first stage is a sure foundation for what is to come as we fulfil our our mission as members of the body of Christ in this area.

The first Christians, as described in Acts, met to study, prayer, break bread and learn from the Apostles about Jesus. They were expectant and expected to see God at work.

May it be so for us.

yet what I can I give him: give my heart