Thought for the week

HAVE you started to open the first windows of your Advent Calendar?

Over the past few years the custom of having an Advent Calendar in the home has become hugely popular.

The range of calendars in the shops is vast and the surprises behind each window become more elaborate.

In the Christian calendar,

Advent is a time to prepare for Christmas and starts four Sundays before 25th December.

Whether you observe Advent and Christmas as a Christian or not, the idea of preparation for this important event is good, particularly if we are prompted to think about the meaning of the festival.

The feeling of expectation builds as each part of our Advent Calendar is opened and Christmas Day draws closer.

So, what is Christmas really about? It is a celebration of God’s gift of Jesus to the world. And all wrapped up in that gift is the promise of peace, joy and hope. Now, these are three gifts we could all benefit from at the moment.

There is little doubt that Christmas is going to be very different for us this year. Just how different depends how we have celebrated in the past and what the Covid-19 guidelines enable us to do.

The past nine months have been tough for us.

The freedom we took for granted at the beginning of the year has been severely restricted.

This has threatened our peace of mind, stopped us from doing many of the things that brought us joy and taken away our hopes for the future.

As we prepare for Christmas may God’s gift of Jesus become more real for us.

David Ray