Egg boxes and kitchen cleaner; an Advent reflection…

15325188_10153938397151583_6857711464281964399_o I am privileged to be sitting sipping tea and listening to some music as I type this, it is a pretty ordinary, dull grey Saturday morning. and this morning I have time to ponder. As I always do in the mornings I take time out to pause and pray and I have lit some candles ( again I know this is a luxury that many don’t have). Today I have more candles lit than usual because we are moving through the season of Advent and so alongside my usual collection my Advent candle with it’s countdown to Christmas is burning along with the first candle on my homemade Advent wreath .

As I sit in the ordinariness of my kitchen-diner I am reminded that Christ comes into the day to day stuff of our lives, alongside all of the candle-lit loveliness sit an egg-box, and a bottle of kitchen cleaner, my plans today are to do a bit of cleaning, to finish off preparation for Sunday’s Services and to show my face at a family film event in one of my churches this afternoon. Into this ordinariness Christ comes, bringing life and light to my life, this time of pondering and praying is simply a part of the rest of my day and the Divine presence will be as much with me in my cleaning as in my praying, and that is precisely the point. I pause not to separate off a part of my day but to become aware, to re-mind myself that this is always true, that I am not alone and that I really do live and move and have my being in Christ; and this is true whether I choose to know it or not!

As we move through Advent we look afresh for the babe who came born vulnerable, and forward to the glorious culmination of creation when Christ will come again in fullness. Often these images are set apart for us, we have manger scenes set up on bauble adorned tables and images of the Second Coming are often apocalyptic in nature, set apart from us as something that will happen to us not through us. All of that has set me to wondering if we are really missing the point. I wonder if Jesus calls to watch and pray, to be alert and to be ready are as much about what is happening within us rather than around us.

I will explain my last point with a personal illustration, as usual at this time of year the big question of what to buy for who arises bringing with it stresses and strains. Now I could set off on a rant about how the gifts are not important, but I am not going to do that, rather I will share with you a personal revelation that is truly something that I have known all along and yet seemed fresh and vibrant. As I was browsing and stressing ( yes I was) about what to purchase for one particular person a song rose within me, a familiar Christmas Song, and not one I particularly like, it was the line “What can I give him, poor as I am?”, the answer of course is that I give my heart. That revelation changed something in my, it became not about the what but about the how, suddenly the stress was lifted, my gift may not be perfect but it will be given with love. I believe that this has huge impact on how I live my life.

Christ comes into the ordinariness of my days calling me to an awareness, Christ comes to us all in this way, as the babe in the manger God’s presence was revealed among the poorest and most vulnerable, inviting me to bring us to bring our fragile selves, to be open to the transforming work of the Spirit, this weeks Gospel reading tells us of the story of John who as herald to the Divine possibilities called people aside to turn, to see and to live in a new way! To be prepared….

This Advent time as we look for the coming of Christ afresh, may we know that this is an inward work, something that we are a part of and are called to participate in. May we dare to speak up for the vulnerable and the poor, may we dare to be agents of peace, bringers of holy flavours and colours into this world.

I leave you with some words from the Iona Community;

Among the poor, among the proud, among the persecuted, among the privileged;