Advent
Hoorah, the first weekend in December has arrived & it's time to deck the halls (and all the other rooms too)! We had a wonderful burst of creativity this afternoon as we put up the Christmas tree, wreaths, stars etc etc. (accompanied by the Christmas carols CD of course)
Our decorations have been bought over the years in 2 different colour schemes: red & gold or blue & silver, so I asked "Which colours will we use this year?" To which big bro decreed: "Let's just make it random!" I was about to protest & say "Wouldn't it be nicer.........." when I thought - stuff "nicer" - if he wants random, let's have random. I've spent a lot of years being "nice" & in control, so this year we have tinsel actually thrown at the tree to see where it would stick and a paper hand-puppet angel on the top (made by li'l sis). The halls are well & truly decked & it looks great!
In the midst of all this fun & laughter, I have been trying to reflect on Christ's incarnation in a fresh way this year. Today I was reading Rob Lacey's "The Liberator" (which I highly recommend by the way) It opens with his version of John ch1, about Jesus "Light of the World". I often imagine the Light of the World like a candle, but "His words were life itself and they lit up people's lives. His light could blast its way into the dingiest corner" This is not a feeble candle flame. Although Jesus never forced his light on anyone, this speaks to me more of a powerful spotlight. I can't imagine the dynamic force that Jesus must have had when he physically walked the earth. People were so irresistably drawn to this light. Although we don't have Jesus' physical presence, I'm once again amazed that the Light of the World still attracts us and, by his Spirit, light up our lives with freedom & love. Although Christmas is often bound up with rituals & traditions, this is not a religion - this is a life. To quote Rob again: "Okay, Moses gave us the contract, but Jesus The Liberator gave us God's gifts and God's truth - loads better. Who's seen God? No one. But we've seen his only Son, Jesus, and you don't get much closer than that."
Hoorah, the first weekend in December has arrived & it's time to deck the halls (and all the other rooms too)! We had a wonderful burst of creativity this afternoon as we put up the Christmas tree, wreaths, stars etc etc. (accompanied by the Christmas carols CD of course)
Our decorations have been bought over the years in 2 different colour schemes: red & gold or blue & silver, so I asked "Which colours will we use this year?" To which big bro decreed: "Let's just make it random!" I was about to protest & say "Wouldn't it be nicer.........." when I thought - stuff "nicer" - if he wants random, let's have random. I've spent a lot of years being "nice" & in control, so this year we have tinsel actually thrown at the tree to see where it would stick and a paper hand-puppet angel on the top (made by li'l sis). The halls are well & truly decked & it looks great!
In the midst of all this fun & laughter, I have been trying to reflect on Christ's incarnation in a fresh way this year. Today I was reading Rob Lacey's "The Liberator" (which I highly recommend by the way) It opens with his version of John ch1, about Jesus "Light of the World". I often imagine the Light of the World like a candle, but "His words were life itself and they lit up people's lives. His light could blast its way into the dingiest corner" This is not a feeble candle flame. Although Jesus never forced his light on anyone, this speaks to me more of a powerful spotlight. I can't imagine the dynamic force that Jesus must have had when he physically walked the earth. People were so irresistably drawn to this light. Although we don't have Jesus' physical presence, I'm once again amazed that the Light of the World still attracts us and, by his Spirit, light up our lives with freedom & love. Although Christmas is often bound up with rituals & traditions, this is not a religion - this is a life. To quote Rob again: "Okay, Moses gave us the contract, but Jesus The Liberator gave us God's gifts and God's truth - loads better. Who's seen God? No one. But we've seen his only Son, Jesus, and you don't get much closer than that."
posted by Guacamole Girl @ 6:59 pm
2 Comments:
At 2:28 pm,
Stuart Blythe said…
I liked that bit about 'random' - us see I would like a nice neat pretty tree with co-ordinated colours and the r4est of the family wants random - I think you are right - a bit of random with fun is best.
At 2:29 pm,
Stuart Blythe said…
I think that I should have checked the spelling on that last comment before I published it - hey - random is in there as well
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