Tag: preparation

Advent Is For Life Not Just For Christmas

Our reading from Luke (Luke 21:25-36) today is part of a longer apocalyptic teaching. So, why are we starting Advent with these warnings instead of with the message that a baby will be born?

Well, Advent doesn’t just precede Christmas when we remember the birth of Jesus. Advent is that time of waiting, of preparation, of making sure we are ready. It is about preparing our hearts and opening our minds.

But we are not just ensuring we are ready for baby Jesus. We also need to be ready for when Jesus comes again.

Advent is for life, not just for Christmas!

It is about being ready for Jesus, for watching and waiting and preparing for Him to come, both as a baby and when He comes again in glory. We must be alert, ready for the coming of the end. Not caught up in the commercialisation, the excess and the worries of the day but remaining ever watchful, confident and eager for the events Jesus tells us of – the signs that our deliverance is nigh. That He IS come again.

We all know what waiting is like. In smaller concepts there’s waiting for a bus, waiting for an appointment, waiting for the right vicars to be called to Sheppey. Sometimes the wait seems interminably long…

… and yet it does come to an end with fulfilment as that bus, appointment, those vicars, anything else we’re waiting for … Ashley’s Amazon parcels, the shopping, all arrive.

And they don’t always arrive when we expect them – sometimes the waiting is dragged out and they are a bit (at least in our eyes) late.

But then they arrive and that moment of waiting, that moment of expectation, changes into certainty, realisation and fulfilment of what we have received. No one waits without good reason. How long we wait is determined by the reward at the end. And Jesus is the greatest reward!

So we wait, patiently, trusting in God as we wait.

Waiting faithfully and being prepared, for our Lord will come again – but only God knows the exact day and time. We wait patiently through suffering for the wait is worth it.

Often people fill the waiting with distractions and keep busy to avoid the waiting. How easy it is to miss the very thing we are waiting for if we do that; because we are paying attention to the distractions instead of watching and waiting.

Advent is taking time, slowing down, opening our minds, being prepared to change.

It is the chance to wait and change our lives. Don’t miss that by running around. Instead get our hearts ready for Jesus to be in our lives more fully that ever before.

We must trust and be prepared to trust.

We must trust God in both the good and the bad times.

Take a step back, let God into every situation, listen to His guidance, pray on it, trust and wait.

We know God’s promise will be fulfilled. We must trust in His promise with faith and prayer.

We must be ready as we wait.

If Jesus returned tomorrow, or even this afternoon, are we prepared? Do we put enough planning and preparation into being ready for Him?

Make time for God. Live how Jesus wants us to live. Ask yourself what would Jesus do? Are our hearts and minds focussed on Him? Are we ready?

Tradition is actually the passing on of belief – despite the vernacular it isn’t staying the same or doing things this way because that’s how they were done 20 or 30 years ago. No! It’s actual meaning is the passing on of belief. If we are not ready we could miss out. Pass on the belief so all God’s children can be ready. Keep an open mind. Think and be prepared.

Faith is about going deeper in our personal journey with Christ. Know Jesus and be open to Jesus.

Ensure we have what we need to be prepared so that, no matter what day or hour He returns, we are ready. Don’t be complacent.

Keep relationship with God, and work on it doing God’s will every day.

Advent is a time when we have to look at our lives. Do we accept forgiveness and follow Him?

Humans are very good at procrastination.

Procrastination is very different to waiting.

So, humans procrastinate, run out of time and think I’ll do it tomorrow. But tomorrow might not come, the chance might never come again.

We must respond to God immediately when He calls us.

We must NOT be resistant to change or let rituals become idols.

Don’t procrastinate. Prepare now and keep the preparation ongoing.

Be ready and continue to be ready.

For God’s time is not our time but His promises are always kept. Jesus came, Jesus IS coming again!

So again I say, Advent is for life not just for Christmas!

Advent

The Wilderness of Lent

Mark*, in just a few short verses, has summarised for us two key elements from Jesus’s life which took place just before the start of His ministry.

The first is Jesus’s baptism of water by His cousin John. John’s baptism was one of repentance, one of cleansing and forgiveness. God cleansed the earth by flood in Genesis – in a sense starting again. Baptism gives us a chance to start again; to say sorry for our wrongdoings, receive forgiveness and to start a new life in Christ striving to follow in His footsteps.

So why did Jesus, God’s Son, the only truly perfect human, need to be baptised by John.

John was the forerunner to prepare the way. This was also an indication for Jesus that it was time for His ministry to commence. By being baptised by John, Jesus was affirming that He was ready and willing to take the next step on His journey for our salvation. He was saying “yes” to what God wanted Him to do. And God confirmed His approval as He says to Jesus “You are my beloved Son”. He was also showing us what we needed to do.

At that time the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus, equipping Him for what was to come. It descended in the form of a dove, just like the dove that carried the olive branch back to Noah, symbolising gentleness, peace and love.

Straight away the Spirit took Jesus into the wilderness. Jesus was being prepared and tested. He was not being set up to fail but instead to strengthen His mind, heart and soul.

The wilderness is mentioned many times in the Bible. It is a place of preparation – like Lent which we can use to say goodbye to our old selves and find Christ.

It is a place where God communes with His people – God spoke to Abraham, Moses, Elijah and John the Baptist in the wilderness. It is not a place of hopelessness. Jesus, John, Elijah, Isaiah, Moses, Abraham etc were not in the desert by accident but by God’s design. God wanted to speak to them somewhere there would not be distractions. Jesus often went into the wilderness for rest, prayer and to teach His disciples. It provided peace away from the crowds and other distractions.

We often want to escape what we perceive as the discomfort of the desert – hardships and difficult times. But these are the times when God’s presence is greatest. It is an invitation from God for us to encounter Him and listen to Him – He wants to speak to us.

Likewise, Lent is about cutting out the distractions, about preparing and making ourselves ready for the work Jesus has for us and for Him to be in our hearts.

It is not about a show of giving up something that we don’t intend to stick to – for example, chocolate or wine or Facebook – when we know full well that we intend to indulge in what we have cut out as soon as Lent is over.

It is about preparation. In Advent we wait and prepare for the coming of Jesus as a tiny baby. In Lent we prepare for Holy Week and Easter – awaiting the sacrifice of Jesus and His resurrection. In both we should be preparing our hearts and minds, getting them ready for our Lord and the work He has for us.

Lent is about meeting God in the wilderness, listening to Him, strengthening ourselves for the work He has for us. It is about prayer. Praying more, communing with God more, conversing and listening to God. Setting aside that time for Him. So let us ask God to use this time of Lent to prepare and strengthen us for whatever lies ahead.

Wilderness

*Mark 1: 9-14