Waiting and Preparing.

Advent is a time of year that the Church has largely neglected of late. There is so much, in our western culture, to prepare for in December. Christmas, of course, with it's family get-togethers, gifts, dinners, parties, visits to pubs, church services... And of course there is New Year's Eve at the end of the month. It's not suprising that Advent get's relegated to chocolate "count-down calendars" in the wake of Christmas itself.

I think the blog thing here is largely about re-capturing Advent. In days gone by, where Christmas wasn't quite so shiney and musical, the Church held Advent as a time of waiting, preparing for the coming of the Christ Child. Preparing, in a spiritual sense, not just preparing dinners and wrapping gifts. Imagine the anticipation. the excitement. Imagine how you felt at 8 years old waiting to see what santa would bring... and times it by a million. Let us look forward to Christmas with anticipation and longing, and let us prepare, now, our hearts for that miraculous event.

God of the watching ones,
give us Your benediction.

God of the waiting ones,
give us Your good word for our souls.

God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,
give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest.

God of the watching ones,
the waiting ones,
the slow and suffering ones,

and of the angels in heaven,

and of the child in the womb,

give us Your benediction,
Your good word for our souls,
that we might rest and rise
in the kindness of Your company.

And evening prayer for blessing during Advent, from Celtic Daily Prayer, The Northumbria Community, Collins, 2000