Get the road ready for the Lord, make a straight path for him!
In this pre-Christmas season, we find ourselves nearly deafened by noisy messages about great buys in the shops and about the ‘red-nosed reindeer’ flying through the sky.
Block out the noise and the words of God will become clear
In readings on the Sundays leading up to Christmas, the Church is providing us with another voice, sounding with the urgency of a red flashing light: “Get the road ready for the Lord, make a straight path for him!”
This voice must override all other voices if it is to change our lives in the way that God wants.
This Advent, more than ever, that voice is asking us to listen and to be able to speak from our faith… to be people who take time for prayer, to let silence strengthen us. As we continue to wait in joyful hope for an end to COVID-19, may this time become a holy silence, one in which we can hear God speak words of comfort and gentleness. There, in that silence, God will change our cries of worry and troubles into a time of Advent hope – so that we can say “Maranatha, Come! Lord Jesus Come!”
Prepare your homes and your hearts
Right now we are in a strange place. Masses are still socially distanced, priests wear masks to distribute communion, hand sanitiser is the norm at the altar. We are all waiting to go back to normal. To experience the joy of gathering as we did, in our Church, before the pandemic.
The irony is that this waiting is a good Advent thing to think about. Advent is about waiting. It’s about being in that strange place of not being sure what is to come.
The preparation for Advent is up to each of us – to prepare our hearts for the reality of God living with us. At the end of Advent we have the joy of Christmas as our Saviour is born.
As our houses are lit up and filled with decorations for Christmas, we get to see the joy we bring others, our own families and people driving past, as each night we wait together.
Live your faith with joy
John the Baptist, in Sunday’s Gospel, makes sense to us today, in part because we live in a situation not unlike his own. Our world can seem very much a place where it’s hard to live our faith and we feel quite different from many people because of our faith. During these final days of Advent, may we continue to prepare our homes, our families and our hearts for the Joy of Jesus’ birth.
The second reading from St Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians has a beautiful blessing that I would like to share with you:
“May the God of Peace make you perfect and holy; and may you all be kept safe and blameless, spirit, soul and body, for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. God has called you and he will not fail you.”
Prayer for this week
Blessed are you, Lord, kind and merciful;
To you be all praise and glory forever.
We ask you to listen to our prayers, and by your grace, enlighten us.
Help us to prepare for the coming of Jesus.
Make us ready and watchful to receive Christ,
Let the light of the Advent candles remind us of the light of God coming into the world. As the light of the candles grows brighter each week as we come closer to Christmas, let our faith burn brighter too.
We ask this through Christ your Son, Amen.
Julie Monk
Religious Education Coordinator
