In our family, we have just had the joy of welcoming a new baby – for my wife and I a great-grandson.
For the parents, the arrival was preceded by a busy time of preparation.
Sorting out, for example, sleeping accommodation, feeding arrangements, and provisions for daily needs.
Soon churches will be celebrating a baby’s arrival.
But first comes preparation, starting on Sunday. We call it ‘Advent’, meaning ‘coming’ or arrival’.
We will be preparing to remember with joy the birth of Jesus more than 2,000 years ago in Bethlehem.
This was no ordinary baby, nor ordinary circumstances. This was God, the divine creator of the universe, wrapping himself in a human body, the perfect man coming to live in an imperfect world, He ultimately surrendered his life to a cruel death, so to pay the penalty of our imperfections and be the bringer of peace.
Many individuals have welcomed this peace through personal faith in Jesus, but we are aware that there continues to be widespread conflict.
So, for Christians during Advent, the gladness of celebrating the first coming of Jesus, is accompanied by anticipation of his coming for the second time.
That will be at an unknown date when everyone will see him, not as a tiny baby but as a triumphant king. Then he will establish for his people and his creation an eternal environment of peace and joy in his presence.
As Jesus promised his followers, “I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am” (John 14:3)..
Be prepared.
Peter Jackman from Norreys Church, writing on behalf of Churches Together in Wokingham
