Well it may be Advent,
the season of waiting for the coming of Jesus, but waiting has been a bit of a
theme this year hasn’t it. Waiting to be
allowed out of our houses for more than an hour at a time, waiting for the
churches to be allowed to open, waiting to see if planned holidays can go
ahead, waiting for a vaccine, and in our family waiting to see if a wedding,
originally planned for July and rearranged four times, could finally go ahead last
week. Well it did, and we gave thanks and
celebrated as my son and his American fiancée finally became husband and wife
at the historic Guildhall in Windsor on Saturday, in a ceremony which was
streamed across the Atlantic and to other parts of the UK for family and
friends unable to be there.
Waiting doesn’t have
to be an inactive time though. Revd
Debbie in her Thought for the Day on Radio Christmas last week, talked about
the solace to be found in a garden – I share that thought – our garden looked
better this year than it has for some considerable time. Many have discovered new skills and interests,
or re-kindled existing ones while they wait for normal life to resume, and that
has to be a positive thing. For older or
more vulnerable people, this time of waiting has been a lonely one, but in
towns and villages all around, people have come forward to help out – keeping
an eye out for them, delivering shopping, having conversations at the end of
driveways or simply picking up the phone.
Others have put their
waiting time to good use too. Marcus
Rashford, the Manchester United footballer, did not sit idly at home while he
was unable to play football matches.
Before lockdown he had been campaigning for those affected by child
poverty, and once lockdown was in place he quickly realised the implications
for children whose schools were closed and who no longer had access to free school
meals. He used every means at his
disposal to campaign for the nearly four million children in this country who
were found to be at risk of food poverty, and the cause has snowballed in
recent months, with extra funding now available for food and household bills
for the poorest families.
This year Radio
Christmas broadcasting up until Christmas Eve, is all about fundraising for the
poorest children and families in Guatemala and Honduras. The volunteers working there for Street Kids
Direct, have worked tirelessly for a better future for them and to raise
awareness globally of the plight of those considerably less well off than most
of us.
So, the waiting for
our family was finally over with that wedding in Windsor last week. As we emerged into the fading light into the
outside world we were faced with a large display of the nativity – behind a
glass screen and well lit. The children
immediately asked if they could go to see baby Jesus and rushed over to it,
followed rather more sedately by the adults.
As I Iooked at that scene, with a rather elderly looking baby Jesus it
has to be said, I reflected on the day.
We might have spent a lot of time waiting; we are still waiting to celebrate his birth
at Christmas, but during that waiting we
have not been idle. When we returned
home, I looked at the photographs that we’d taken. In the reflection in the glass surrounding
that nativity scene, very faintly visible were our own images. We were and are part of that story. Christians believe that Jesus came into the
world to show us how to live, and this Advent time, so near now to the birth of
our Saviour, may we show his love by our words and actions while we wait.
A very Happy Christmas
to you all.
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