大象传媒

Good Morning. The UK release of the third and final instalment of The Hobbit films: The Battle of 5 Armies is tonight. My family and I have been looking forward to this film for ages!

The Hobbit is a fantastic story by JRR Tolkien of the struggle between light and dark, good and evil, selfishness and selflessness; a story of flawed characters and of courage even in despair. And for goodness sake it鈥檚 got Benedict Cumberbatch playing a dragon!聽

Over the last three years, then, Advent in my family has been enriched with a dose of The Hobbit.

What might The Hobbit have to do with Advent, you ask?

The Hobbit is ultimately a story about a disparate group of adventurers who seek to right an historic wrong and who in the process discover an unlikely Saviour among them who comes in the form of a small hobbit.

The resonance with a Saviour who comes as a small child at Christmas is difficult to miss. However, I confess that I am just as interested as Tolkien was that the story as a whole is focussed on the confrontation of evil and injustice. This is story that eloquently declares that the world does not have to be the way that it is. People of courage challenge injustice

It seems to me, that Advent, among other things is both recognition that the world does not have to be the way that it is, and anticipation of the coming of a Saviour who will ultimately overcome all evil and injustice.聽

Until that day we pray:

Teach us O God in your grace,
enable us O God by your Spirit,
and inspire us O God through your Son
that we may reflect your goodness,
radiate your peace,
and pursue your justice in your world.聽 Amen.聽