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Good morning. 

This time next month we’ll be eating the leftovers, recycling the wrapping paper and heading out for some fresh air to clear our heads. Thinking forward to when Christmas is past may seem a bit of a Scrooge-like approach to the festivities, but I think it’s probably a good way to get some perspective before the whirlwind of parties, shopping and excess begins.

It can be really hard to resist the social pressure to eat, drink and spend too much at this time of year. The ‘live for now, pay it off later’ culture is everywhere, even in the season of Advent, and even in days of austerity. If anything, more uncertain times can induce a flurry of hedonism. So, where the advent calendars of my childhood were simple cardboard pictures of stables, now you can indulge yourself with elaborate adult advent calendars containing beauty products or bottles of gin or whisky.

In the Christian tradition, advent is a season of waiting quietly for the hope of light. As the dark nights lengthen towards the shortest day, the promise of a Saviour is anticipated and preparation is made for the celebrations. Rather than ending the season sated and deflated, the purpose of advent is to sharpen the anticipation of the good news of joy and peace that enters in with the birth of God in human form.

There’s comfort in the words of an old carol:

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight
Rejoice rejoice Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel

Lord, grant us stillness this month as we prepare to celebrate your birth. Amen.