麻豆约拍

EXPECTATION

Good morning.聽 In one of her novels Jane Austen wrote about 鈥渢hat sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself鈥�.聽 Well, with Christmas just a week away, the expectation of happiness is rising.聽 In fact it鈥檚 been rising for weeks now.聽

Before I鈥檇 taken the Remembrance poppy off my coat this year, I鈥檇 overheard parents talking to their children about what they wanted from Father Christmas.聽 A comedian commenting on this relentless anticipation said, rather cynically, that Christmas is there to provide a guaranteed point of disappointment in the calendar.鈥�

But you could argue that it鈥檚 the church which has for centuries encouraged the anticipation of Christmas.聽 This is the final week in Advent - and that鈥檚 what Advent is all about - waiting and looking forward with expectation to celebrating the birth of Jesus.聽

Of course the waiting of Advent is rather different from what our secular world calls 鈥渢he run-up to Christmas鈥�.聽 Traditionally it鈥檚 a rather sombre time of reflection when the church encouraged fasting - not feasting.

Recently my husband got into conversation with a stranger on train (and they started talking about childhood Christmases).聽 The man had been in London to organise the sale of a very expensive house which he鈥檇 inherited from his grandmother.聽 The inheritance had come as something of a shock because he hadn鈥檛 thought of his grandmother as a generous woman.聽 Every Christmas she would give each of the grandchildren just 拢1 and one year, when he asked for a torch, she found an old one in her house, wrapped it up and that was his Christmas present. I鈥檝e no idea whether the grandmother was someone who鈥檇 learned to be very careful with money, but I have a feeling the early church would think her actions said a good deal about the message of Advent. Because there鈥檚 always that understanding that after Advent comes Christmas and if you haven鈥檛 anticipated every pleasure - sometimes literally - then when Christmas day itself comes it will seem all the brighter.

Lord, we spend so much time anticipating the pleasures of Christmas that we are often disappointed.聽 In the next few days may we occasionally pause for a moment and reflect on what it is that we鈥檙e celebrating.聽 Amen.