All good things need preparation. For this reason, Advent gives us four weeks to consider hope, peace, joy and love. I am considering these individually this year to lead the way into the joyful Christmas season.
Each year, our family comes home to the farm for the traditional ‘Dad’s Day in the Kitchen’. The scent of turkey and dressing filter through the house hinting of wonderful things to come. The grandkids perch on the steps alongside their stocking, to be handy for the great plunge of pulling out gloves, scarves, hats or stockings that Grandma has knit over the year Although it was great fun for ten or more kids to squirm onto the steps to get their pictures taken as a pyramid of faces from the youngest to the oldest, several of the older ones have now opted out to make room for the younger ones. All of is proof that this day too has particular preparation and blessings.
I used to do the Advent calender when the children were small and as they grew, I began different ways to enter the Christmas season. As the grandchildren came along, it seemed increasingly difficult to talk about preparing for Christmas in a consumer world of lineups, bargains and purchases.
For me personally, other people often help me prepare for the birth of Christ in my life. At Christmas, perhaps more than any other times, I feel Christ’s ministry of reconciliation. As well, Christ’s spirit of hospitality urges me to offer loving gestures. And most of all Christ’s offering of God’s love initiates action.
And maybe at Christmas more than any other time of the year, other people show me the certainty of God’s love and the surprise of God’s challenge to pass on that love through the ministry of reconciliation to those around me. Thank you, folks.
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