The Lord is my light and my salvation—
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life—
of whom shall I be afraid?

Wait for the Lord;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the Lord.

Psalm 27 : 1 & 14

Readings this week Isaiah 2 : 1 – 5; Romans 13 : 11 - end; Matthew 24 : 36 – 44

Some thoughts for this week

We’re off! The countdown has begun. Advent is here and today we begin a journey of hope, love, joy and peace and we wait and prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus and look forward to when Christ returns again.

Inevitably our thoughts will steam ahead to the 25 December as we prepare for Christmas Day. But what if we did things a little differently this year? Perhaps we can use this Advent time to focus and reflect on the wonder of the coming of God’s Grace and love in the person of Jesus so that we are prepared to welcome Jesus on Christmas Day and celebrate with immense joy.

With so much to do between now and Christmas Day we don’t need to load more upon ourselves but perhaps there are just one or two things we could do in this waiting time.

Perhaps, beginning today, we could read a chapter of Luke’s gospel (24 chapters), or maybe spend 10-15 minutes in quiet, resting in the love of God. May this season of Advent be filled with blessings as we wait and prepare for the coming of Emmanuel - God with us. 

Rachel

Prayer for this week

Lord of Advent, Lord of all hopefulness, this is the time of your coming, this is the season of your arrival. Give us a defiant hope that triumphs over pessimism and despairing attitudes, that believes you have come to save your people, your world, your creation. In this moment light a fire in our hearts that will not be quenched Until your work is done. Amen.

Almighty God, as your kingdom dawns, turn us from the darkness of sin to the light of holiness, that we may be ready to meet you in our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

We praise the Lord and give thanks …

For everyone who will come to our churches over the Advent and Christmas periods. May Jesus bless them

For all those who have gone before us in faith and the love of Jesus