Along Right Pathways by Susan+
Introduction
The season of Advent is a special one within the faith community, as we look forward to the yearly remembrance of our Saviour’s birth. Multiple themes provide colour, even as our natural environment, in pre-winter dress, is uninspired in shades of grey. The apocalyptic images of ‘end times’ and the second-coming of the Christ seem somewhat incompatible with the secular focus on bright Christmas décor, gift giving, feasting, and merry-making. They make more sense when it is understood that an earlier era marked Advent as a ‘little Lent’, observing personal and corporate disciplines. Advent’s penitential focus has all but disappeared within our culture, including many Christian churches. But the spirit of the liturgical season remains one of expectation and soul searching, reflecting on both the coming of the Christ Child, and our Saviour’s faithful Presence with us on life’s journey.
Waiting… Awareness… Anticipation…Preparedness… and the Advent candles celebrating growing light in the midst of darkness, marking the weeks with the messages of hope, love, joy and peace, these are all themes with which we are familiar and mirror life experience. It is a time to hear the call to “prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God”(Isaiah 40:3), to contemplate on how God guides us along right pathways, and to open ourselves to the very power of God at work in our world and, yes, even within our own hearts. I invite you to reflect on these things over the next four weeks, in the true spirit of the season. Blessings, Susan+