Being so busy preparing for Christmas that we miss Christ!

Our preparation for Christmas are important as they call us to centre on an encounter with the person of Jesus Christ and the life he offers to us. This can often be crowded out by Christmas parties, Christmas shopping, Christmas Parking, Christmas Travelling and even Christmas carols. They can give us a feel that something important is about to happen but can swamp us with too many experiences. As we approach Christmas we can often feel tired, lethargic and exhausted. So much of our time goes into the activity of preparation that we may find that we have not prepared ourselves. It is important that we make room for Christ to be in our hearts. This is about being a person of prayer who reaches out to others in need. It is a prayer which allows us to come to a still place where we are present to the people who are important in our lives. It is also important that we find not lose ourselves. I pray that during this season of Advent the focus could be on our preparing ourselves for Christmas Day and not becoming dissipated by too much activity. This is a time of joy, not sadness, of hope not despair, of charity not greed. May people see in us the face of Christ as we seek to discover the face of Christ in others?

A Kingdom not of this world.

The last week has witnessed tensions rise around the world as the results of attacks in Paris, Beirut and on the Sinai Peninsula. The atrocities which have been carried out cause us to question what is the best way to respond to terror. There are many people who are far more qualified than I am to look at the global and national ramifications of the circumstances in which we now found ourselves. However, at a personal and communal level we need to reflect on whether these events should change how we live and what we believe. There can be a tendency to respond with equal or greater force, to seek revenge and to allow our opinions to coloured by mistrust and suspicion. As followers of Christ we are not immune from the events present in the world but we are called to be formed in the image and likeness of God. We are called to be people who create life, facilitate hope and act with charity.  We are called to be people who in our earthly life seek to honour the commandment given to Jesus to love the Lord our God with all our heart, all our mind and all our soul and to love our neighbour as ourselves. This is central to our Christian faith and the way we are called to live. This cannot be taken as an optional extra it is foundational to how we are called to live in relationship with others especially at times when our hearts seem to be torn in two.

Trusting our lives totally to God

We can often have an image of God as the divine accountant who measures out whether we have a credit or debit balance. While we may not articulate this in what we say, it can be displayed in the way we choose to live. We can tend to hedge our bets and believe that as long as we live with a credit balance that we are on the inside track. This weekend’s gospels tell a very different story. It is not about giving God what is left over but an offering of our whole lives. What God wants is not just what we choose to give he wants everything. This can seem too much, too radical and too demanding. If we give God everything what will be left for us? However, this is what lies of Elijah’s discussion with the widow. She believes that she can just provide enough for one last meal for her son. She is barely in a position to share anything. Similarly the widow who puts all that she has to live on into the Temple treasury. Both of these women rely totally on God’s word and discover that in offering everything that nothing is lost. They discover a God who can make more out of their offering than they can do solely by themselves. This is a surrender which places complete trust in God. It is not easy to come to that place, it takes prayer, it requires trust and it requires an acceptance that God can do more with our lives than we could do on our own.