Finding time to care this Christmas

James Cathcart December 17, 2022 0 1

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Ephesians 4: 25-32 (NRSVA)

25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. 26 Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not make room for the devil. 28 Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 29 Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. 30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 31 Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, 32 and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.

Are our hearts tender enough this Advent?

Are we willing to be moved by wind and snow and rain? By the sound of defiant birdsong and tantalising cinnamon? By the heartbreaking beauty of the story we treasure? By the need all around us?

Are we responding to the world as it is? Or sleepwalking through the one we expect to find?

At Advent we find that we are all needed and that we all matter and that we can all make a difference.

This year let’s

find time to transform our cities, planting flowers in the desert

find time for those who are suffering

find time to feed the hungry, rediscovering the metaphysical wonder of feeding another,

find time to wait, waiting actively and creatively but waiting all the same.

Let’s find time to make music, to create pockets of life-giving space.

Let’s find time to give it a go, to respond to the invitation with a good go before dusting ourselves off to try again

And let’s find time for Jesus,

like Jesus found time for us

in the midst of the raw wondering, leaping and sighing of living.

PRAYER:

Keeper of all time

Help us find time

this Christmas time

Amen.