As December rolls in, no doubt with a chill in the air and perhaps a frost on the ground, we find ourselves preparing for another Christmas and another new year. I don’t know about you, (maybe it’s a vicar thing), but for me the month of December passes by so very quickly. With the Christmas preparations, plans, presents, decorations, get-togethers. Add into it some Christmas activities, nativity plays, Christmas fayres and the like and the month starts to fill up. Then add into that carol services, Christingles, and whatever else comes along, and the month is jam-packed and can easily carry us through without our feet touching the ground. And then its January. New start. New year. New plans. New resolutions….

Advent – Christmas – Epiphany. The three church seasons we’ll journey through in December and January bring with them opportunities to pause, to reflect, to renew our thinking. And if it wasn’t for the busyness it would be the perfect triptych of seasons to do it.

Advent – the season of waiting

Christmas – the season to celebrate God’s saving work in the world

Epiphany – the season of newness, of encounter

December and January come around and they can be expensive times, tiring times, challenging months, and yet at the heart of the three liturgical seasons is the reassuring cry of “God’s got this!”

Perhaps in the busyness, we might pause and find perspective, maybe keep some moments of the diary clear, maybe rethink how much credit card debt we want to take on to buy gifts and pay for celebrations.

Maybe there’s something to the simple idea that at the centre of those three festivals is a little baby, placed in a borrowed manger, in a cave/stable. Maybe such an idea might release us from some of the pressures this time of year brings.

Whatever your situation, may God bless you this Advent, Christmas and Epiphany.

Blessings

Tim.