Carrying on from yesterdays post on consumerism...
This morning I made a baptism visit, and then spent the afternoon working on a series of Advent and Christmas reflections. These will be used at the beginning of worship across the circuit every week during Advent, through Christmas and on to Epiphany. I began by focusing on the beauty and necessity of waiting. As I reflected on waiting I became conscious that we are very bad at doing so. The excitement of anticipation has been replaced by a rush from one thing to another. In the western world today we have become uncomfortable with waiting...
Just look at the shops, autumn fashions appeared in early summer and today the shops are decked with party wear for Christmas. I am already tired of Christmas adverts and the pressure to spend. All of the supermarkets are enticing us to buy now, we needn't wait because they are offering bargains..
Even in the green grocery section the seasons become blurred, we eat salads all year long, we don't wait for anything because everything is on sale all of the time with no thought to the carbon footprint...
We must change, we must learn to wait again, and through the waiting I wonder if we will learn to trust God (again).
Picture from the Morteza Katouzian Exhibition.
...watching and waiting,
she knew
that
there was
no quick
fix,
but she trusted,
keeping
faith
she waited,
and
watched,
watching
and waiting,
keeping faith,
and by
faith
she received
strength
to
wait...
