Advent
Sometimes it’s hard to know if you are coming or going – perhaps it’s both! Maybe it’s tough to know the difference because it’s a confused and confusing world that doesn’t deal well with endings and isn’t sure when a beginning has occurred. When have you arrived? Where are you going? We do not know what is coming with the certainty we all crave. What do you hope or think might be coming? Advent is a term linked to adventure in that it is ‘towards a venture’. In that sense, it hints of risk, excitement and some uncertainty but taken for itself, it simply means ‘the arrival of a notable person or thing’. You could say that the sun rising at dawn heralds a daily advent and so life is one continuous series of advents as preludes to the final adventure. Could you accept life as a series of beginnings rather than a series of endings? So here’s a light to reflect on that idea.
- ‘Every year we celebrate the holy season of Advent, O God. Every year we pray those beautiful prayers of longing and waiting, and sing those lovely songs of hope and promise’ – Karl Rahner
- ‘Tomorrow belongs to those who can hear it coming’ – David Bowie