"And so the end is near..."

Well we have almost come to the end of our Advent Journey. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. For those who have joined me on my journey thank you for your companionship and support.


I started my Blog with the rather bold statement that I believed it to be God Inspired and as I bring the Blog to a close I will finish with the equally bold statement that I still believe it to be God Inspired.

I confess that the journey possibly did not turn out the way I might have expected. I suspect that somewhere in my thoughts I imagined some grand adventure, a new avenue opening up, lots of followers, lively comments and the possible conception of a successful writing career. (Stranger things have happened!!). Now I cannot be sure but I suspect none of the above has happened or is likely to happen in the near future, (put it this way I am still awaiting the phone call from the book publishers and no book agents have been beating a path to my door. Yet that does not mean the blog was not God inspired simply my perception and understanding of the reason for the blog.

At this time of year it is all too easy for ministers, vicars, priests and pastors (all Christians for that matter) to fall into the trap of, ‘flying by auto-pilot. Singing the Carols, reading the nativity and championing the cause for keeping Christ in Christmas without really giving it much thought. The Blog has caused me to take time and rediscover the joy, wonder and miracle of God Incarnate.

We often complain about people not having time for Christ, we liken our busy society to the streets, inns and houses of Bethlehem that, ‘had no room’ for the Christ Child. We forget that there are times when we in the church can be so busy being ‘religious’ that we have no room for Jesus. This year writing the blog has made me stop and take stock of the real meaning and purpose of God becoming man. I think these words of the Christian writer, Max Lucado sums it up;

“Off to one side sits a group of shepherds. They sit silently on the floor, perhaps perplexed, perhaps in awe, no doubt in amazement. Their night watch had been interrupted by an explosion of light from heaven and a symphony of angels. God goes to those who have time to hear him- and so on this cloudless night he went to simple shepherds.” (emphasis mine).

So at the risk of repeating a question from a previous blog, it may well be that this one question is at the core of the purpose for my writing this Advent;

“Do you hear what I hear?”