Always winter…?
I read something on the BBC News website yesterday that made me feel old. Like when policemen, doctors – and, yes, vicars – seem to be getting younger… because we are now older than most of them? Some of you know what I mean, some of you have a long time to go before you reach that point. I was mortified last year when for the first time in my life a GP used the phrase, ‘at your age’…
Anyway, back to the BBC… the headline reads, ‘It’s time to lock in and let your winter arc begin.’
I suspect I am in the middle of two camps on this one. I’m old enough to have heard that phrase first through a news channel, rather than on social media (which I avoid completely now) – but I’m young enough to recognise the reference to story ‘arcs’…
What it means is that winter will not last forever, but it is unavoidable – so decide now how to make the most of the opportunities it brings, rather than resent it: lock in and let your winter arc begin.
And that is actually the meaning of Advent, which began yesterday.
In his first letter Peter describes God’s people as ‘exiles, scattered throughout the provinces’ (1 Peter 1.1, NIV). God’s people do not belong to this world: we are exiles, in the world but not of the world (as Jesus put it in John 17). Living as a Christian in the world can feel like we don’t belong – because we don’t. The world opposed Jesus then and it opposes him now – sometimes clearly, sometimes subtly. The values of the kingdom are not the same as the values of the world. Because of this struggle, Christians throughout the ages have been tempted to hunker down, to sit in our spiritual homes wrapped in our spiritual blankets, wishing away the cold and damp spiritual winter.
Advent encourages us out of such an attitude. It encourages us to look ahead, to the end of the spiritual winter when Jesus will return and our exile will be over – Advent is not really about getting ready for Christmas, but looking forward to and preparing ourselves for that glorious day.
And Advent challenges us: living as exiles in the world is the reality we face, but also the calling we are given – by Jesus himself. He sends us into the world with a mission to make new disciples, and teach the nations all he has commanded us (John 17.18, Matthew 28.18-20).
That’s why ‘lock in and let your winter arc begin’ is the message of Advent. Lock in: make the decision to obey Jesus and follow him to all the people and places he calls you, with the gospel. Let your winter arc begin: like a cold, damp winter it won’t be easy, but the story arc of God’s children doesn’t end here, and while we wait we have a great commission to fulfil.
So this Advent, let’s prepare ourselves and look ahead to Jesus’ return, and while we wait make the most of every opportunity we have to share his gospel.
Revd Ben Green – Vicar