Pause In Advent #3 - Advent/Ure

Today's Pause is taken [with permission, of course] from Bob's Blog on our church website. It was written earlier in the week, but he has said it better than I can...

"One thing I’m sure of in this time when a General Election coincides with the season of Advent. And that is that come Friday there [were] almost equal numbers of people who [were] delighted and disappointed by the result. It’s the way our system works – or fails to work.

This election season – and life in this country generally recently – has been marked by a level of division and vitriol which I have not seen before. We are deeply divided and seem to have lost respect for people we disagree with.

I’m not so naive as to believe that the outcome of the election will change that. We’ve employed weapons during this campaign that cannot now be forgotten about. But there is a challenge ahead of us.

Our adventure is to travel into a country where we must find ways of working with people we disagree with if we are to make life better for all – and especially for the poor, the powerless and the marginalised. As a follower of Jesus Christ I know that is what He wants for me.

“Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.” (James 1:27) 

So let’s use this Advent season to do just that: prepare ourselves for a new adventure in a very different world."

[thank you Bob - thank you too to Kezzie for her post today, with a lovely song, and FC with her amazing, true, story]