Selah: Pause and Reflect

[This is one in a series of devotional reflections prepared for Horley Baptist Church during December 2022]

And so, Christmas is a wrap, as they say in the film industry. At the north pole the frenetic activity of the past few weeks has ceased. The elves have been shelved and the reindeer returned to their pastures in Lapland. Santa has resumed his retirement after a few days attempting to distribute happiness around the world. Even the disruptions to the postal services will, no doubt, ease just in time to deliver the bills.

Was Christmas all that you expected? Did those elves get it wrong again? Did you get humbugs when you wanted Mint Imperials? If you got something at Christmas that you didn’t expect then you are in good company – certain shepherds and a few wise men had the same experience. So did Herod and the chief priests but they were not so happy about it.

Was there peace on earth – if so, where? Was it a silent night in Kharkiv or Kherson? Did they know it was Christmas in Kabul or in Tehran? There may have been goodwill towards all men in Buenos Aires, but what about in Beijing, Pyongyang or Minsk, or even in royal David’s city?

In the ecclesiastical calendar the period of Advent is not just a prelude to Christmas; it should also remind us that Jesus promised to return.

My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14 v2-3 [NIVUK]

Some people have tried to argue that this return may have already happened and we missed it. The investigative writer Luke recorded two occasions which describe an event that could not be mistaken:

At that time they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.^[1]

Why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.^[2]

That was some 2,000 years ago; it is a common belief that if it has not happened yet then it is unlikely to do so, but the counter argument is that we are now 2,000 years closer to the event. The apostle Peter wrote:

With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. 2 Peter 3 v8-9 [NKJV]

In 1758 Charles Wesley published a collection of hymns, including one that contains an appropriate reminder of that second aspect of Advent:

Lo! He comes with clouds descending, once for ev’ry sinner slain;
thousand, thousand saints attending swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! Christ reveals his endless reign.

The publication date for this reflection is 27th December. That means that there are only 363 shopping days until Christmas – do we anticipate a repeat of the same old routine or are we looking forward to a different form of celebration?

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References:
[1] Luke 21 v27
[2] Acts 1 v11

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and are subject to the constraints defined on the corresponding webpage.

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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author