Advent calendar 2020

Advent 15 - Sunday 13th December 2020

One of the challenging issues of the Christian faith is that we are invited to see the world from a ‘spiritual perspective.’ For example, the story of Jesus birth is full of the supernatural. Angels appearing to Mary, Joseph, and startled shepherds. There is the fulfilment of ancient prophecy – over 300 of them! Wise men or Magi guided by a star that wandered across the heavens. Not forgetting the greatest miracle of all – the virgin birth. Mary bearing a child that had no human father, with Jesus conceived by the Holy Spirit. The same pattern extends right through Jesus’ life and ministry. Miracles of turning water into wine, feeding five thousand from a single packed lunch, raising people from the dead, and spiritual and physical healings. Even the end of Jesus life is filled with the supernatural and the greatest miracle of all – the resurrection.

For our so-called modern secular generation this present many problems. How do we embrace the spiritual without sacrificing our rationality? And do we read Bible passages about Jesus overthrowing the work of the devil? One British writer Ian Paul makes an interesting observation:

We live with a long suspicion of claims about the spiritual realm in our materialist culture. Rudolph Bultmann, the highly influential German New Testament scholar, once declared that ‘we cannot believe in the world of demons and spirits and the world of electric light at the same time’ and this assumption was behind his programme to ‘demythologise’ the gospels and translate them into a message about existential decision in response to the message of Jesus.

For me personally, I do not doubt we are surrounded by an unseen spiritual reality. I also see no conflict in embracing the ‘spiritual’ along with the ‘scientific’ or ‘having faith’ at the same time as ‘being rational.’ Faith and science do not contradict. Rather they complement, with other, each dealing with different areas of human experience. But if we are to have faith and understand the full significance of the Christmas story, we must embrace mystery. We do not know it all. We do not fully understand the spiritual reality around us. And we do not fully understand the nature of evil. It is more that personal moral failure or the product of dysfunctional society. All that can be said with any measure of certainty is that Jesus came to overthrown and defeat evil in all of its forms.

Prayers

We worship the God who inhabits our world
and indwells our lives.
We need not look up to find God,
we need only to look around:
within ourselves,
beyond ourselves,
into the eyes of another.
We need not listen for a distant thunder to find God,
we need only listen to the music of life,
the words of children,
the questions of the curious,
the rhythm of a heartbeat.
We worship the God who inhabits our world
and who indwells our lives.
Amen

Blessing

May the joy of the angels,
the eagerness of the shepherds,
the perseverance of the wise men,
the obedience of Joseph
and Mary and the peace of the Christ-child
be yours this Christmas;
and the blessing of God Almighty,
the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit,
be among you and remain with you always.
Amen.

Other days in the Advent Calendar