In danger of missing the point

With each passing year I find myself longing in ever greater measure to throw off many of the modern "trappings" of Christmas and return to the simplicity of celebration.

The run up to Christmas in our consumer society seems to be increasingly filled with busyness, activity, stress, and pressures of many kinds.  The Money Advice Service reckons that something like £26 billion will be spent in the UK on festive celebrations this year.  Companies do their very best to create TV adverts which will temps us to "spend, spend, spend."  The eBay ad, for example, tells us "When you're ready, come and get it.  It's a great big world and it can all be yours."  The truth is, it's an impossible, illusory and potentially dangerous dream.

I love this time of the year, but with so much else going on right now, I find myself struggling at times to focus on the message which lies at the heart of the Advent/Christmas season.  Someone recently asked Sue whether we are ready for Christmas and she replied that we don't even know for certain where we will be living on Christmas Day!  Our house move seems to be imminent but we don't yet have a date.  The house is currently full of boxes and we are living in semi-organised chaos, so we have no idea how Christmas will pan out if we are still here, with family visitors due to arrive!

Then, of course, we are having to handle the ongoing situation with our grandson Max having been in and out of hospital in recent weeks.  The deadline for sending Christmas cards will soon have passed.  Added to that are all the preparations for special Christmas services and events, and other matters which require attention.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, because I still feel tremendously blessed in so many ways, and I am still loving the Advent journey.  It's just that I find myself far too easily tempted to take my attention from the simple yet glorious heart of Christmas - the birth of God's Son, Jesus Christ.  That is why I love the advertising campaign from churchads.net which aims to remind people where Christmas really starts: with Christ.  I have watched this so many times to help me refocus:

Help us, O God, not to miss the point of this season, but to fix our hearts and minds on the One whose birth we celebrate.  May we know his peace in our hearts, now and always.  Amen.