Well, One Lady's Day as we come to the fourth Sunday of Advent and, having had 'Gaudete' or 'Rose Sunday' (and Steeleye Span's 'Gaudete', which means 'rejoice' by the way.) last week we've reached the end of the trail that leads to Bethlehem and come to a day where it's all about Mary!
For those who wonder what the candles mean:
Week One - Patriarchs (Gen 12 - 50, the founding fathers of the Jewish faith)
Week Two - The Prophets (the people who spoke for God to the people, promises, warnings and salvation)
Week Three - John The Baptist (the man who went before jesus and heralded His coming)
Week Four - The Virgin (the obedient, humble and submissive heroine of the Christian faith
Some look at the four Sundays and see three millennia and then the answer, which is a nice way of looking at it. But I have two thoughts:
Thought the First.
When I became a Christian in a Baptist Church in Marlow, I was taught that 'we' (proper Christians) didn't do the Virgin Mary, she was the province of the Roman Catholics. As I continued, ending up in the Pentecostal church, this was re-iterated (and we sneered at the heresy that was Rome) - Mary was not for us, she was a 'Roman' icon!
Well, as an orthodox evangelical (with a dog-collar in the good old Church of England) can I say how wrong this was and encourage EVERYONE to embrace, applaud and honour (that doesn't mean worship) Mary as one of the heros of our faith. She's a star and someone we need to recognise as such (doesn't mean she was immaculately conceived, had no other children or was 'taken up to heaven rather than died') - she is a valid and important part of our faith as theotokos (god bearer) and as one of the early Christian figures!
Thought the Second
However you look at it, it seems odd to me that people talk of the season before us and of Santa and whether one has been 'Naughty or Nice' and yet these same people baulk at the thought of a judgement when Christ returns as Messiah at His second coming.
It's conditional theological thinking. Christ died for ALL, and therefore, because of His death, ALL are admitted to eternity with Him. All you have to do is take the ticket from His hands. If you don't recognise Him, then you're free not to take that ticket, but you're not free to complain that you didn't gain entry! God doesn't exclude anyone, it's there for ALL but He doesn't force it on us and, we need to decide that we want to receive it.
The ticket is but a hands reach away, all you need to do is acknowledge that Christ died for you on the Cross and the ticket is yours. It's a free gift, but even though He holds it before us, it is us who the responsibility of taking it it.
What a great Christmas gift - I pray you and yours each find it for yourself and take it from His nail pierced hands this Christmas.
Pax
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