Anticipation.
Expectancy.
Waiting eagerly.
Preparing for Christmas involves a lot of excitement and anticipation, especially for children. We have Advent calendars where we open a door each day, counting the days down to Christmas (and often uncovering a chocolate gift each day!) Waiting is not easy for any of us, but anticipation and expectation can help us in the waiting. We often start preparing at this time of year: putting up a Christmas tree and Christmas decorations in the house, baking special goodies to eat at Christmas, buying and wrapping presents, writing Christmas cards to send to friends. All these things help to keep our minds focussed on Christmas, but the best way to wait for Christmas is to soak ourselves again in the Christmas story. Each day, as we read through the first chapters in the gospels of Matthew, Luke and John, we learn a little bit more about God’s great plan of salvation and can see how each character fits into the overall picture. Most of us know the main characters: Mary, Joseph, Jesus, the angels, shepherds and wise men, but how many of us appreciate God’s planning and preparation? Other characters – Zechariah, Elizabeth, John, Anna and Simeon – all remind us of the meticulous planning which went into that first Christmas and make us realise that God’s timing is perfect. (Gal 4:4)
Dearne Churches Together have organised a Nativity Trail in each village (Goldthorpe, Thurnscoe and Bolton-on-Dearne), giving people the opportunity to find posters of seven of the characters in the Christmas story. Why not spend some time this Advent looking for these and reminding yourself of this amazing story?
