It's one of those damp, dreary west-coast days when it never quite gets light, so it was a great delight to create a cosy, festive Narnia-themed space for those able to share our first reflection.  Focussing on the start of the story, with Lucy going through the wardrobe and meeting Mr Tumnus under the lamppost, we were inivted to ponder something of what Advent means for us, and the role of repentance, a traditional Advent theme.

Because we used a film clip as part of our input, it's tricky to share the material here.  However, if you have a copy of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, you read chapters 1 and 2 to get a feel for the story.  If by some strange chance you have the DVD of the BBC version, then Epsiode 1 starting at 8mins 55 secs and continuing to 12 mins 26 secs should do the trick!

Here is the Biblical material and 'pondering questions' we used in case anyone finds them useful...

John 10: 7 – 9

Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.

Revelation 3: 15 - 22

‘I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.” You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. Therefore I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire so that you may be rich; and white robes to clothe you and to keep the shame of your nakedness from being seen; and salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. I reprove and discipline those whom I love. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me. To the one who conquers I will give a place with me on my throne, just as I myself conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.’

Isaiah 9: 2 – 6

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light;
those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined.
You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy;
they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder.
For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.
For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire.
For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders;
and he is named Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

John 1: 5

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

Time to Ponder

• What makes Advent special for you? Why is this?
• Lucy went through a door and discovered a whole new world. Jesus claims to be a gate (or door) for the sheep – what adventures might that lead to?
• Repentance is traditionally a major theme in Advent, what thoughts are stirred for you by the action of Mr Tumnus or by the Bible readings?
• The lamppost in Narnia shines on no matter what, a metaphor with clear echoes of Christ as the light of the world.       What lampposts are there in our own inner worlds? How can light shine in dark places this Advent?

The decision by cinemas to ban an advert featuring people praying the Lord's Prayer for fear of offending people, unspecified, who it is feared may be offended has, as is the way of these things, proved counterproductive - social media is flooded with 'shares' of the video (above) and some very clever and incisive comment, such as this by a Baptist minister friend in London:

"If the Cinema won't show any adverts relating to any faith, and have refused to show the CofE "Lord's Prayer" advert before the new Star Wars film; what are they to do about the 176,632 people who declared themselves Jedi in the 2011 Census?"

There is any amount of nonsensical "poor me' Christianity out there, that sees persecution at every turn, and I certainly don't see what the cinemas have done as persecution, just decidedly disappointing, given the BBFC and cinema adverstising board had approved the ad.  Some good comment online, and also a BBC article here.

A prayer - or plea - for a society characterised peace, where basic human needs are satisfied, where mutual forgiveness is exercised, where people escape cycles of temptation and evil.... is that so terrible, so offensive to people who might not have a declared faith...

And if Jedi is a faith, and the cinemas are studiously ignoring that, isn't it as a minimum a little rude and insconsierate of them....?

So, we can have adverts for sugary drinks when the incidence of diabetes is rising; adverts for consumer goods that simply fuel consumerism, adverts for films whose values we may not agree with... but not one that simply expresses hope.... hmmm, sigh, hmmm some more.

Here endeth the rant!



EDIT some other responses, and different opinions...

Nick Lear
Archdruid Eileen

Last year, like lots of other people, I gave chocolate advent calendars and selection boxes to the local foodbank. I have done the same today.

I know foodbanks aren't the answer to food poverty.

I also know what it is like having to choose between buying food and paying utility bills - and not because I was on benefit but because mortgage interest was over 17% and wages frozen (late 1980s).

And I know what it is like to depend on handouts because state benefits just won't cover everything... from free school meals to WVS clothes parcels, and even, if memory serves half a hundredweight of coal from an anonymous benefactor, my family was glad to receive help from others back in the 1970s when long term sickness prevented my Dad from working.

An advent calendar or a choice of chocolate bars won't solve the problems of food or fuel poverty, but it might just bring a smile to someone's face and restore a teeny bit of hope.

Cross-posting from social media....

... someone was asking about favourite images of Jesus, and I shared this one, which I often turn to at this time of year. It is a sculpture at St Martin's in the Fields, London, and was done for the millenium. The person I shared it with said it brought to mind the images of refugee children washed up on beaches... and I can see that.

Whatever belief system (or none) we follow, this is a striking image... the hope that is born in every child and that, with the right conditions, will bring joy and love to this world.

For me, the idea of a divinity who would do something so utterly ridiculous as to become a human infant, entering the messyness of human sin and finitude is a incredibly powerful. Historical fact, myth or mystery, frankly I'm not bothered too much - the truth of hope revealed in vulnerability, risking everything in the cause of love... that is worth telling again and again.

Lots of sadness, anger, bewilderment and more being expressed on social media... and also lots of love, kindness, courage and hope. Advent is a complex and often misunderstood liturgical season but at it's heart is the refusal to give up hope, to trust that one day, one day, the waiting will be over and peace and love will fill a renewed creation.

It has become something of a personal tradition to take as one my leave Sundays the final one before Advent.  Sometimes I have taken the opportunity to go on retreat, sometimes I have done some reading, sometimes I've just taken a break to relax.  This year it will involve lots of sitting on coaches as I travel to visit my mother for a couple of days.

Unusually, I have done the majority of my Christmas shopping, have ordered or bought most of my cards - and yesterday even received the first of the season!  Advent is a busy kind of waiting and, in the northern, hemisphere at a dark, damp and weary time of the year.

My first Advent sermon (yet to be pondered let alone written) has the working title 'Waiting, waiting, waiting...' and will, I hope, enable me explore some of the tensions that this season, and indeed any experience of waiting, can hold for us.

But first - a pause, a few days of deliberate blog-silence, and a few with zero internet connecting simply to be.