Christmas  - Great expectations?

Really, what is it all about? We know it’s Jesus’ birthday, the season of goodwill, peace and joy. But we also know in reality it isn’t – or do we?!

What are our expectations? In what frame of mind do we enter the Christmas season, more importantly perhaps, what do we expect from it?
Charles Dickens wrote ‘Great Expectations’, one of his classic works, full of symbolism, imagery and allegory but far more interestingly - with two endings. One, his original, the other suggested by a friend who felt Dickens’ own ending would cause ‘the masses to revolt”!

Do we have a Christmas with two endings? One we long for – the impossible dream and one a little closer to reality.
Christmas is so fast in coming, the hype so loud and invasive that we miss the preparation of Advent. We become so fixed on presents, food stocks, Christmas cards and invitations we fail to prepare for the real meaning. By missing Advent we miss the real meaning of Christmas, we are unprepared and dragged, bewildered, through the experience.

Advent is a time to look forward to God’s coming Kingdom, a new reality, a reality Jesus revealed in his becoming one with us; joining us in the muck, confusion, politics and relational issues that affect us all.
In remembering his birth we should be looking forward to his coming again, if we engage with that and start to live that out we can have great expectations for the Christmas season – but what will be required of us? A change of lifestyle and attitude, a new beginning of constant goodwill, peace and joy, given away freely.

My prayer is that we can re-write our ending for Christmas to one where we are changed – forever – to discover we are part of God’s planned ending.