Waiting for Christmas

There’s a day coming when the mountain of God’s House will be The Mountain— solid, towering over all mountains. All nations will river toward it, people from all over set out for it. They’ll say, “Come, let’s climb God’s Mountain, go to the House of the God of Jacob. He’ll show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made.” He’ll settle things fairly between nations. He’ll make things right between many peoples. They’ll turn their swords into shovels, their spears into rakes. No more will nation fight nation; they won’t play war anymore.    Isaiah 2: 2-5

Are you looking forward to Christmas?  Let me see if I can guess why.

You'll get some time off school.

You might get to see some family you haven't seen in a long time.

There will probably be a tree in the house and beautiful decorations everywhere.

You look forward to a delicious Christmas dinner. You might look forward to Brussels sprouts (I do, but I may be on my own there!)

And what am I forgetting? Oh, yes, of course, presents! We love to give and receive presents.

Well, the waiting can be tough. There are still 2 days to go until Christmas.  But if you are really hoping and looking forward (especially if you are young) that can seem like 2 years.

Most of the people mentioned in the Bible had to wait. The reading above is from the prophet Isaiah, who described a wonderful future time of peace in the world someday. It's a time that seems far off when we hear about the wars in our world and fighting all over the world. But Isaiah has a message from God that it won't always be that way. This is what he says: in the future God will settle arguments between nations. They will pound their swords and their spears into rakes and shovels; they will never make war or attack one another again. It's a wonderful message. 

In this future, people will want to live the way God intended them to live. God will transform their hearts and teach them how to love. There will be no more war; in fact weapons will be turned into tools to grow food for the hungry.

Some of that has begun to happen for us. Jesus came and showed us that, by trusting in Him, we would live the kind of life that is full of love for other people. The One whose name means ‘God with us’ has come and is already changing some. There are now people who show His love by working to stop wars, to bring peace and to bring together people who have been enemies.

God so wanted this kind of change for us and the people around us that He sent the most precious thing He had – Jesus – to show us what real love is.  Jesus came to clear out all the mistakes and mess ups we have done so that, trusting in Him, we might get ready for this new way of life that God has planned.

We’re waiting for Christmas. It’s still 2 days away but it’s coming closer. We’re waiting for things to happen. Sometimes we have to wait for the school bus. Sometimes you have to sit in the waiting room for your dental appointment. That’s no fun. You don’t mind waiting a long time for that.

Sometimes you have to line up and wait to see a movie. That’s a hard kind of waiting. Waiting for the bell to ring. Waiting for dinner because you’re hungry. Waiting for the Internet – it can still sometimes take a long time before you can finally download something.

At this time of year, those of us who follow Jesus are waiting for something special too. We’re waiting for Jesus once again. We all know how Jesus came the first time: as a baby in a manger. But now we wait for Jesus to make all things whole again. To put this broken world right.

And, while we wait for everything to get sorted, we want to live as if it had already happened, to show others and remind ourselves what this new world will be like. 

Merry Christmas!  

Are there no workhouses?

“At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,” said the gentleman, taking up a pen, “it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.”

“Are there no prisons?” asked Scrooge.

“Plenty of prisons,” said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

“And the Union workhouses?” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?”

“They are. Still,” returned the gentleman, “I wish I could say they were not.”

“The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?” said Scrooge.

“Both very busy, sir.”

“Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,” said Scrooge. “I’m very glad to hear it.”

“Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.”

“If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.”

Well it was the December meeting of our book club last night and, with a nod to the season, we’d read Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  We all loved it.  It’s a swift read; humorous in places; moving in its conclusion. One of the great redemption stories, it suggests that practical concern for our neighbours' wellbeing is evidence of redemption taking place. It would do your heart good to read it!

We met on the same day the report “Feeding Britain” was published by the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger in the UK.  It tells of families that are so desperate to avoid being evicted for rent arrears, or the disconnection of their gas or electricity that they go without food, relying on foodbanks to make ends meet.  The report highlights the work of these voluntary foodbanks – run by churches, charities and other people of goodwill.  It calls the attention of politicians from all parties to acknowledge the “simple but devastating fact that hunger stalks this country.”

The poor are made to pay more for basic necessities, e.g. through pre-payment meters, because they cannot make direct debit payments to keep costs down.  If people make a simple mistake in their claims for benefits, they can face sanctions to punish them. And, from the point when you make a claim, some people can wait up to 16 weeks before they see any money.

Over 900,000 adults and children received three days’ emergency food and support from Trussell Trust foodbanks in 2013-14, a 163 percent rise on numbers helped in the previous financial year. 

All this, 171 years after the world first heard of Ebenezer Scrooge, in a country with the 6th largest economy in the world.

We have not begun to imagine the breathtaking scale of prolonged cuts to welfare that will follow next year’s election.  None of the major political parties offers the slightest hope for us as a nation. The Conservatives will dismantle welfare provision with relish, as they roll back the state for ideological reasons. Labour entirely fails to convince that it has any real alternative to offer. The LibDems deserve the political oblivion they may face - and who could trust them in any case?  UKIP trades on fear and hatred and they should be opposed by all people of goodwill.

In this waiting season of Advent, we remind ourselves that the promised Christ was carried by a mother used to a hand-to-mouth economy, in a time of volatile politics. In her fragile voice we hear the hope that God offers, as we await His remaking of this broken world:

"He has brought down rulers from their thrones

but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things

but has sent the rich away empty."