It’s unusual for me to be writing a PT blog in December! I am more used to wishing you all a Happy New Year in January!
December 2025 already! The end of the year; nearly Christmas; Advent.
Advent. A time of preparation and anticipation.
So, are you ready? This is a question we hear all the time in December.
Ready? For what? People generally mean, ‘Have you done your Christmas shopping and written your cards and put your decs up?’
What does Advent mean to you? Calendars and chocolate and your diary being crazy busy?
Advent literally means the arrival or coming of something or someone, especially something/someone important or awaited. It is the period from the end of November to Christmas Day. Yes, a period of preparation and anticipation, a time to think about the expected arrival of Jesus. The arrival of Jesus, our Emmanuel, a baby born in Bethlehem so long ago, AND the awaited, expected arrival of Jesus, returning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So, we are living between the times; between a historical and future ‘arrival’.
Simeon and Anna were ready for the arrival of their Messiah. (Luke 2:22-38). I wonder … would they be as respected today as they were then?
Are you ready? What does that mean for followers of Jesus? Big question!
We are to be ready to listen to Him, to really apprentice under Jesus, ready to learn more, ready to say, ‘Yes’, ready to follow.
Read Matthew 25, because the whole chapter is Jesus clarifying what it means to be ready for His return and how to live ‘between the times’. In the parable of the ten bridesmaids and the parable of the talents and the parable of the sheep and goats we are given different parts of a big picture.
So, throughout Advent, why not focus on what ‘being ready’ might really mean in God’s Kingdom? Have a wonderful Christmas and a richly blessed 2026 too! (Couldn’t pass up the chance to send a new year greeting!)
Julie
Julie Evans is a retired teacher who now volunteers in HMP New Hall in Wakefield. Julie is also one of our Operations Assistants.