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Viewpoint from Jane Walters 05/12/2025
 Jane Walters
Chair of the Association of Christian Writers and member of Christ Community Church, Attleborough
Advent Anticipation
We’re in the first week of Advent, according to the Church calendar, and it’s one of my favourite times of the year. While December is usually marked by increasing intensity and busyness, Advent offers the chance to pause, to reflect, and to anticipate
The world around us sees it all rather differently, of course. Most people don’t even call it Advent, but a ‘Christmas Countdown’ which starts in late August, when the first of the mince pies appear on supermarket shelves. They really do. I checked! No doubt it’s sensible to try to get ahead of the game, to be organised, to spread the costs over several months, but it’s not the full story. Let me make a case for embracing Advent
The birth of Jesus Christ was predicted about 700 years before it happened by the prophet Isaiah, in a passage we often hear read at carol services: The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned… For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders (Is. 9:2,6). 700 years is an awful long time to wait! There must have been years when the promise was pretty much forgotten, and others when its fulfilment might have felt just around the corner
Most of us hate waiting. We make a point of choosing the shortest queue at the checkouts, of picking next-day delivery, of using the microwave. Time spent waiting is time wasted, surely? But think of a pregnant woman. It’s not a bad example, considering how Jesus eventually came. Those nine months can feel interminable, but a baby – an actual real new person – is growing deep inside. And what of the woman herself? It’s fairly obvious that she’s growing, too, and not just her belly. She’s quietly making space in her heart and mind for this little one, who is about to transform her life in more ways than she can imagine
Mary is described as treasuring up ‘all these things’ and pondering them in her heart (Luke 2:19). I wonder what we might discover, if we prepare our hearts as well as our homes this Christmas? I pray that you may know God’s light and peace in this season of anticipation
Come, Lord Jesus!
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