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Good morning.

This time of year is like an estuary, where waters meet.Ìý The old year is draining away, and the tides of winter are rushing in.ÌýÌý The light’s fading fast, but the deepest darkness is still at bay.Ìý

How wise of the Christian church to pick this time to mark the great promise of light. Tomorrow is the first Sunday of Advent.Ìý ÌýAnd so begins the looking forward, through the darkening world.Ìý ÌýÌýThe imagery works powerfully for the northern hemisphere.

Now, when the leaves have fallen and the earth is turning cold, we feel it:Ìý a longing in heart and soul and bones for the wondrous to return.

Not the story wonder of an immaculate birth, or wise men looking up at the stars.Ìý But the deep wonder of life given meaning by love.Ìý The fragile, insistent wonder of hope, when so much of living is harsh and dark.ÌýÌý ÌýÌý

Out of my window, every day I look over the top of our hedge to the field. Sheep graze there much of the year - Ìýhefty and bushy in the summer, drenched and dirty in the winter. Beyond the field is a line of sycamores, all bare now.Ìý And beyond, more fields rising up to the moor.Ìý

What I see changes every day.Ìý The cycles of life turn and turn.Ìý Now, everything is slowing down, hiding itself from winter.Ìý Now is the time to wait, to expect. ÌýAnd to hope beyond what we feel or know.Ìý Ìý ÌýÌýÌý

God, whose light shines in darkness, we wait for you, holding our hope as the world turns. Ìý
Today may we share the light and hope we are given. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. ÌýÌý