Advent: ‘Ready and Waiting’

In the UK we are entering the season in which darkness seems to expand daily.  Soon enough we will wake up to darkness and return home to darkness in the afternoon. Sometimes this is reflected in our mood as we become more aware of the shadows and the cold, many of us find the shorter days hard-going.

As we enter the Advent season we are reminded of the words at the beginning of John’s Gospel, that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness will never overcome it. The light remains, endlessly hopeful, and we can depend upon it. A first century philosopher once said, ‘when I light a candle, I say to the darkness, ‘I beg to differ’’. Holding a light up to the shadows can feel like an act of defiance, it echoes speaking truth to power, it is a protest against despair and a reminder that peace is possible. The promise that the light of God in Jesus enters the world to bring peace, joy and wholeness, is at the heart of all our Advent expectation.

 You can zoom in on the map. Clicking on place markers will give the name of the church and also a link to its page on this site. The county areas of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk are shown on this map. Norfolk is shaded in a salmon colour, Suffolk pale blue and Cambridgeshire pale green.

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