By David Cowan
Originally Released: December 2011
What started out as a financial crash has started to hit the real economy hard, and some are looking for easy salvation. As we contemplate in our Advent season with Christmas just ahead, the stores are not so full, jobs being cut, the idea of lots of presents under the tree and a joyous Christmas seems distant for many of us. Yet, wait, there is reason for joy and hope amid all the doom and gloom.
The reason for hope and joy is the original reason for Christmas: the gift promised us in the form of the Christ child who was born on Christmas Day. The great thing is, this gift is free, costs us nothing at all, not even the dollar the automaker?s chief executives are prepared to take as a salary. To celebrate this Christmas, to receive this gift, costs us nothing at all.
We are used to shopping and parties leading up to Christmas, with decorations out before Thanksgiving. Yet, in the early days of Christianity, Advent was a season of penance. It was a time to think of WHY we needed the hope that Jesus brought to us in a lowly stable. The feeling of joy didn?t happen until Christmas morn.
Maybe we can learn from this. We can learn that Advent, instead of being a long prelude of festivities and shopping leading up to Christmas day itself, is a time to reflect. It is a time to reflect on what we wait for, trembling with the joy of a child, on Christmas Morn: Unto us a Child is Born!
So, what shall we do this Advent? Well, can I suggest three things?
First of all, we should celebrate a joyous Christmas regardless of our economic situation. It costs nothing, and last long after the wrappings are in the dumpster, and it is a daily event, unlike the decorations we will put away for another year.
Secondly, we should look forward to years to come, not with fear of an unknown Recession, but with the hope that the Christ child brought into the world. If we take on the hope that God is beside us in these troubled times, then we need not fear.
Lastly, we should remember that the joy of Christmas Day stays with us all year round. Daily we have the opportunity to look at the world anew with the full faith and credit of Jesus Christ.
The point to remember is that Christmas is what we make of it. It is that unique time of the year that is all about the joyous atmosphere, and the opportunity to look back as well as forward.
So, maybe the downturn in the economy offers us all the opportunity to realise in this coming season of Advent that while times were good, we forgot to prepare for the bad times. We can ask ourselves whether we honestly saved for a rainy day, like our grandparents did. We can also ask ourselves whether we clung to Jesus as surely in the good times as we certainly need to do now that times are not so good.
This Advent season why not look at your material and spiritual bank balances? We may not have much in left the material bank, but we always have to make sure we have enough in the spiritual bank. If we have financial problems, we need to seek help from debt counsellors and others. If we are doing well, then we can see how we can help others get through this.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 14th, 2011 at 10:39 pm and is filed under?General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the?RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.?Edit this entry.
Tags: advent, david cowan, recession
Source: http://www.cfcbe.com/2012/12/18/the-real-meaning-of-advent-in-a-recession/
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