DECEMBER is a month of Waiting, Preparing, and Celebrating.

We have two great parties this month Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.

Yet, waiting for these parties is incredibly difficult; it is immensely easy to rush to celebrate Christmas, because who wouldn’t want to celebrate Christmas.

It is at Christmas we remind ourselves of how a family travelled for many months to gather with their wider family to be counted in a census, and when they got there their baby boy was born. And we hear at Christmas of the wondrous things that was spoken about this child, and of the marvellous things that He will go on to do in His life.

At Christmas we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Through the story of Jesus’ birth, we hear the message of hope, love, and life.

And I know I want to rush to celebrate this good news, but first I must slow down and prepare myself.

Like any great party there are things to do, but unlike other parties there is no dress code, so there is no outfit to prepare, rather I must prepare my heart!

I prepare my heart by reading scripture and by attending church services during December.

But perhaps the most important thing I do, to prepare for Jesus’ birth is to reflect on the year that has been, to see if there are people I need to say sorry to because I have wronged them, and to see if there are people I need to forgive because they have wronged me.

In doing this, I seek to bring hope, love, and life back into those relationships before we celebrate the birth of Jesus together.

Perhaps you can do the same this December.

Rev Lewis Eden

Holy Cross, Crediton