THE service at Crediton Methodist Church on Sunday, December 15 was led by Rev Jeanette Richardson. The third candle on our Advent Ring was lit.

It is beginning to feel like Christmas. Jeanette wondered what makes Christmas alive to you?

Is it carols on the radio, a brass band playing carols outside, decorations or may be reflecting on the birth of Jesus by reading an Advent book.

Perhaps it was seeing the depictions of the gifts in the 12 Days of Christmas event at church?

Things do not always turn out how we expect. There may be a Christmas that is good or one that is uncomfortable.

Things that we enjoyed in childhood might challenge us now we are older.

In the reading from Luke 3, John the Baptist is speaking to people gathered at the river Jordan.

He starts by calling them a “brood of vipers” and then tells them to bear fruits worthy of repentance.

Through repentance there was the opportunity for change and as we change God’s kingdom is made personal.

When John spoke to the people it was about simple practical ways of living – to share with those less fortunate, do not cheat people and take no more than you need.

I wonder what John might have said to you and me if we turned up at the river excited to hear him and may be expecting him to say you are OK, you’ve not done bad things.

God meets with us all – the name Emmanuel means God with Us. Sometimes we are expecting and waiting for it to happen. Sometimes it is in the midst of everyday events.

The story of Christmas is about a young woman quietly doing her daily tasks when she meets with an angel.

How do you think Mary felt when the angel told her she was going to have a baby? Terrified? Incredulous? Worried? Joyful?

Whatever she felt, she said yes I will do this for God. Are there things you feel God is calling you to do and how was that response for you? Easy? challenging? difficult?

As we approach Christmas we have all sorts of different feelings about it. Are we excited and joyful?

Another character in the story is Joseph. We are not told much about him.

Whereas the angel met with Mary as she was going about her daily tasks, the angel met Joseph in his sleep and told him that it was God’s work that Mary was pregnant and that it would be OK.

Bravely Joseph continues with his relationship with Mary. What courage!

Is it a time of awe, a time when you can learn something new about God at work in the world and in your own life?

What is God saying to you this Advent season?

This is a time when we approach Christmas and are reflecting on Jesus’s first coming but also looking forward to His second coming?

Bronwyn Nott