Advent is coming

How are you planning on observing Advent?
Will it be a frantic round of shopping and cooking and work parties and family get togethers?
Will it be focussed on your children or grandchildren, if you have them? (Children are great, but Christmas isn't just for them.)
What about you in the midst of all this? How wlll you find time to stop and reflect.
If you'd like to make some time to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus away from all that busyness, there will be opportunities to do that through Seal Church.

There will be daily reflections posted here from Nov 29 - Advent Sunday - links will be posted on facebook and twitter. They will help us to reflect on the Christmas story through art. We'll be seeing how we can put ourselves "In the Picture".

There will also be quiet, candlelit, Advent "Breathing Space" Communion services on Thursdays Dec 3,10 & 17 in church - these are wonderfully peaceful services lasting half an hour, with lots of silence to help us catch up with ourselves, and catch up with God, and with short talks to help us think.

To start us thinking about Advent, here's a poem by David Redding, from "If I could Pray Again(1965)



ADULT ADVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
O Lord,
Let Advent begin again
In us,
Not merely in commercials;
For that first Christmas was not
Simply for children,
But for the
Wise and the strong.
It was
Crowded around that cradle,
With kings kneeling.
Speak to us
Who seek an adult seat this year.
Help us to realize,
As we fill stockings,
Christmas is mainly
For the old folks —
Bent backs
And tired eyes
Need relief and light
A little more.
No wonder
It was grown-ups
Who were the first
To notice
Such a star.