Advent

Dear friends,

You are all probably busy getting ready for Christmas - a festival of joy and blessing that brings so much stress with it!  For those of you who are Christians and think warmly of the birth of Jesus as an occasion of peace and simplicity, don't be fooled.  There would have been crowds of people and a house full of noisy relatives.  But the encouragement for us is that God can be just as present in the midst of our noise and clutter and stress as in an oasis of calm.

The piece I have for you today on my website (http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk) is a celebration of December, the birth of winter that can feel bare and cold, and of Advent, the time of waiting for what will come, for new hopes to feed old dreams, for restoration, for God.

Advent

December comes.  It creeps in with the slate-grey dawn past the dark branches to settle with a chill.  It is the month of zenith, a cauldron for the dark, backdrop for Christmas lights and fancies.  It shuffles hungry feet inside and holds sway round the hearth.  It is the month of endings and beginnings, of waiting for the rebirth of sun that now holds our remembrance of the birth of the Son. 
©Jane Upchurch

To read the rest go to http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/view/words

I have also added a poem to the Word Live section which was published on 26th November.  It is written on Mattew 25.1-13, the parable of the ten virgins, a hard story about those who were not ready for God.

You came  (Matthew 25.1-13)

You came
and I didn’t expect you then,
you needed me
and I wasn’t ready,
you’d invited me in
and I had to turn away,
you’d told me what to bring
and I hadn’t done it.

©Jane Upchurch

To read the rest go to http://www.janeupchurch.co.uk/view/word-live

Have a lovely Christmas season and an exciting new year.

Love Jane