At Home In Advent

The following words for reflection are taken and adapted from “At Home In Advent - A domestic journey from Advent to Epiphany” from Gordon Giles (BRF - Bible Reading Fellowship). The entire book is available from Eden.co.uk and would be recommended to get a fuller experience of this time of devotion and meditation.

The purpose of these devotional is to give you something of an everyday object or motion which can focus our thinking through Advent. There are 3 sections:

Travelling in Advent
At Home in Advent
The run up to Christmas

This is a journey…

Traffic lights: get ready… go!

Read: Matthew 8:5 - 13

Red, green and amber (gold) are very usual Christmas colours, but could we make them Christian colours?

Red for the blood of Jesus on the cross,
Amber for the light of Jesus to the world,
Green for the hope of growth in Jesus.

An Italian joke would say in Milan traffic lights are instructions, in Rome they are suggestions and in Naples, they are Christmas decorations! Yet we need direction, a time to stop, a time to go, a time to prepare.

The centurion sought the green light from Jesus and all were amazed as Jesus gave direction. Sometimes we are not as willing as this man to listen to Jesus, or we don’t show the patience of the centurion. We think we know best and follow our own direction. It’s time to stop and look at the lights. The light of the world still directs us.

Are your eyes open to see the colour of the lights in front of you?

What do the three colours mean to you?

Next time you stop at traffic lights thinking about where you are going.

Pray for all those who keep our roads safe.