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

We have travelled home, we have made some preparations, and now we settle in for the last run up to Christmas.

Nativity Set: Toying with Spiritual food

Read: Luke 2:6 - 12

Nativity scenes are fairly commonplace across our society, from large scale models to small fun ones, from PlayMobil to Lego there are different shapes and sizes. In fact an old friend, Mark Oestreicher, used to have an annual list of the Worst Nativity Scenes - from the ridiculous to the completely irreverent. However, whenever you examine one of these scenes you must ask yourself. “How Biblical is this picture?”

Not very much… We like to play nativity, without engaging with it. We are in danger of making just another decoration.

So what can we do? The Nativity (from Latin meaning Birth) is not a toy story, it is an extravagant story. It’s not just one to look at it is there to build our spirits.

In Czech the word used for Nativity is “Betlem” and it doesn’t take a language genius to realise it’s the same word for Bethlehem. But what does Bethlehem mean?

The House Of Bread!

The bandit-shepherds came to this House to glorify the Messiah and then proclaim Him as the first witnesses/evangelists.

The astrologer-kings came to this House and bowed before the King of kings to worship Him with generous gifts

The young parents cradled their baby in the House of Bread… the one who is the Bread of Life.

Taste and see that Lord is good.

Pray for those giving birth over the Christmas time