What is your Advent resolution?

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end.

Isaiah 9:6-7

Advent is upon us. The start of the church year. A time of reflection. A season to anticipate the coming of the saviour into the world – the return of Christ who will bring all things to completion.

Or at least it ought to be, but as the world heads into Advent what is going through our minds? For some it will be fear based on the actions of ISIL/ISIS in Europe recently. For others it is the frenetic activity required to prepare at work for the Christmas break. For others its the organisation of Christmas itself, perhaps coping with the ever increasing excitement of children around them. For some it will be sadness at the memory of loved ones no longer around to celebrate Christmas with them. So many pressures and thoughts competing for our attention!

Yet in the passage in Isaiah we find some words that we could meditate on to help us to recenter and to find hope in Christ. There are amazing promises in the short paragraph. For example, to us, yes us, a child is born, a son is given. To us? Who are we for such a gift? What love the Father has for us, what grace. And not just for us because of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Whatever is going on around us the truth is that Christ’s peace is extending across humanity and across his creation.

Jesus taught his disciples to pray “your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” It wasn’t some bit of wishful thinking, some acknowledgement that God should be allowed to get on with what he was doing. It was a prayer that committed the one praying it to be the hands and feet that saw that kingdom come, to see God’s will being done. To make that happen Jesus left us with the counsellor, the Holy Spirit, who empowers and enlightens us, who enables us to be the answer to the prayer that we pray.

So Advent is a time when we can meditate on the wonderful truths of Jesus and all that God has done for us. As the church year starts we can make our “new year” resolutions, resolutions to be the answer to the prayer that we pray daily to see God’s kingdom come and his will be done, to be people of peace filled with God’s Spirit bringing light and life to those we encounter, introducing them to the God who gave everything for us and for them.