Rev David Warner column: Making preparations for Christmas and more

In his latest column for us, the Vicar of Mossley, Reverend David Warner, talks all about what Advent means as the festive period fast approaches...

Advent Sunday (November 29) is the beginning of a new Christian year. 

Advent means the arrival and with the season we await the joys of Christmas, as we recall Jesus coming to earth as one of us, and the coming of the kingdom when he returns. 

Advent is a time of preparation - preparing for Christmas, for celebrations (however different they are this year) and above all preparing ourselves for the life to come. 

Though a short season, we mark it in a variety of ways, not least with Advent calendars and a crown of candles in church which counts down the Sundays to Christmas - if you’re my age or older you might remember the famous Blue Peter Advent crown made of coathangers, with tinsel and candles attached!

There’s lots in the news about the vaccines in production, and we give thanks for the skill of scientists and others who have done this work so quickly - as we begin the Advent season we look forward not just to Christmas, but to the coming of a new world where we are once again free to move around as we ‘used to.’

The world was changed by the birth of one man two thousand years ago, and our world has been changed for ever by Covid-19 - what we build in its aftermath is up to us. Happy Advent.