If it is true as someone once said that the darkest hour is just before dawn, then the coming of Jesus Christ into our world has to be unmitigated good news. The world He entered into in person was certainly a dark and dangerous place, and so is our world today. So, to know that Jesus was, and is, the light that shines in the darkness, such that the darkness cannot overcome it, is good news for all of us.

John the Baptist truly lived up to his name, which means 'gift of God', and certainly made use of that gift in what was a remarkably short and ill-ending life. Imagine: in those few short years, he truly prepared the way of the Lord, got people ready, and even introduced people to Jesus. That's a pretty remarkable achievement.

For me, that cannot help but make me think about my gifts, our gifts, and how we make use of them, whether our time on earth is relatively short or rather lengthy. Just what impact and contribution are we making to our world, to our community, to our circle of family and friends, and to our church? Maybe this Christmas/ pre New Year time is a good time to assess this, and maybe even make some resolutions of what we might continue, though more intentionally perhaps, or what we might start.

All of us have been blessed by God in oh-so many ways. Living on this planet Earth, and living in Canada, for instance. Having access to a level of housing, food, health care and necessities that much of the world only dreams of. And then the blessings of our faith, the blessing of knowing and being known by Jesus Christ...and so much else.

Sadly, far too often we forget about all our blessings and grumble or complain instead. And sometimes we grumble about things that really are our blessings, our health care, for instance, or our churches or our momentary afflictions and problems.

The Virgin Mary would most certainly be facing afflictions and problems when she said 'yes' to God. Here she was, probably not even out of her teen years as yet, saying 'yes' to something that would profoundly change her life and upset all the plans that she and Joseph had made together--her entire future thrown into turmoil, as it were. And yes, because of her 'yes', Jesus was able to come into the world and the world became a better place. And so it is with our 'yes's' as well: God enters our world through us, becomes enfleshed in us, and the world is changed for the better. So maybe our prayer should be, "Lord, help me to say 'yes', yes to your blessings even when they don't appear to be blessings at all.

Today in the church's calendar we celebrate St. Thomas the Apostle. He happens to be one of my favourite saints and, to me, a wonderful role model of what it means to be curious, willing to search and seek and ask questions, and wanting to know the answers. To me, we should all be like that.

For some folks back in the time of Jesus, people like the Roman and Jewish hierarchy, things were pretty good. But, for the rank and file of the ordinary people in Judaea things were very dismal. As if being subjected to the whims of foreign overlords wasn't bad enough, there was massive taxation, such that many people were in great financial difficulty and many people were reduced to losing their homes, farms, and businesses in order to pay those taxes. Add to that, the fact that food was scarce and dear meant that many people barely lived at a subsistence level. So the announcement of 'good news' by John the Baptist was welcome indeed.

Today, many of us find ourselves in a somewhat similar state: the political winds, whether here in Canada or elsewhere, blow unevenly and strangely, costs are rising exponentially, and the state of health care is perilous at best. And so, good news is very welcome to us as well, especially the good news of a Saviour who would be one of us, dwell in our midst, and help us in our adversity. Today, in this season of Advent, we remember that first coming with glee and thanksgiving, His more recent coming into our lives and our hearts, and His future coming when He will finally set all the world 'to rights'. It is this vein, that I send out my meditation for today.

Far too often I have heard people say, "Oh, God could never accept someone like me. Why, with a past like mine..." It is perhaps hard for them to imagine, but God is in the business of accepting all sorts of people, and they are no exception. After all, just look at the roster of people that the Bible records as being accepted by God--a murder like Moses, for instance; or a murder and adulterer like King David, or a rather questionable sort like Rahab of Jericho, the thief on the cross, or a persecutor of the church like Paul--or like today's gal, the woman caught in the very act of adultery. All of this just goes to show that God loves, values, accepts and forgives all sorts of people--no exceptions! Which, is very, very good news, for us, and for everyone else.

Readiness: that is 'the name of the game' for the season of Advent. But how are we to be ready, that is the question. A suggestion might be to think about the three comings of Christ. The first is what we celebrate at Christmas, the second pertains to His coming into our hearts and lives, and the third has to do with His eventual coming, His return, to our world in glory. So, with the first coming, we can be ready by pondering all that Jesus' birth and coming into our world has meant--whether for us personally, for the church or for the world in general. It is quite incredible that He was willing to set aside His divine prerogatives for 'a moment' and enter fully into our existence as frail, finite human beings. What an outstanding way of demonstrating in practice just how much God loves and cares for us, love in action, no less. And, in terms of His second coming, we can be more ready by looking at our lives and pondering how we might make Him more at home there. If you are at all like me, there is some tidying and purging that might well need to be done for Him to more properly take up residence there. All of which, I would surmise, will make us more ready for His eventual coming in glory and great splendour.

With the many perplexing and disturbing things happening, both near and afar, it is easy to wonder just what is happening and what will happen in the future. With the passages in the Scriptures that purport to tell of future events, it is easy to try to second guess them and work out some sort of timeline. But Jesus said that even He did not know the times and the seasons of His coming. So, my suggestion is that we trust the Saviour and His love and care, and not the signs. After all, trusting Him is what it is all about.