Adventing

 

TaDa! And we are back in the room. We have returned from London safe and sound. The bank balance is a bit dented but we had saved for that so I don't feel so bad. (I don't feel bad at all). The train was virtually trouble free, we were 20 minutes late on one trip but the excellent train driver talked us all through claiming some money back via the email so everyone was ok with it. I'm sure management were more than happy about the driver giving lessons to the entire train about how to claim. These drivers seem lovely people to me. 

We were determined to take it easy this time and just do things as they came along. However, every evening, we looked at our watches and saw that we had taken over 15000 steps which I wouldn't really consider doing to get away from a serial killer on the Moors. We went to Battersea Power Station which has now been converted into a very "desirable" space with a shopping area and the poshest Zara you have ever seen. 

We went to the Lucien Freud exhibition at the National Gallery. My favourites were the early paintings with exaggerated features which were beautiful. As he gained more skills and confidence, I suppose, the canvases got much bigger as did the people he painted - more often than not with no covering in the pelvic department if you get my meaning. The famous painting of the Queen was also there and I was surprised to see that it is only about eight inches square. 

Then we went to Covent Garden. We haven't been there since the kids were small. I may have false memories but when I went it all seemed a bit more Cockerney with everyone shouting "Hows your farver?" and "Tuppence a bag!" and things like that. Now it's very posh with designer shops and lots of places for "Influencers" to have their photos taken - against huge Christmas trees and sleighs etc. We went into the Glossier shop - a make up emporium which is based in the oldest building in the piazza. It was a bit intimidating. We were greeted on the door by a man in a pink jumpsuit with a leaning towards the flamboyant. He gave us a specific set of instructions about how shopping in the building worked. Without going into details, half an hour later, I found myself sat down by a pink merry-go-round which brought orders up from the basement, whereupon some nice girls would call your name for you to pick up your goods. (I was third in my queue behind Armani and Mollyanna - they seemed very nice). 

So, after all this, if I dozed a little on the train on the way back you could hardly blame me, especially at my time of life. 

We lit the second Advent candle this morning at church (well not me, a nice family who obviously hadn't read the instructions about the order they needed to be lit and nearly ruined Christmas by lighting the white one two weeks early. NOT THAT ONE!) Apparently it should have been the purple one because purple is the colour of Advent. Says who? What did I miss? 

I love Advent. Perhaps more than Christmas. Because this is the time. After all these years this is the time when the stars literally begin to align and the most loving and long awaited plan for redemption begins. The preacher this morning was talking around Luke and I always forget that Luke wasn't around when the others were walking and talking with Jesus which he felt explained why Luke often went into more detail about things because those that were there would maybe tend to think that we knew all this stuff anyway. 

I'm not sure about that but I did wonder if, as the story of the birth of John The Baptist began to unfold, did anyone at the time catch a whisper of who John would be and who he would herald? HOH and I were talking about John the Baptist. He would travel into the desert, as far as I can see, not asking anyone to follow him. Yet follow him they did, only to find a bloke with honey stuck to his head  and bits of locust in his teeth who shouted at them and insulted them. Try that nowadays. So what was the attraction? Maybe (no Bible verses for this - don't call Justin Welby) people who had been praying and watching and waiting sensed something, like a faint perfume on the breeze, a stirring, a possibility that now was the time, after all this time.

These are difficult times for lots of us. It's hard to believe sometimes that things will break and improve. Sometimes we give up but we come back, we look again, we can get up. What helps is being able to spot if things are moving, if an answer is on the way and an answer is always promised. (I'm not saying it is always the answer we expect) That's what we celebrate and remember at Christmas (not the "holidays" coming). That is why we carry on.

So let’s not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don’t give up, or quit. Right now, therefore, every time we get the chance, let us work for the benefit of all, starting with the people closest to us in the community of faith Galatians 6