I am, like many at this time, pretty busy. Busy enough to be worried, but that says more about me perhaps than it does about the the number of things I have to do. Don’t misunderstand me, I like having things to do but in Advent especially I feel the need for some space. It’s not just the significance of the season but the short days and Winter light make me more than usually contemplative. And it’s right to reflect at this time. At this time also I particularly feel the need for ritual – something that has been almost completely lost from out society but which used to be at the very heart of peoples lives (and still is no doubt in some cultures). Of course rituals can be empty substitutes for the ‘real thing’ and, it must be admitted, there are some pretty strong rebukes in the Bible (Amos 5, 21 ff). Add to that the instinctive suspicion that the protestant church has for such fiendish popery and you will understand that it is with some embarrassment that I confess that I simply have to have an Advent candle to mark the season. It is important to me to light it every day and I can offer no explanation as to why. Ask my dear wife and she will tell you that I insist on having at least one ‘back-up’ candle in case of malfunction. Oh the shame of it! But dare I suggest that the dangers of engaging in little rituals are not so acute in a society such as ours despite what you occasionally hear coming from a tract or pulpit. One of the many irritating human traits to be observed is the tendency to preach thundering denunciations of the sins we are least likely to commit (‘running around with a fire extinguisher in a flood’ as C S Lewis once put it). Anyway, what I do know is that we live in a world of almost constant noise, and we need all the help we can get to hear for the cry of a tiny baby, an event that is too important to miss.
Richard
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