Thought for the Week beginning 20th November, 2023

All Saints to Advent

The four weeks or so between All Saints' Day, which falls on the 1st November, and Advent Sunday is known in many churches as All Saintstide or the season of Remembrance. Advent is of course the start of the Church year and is very much concerned with looking forward and anticipation.  We look forward to the Christmas celebration of the incarnation - God becoming a human being for a time as Jesus Christ - and we look forward also to the end of time and the final coming again of Christ. Prior to that we are encouraged to look back a bit and recall what has gone before. It begins with the celebration of All Saints as we joyfully bring to mind fellow Christians past and present. Immediately following that there is All Souls, or the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed. This more personal and solemn day is focused on those whom we know who have died and what they have meant to us. During the month there are various days when significant saints of the past are commemorated, and very importantly we remember those who have given their lives in conflicts past and present on Remembrance Sunday.

We need to look back and remember so that we can learn from the past, for it is only with a true and proper sense of history, a readiness to think about the past, and in particular people in the past, and to learn from them that we can hope to grow and move forward. Our Christian brothers and sisters from the past are vital for this purpose. We have an opportunity then in the course of this month or so remember, to take stock of what we have and to get ready. There is a chance in our persoanl lives and in our life as a Church to examine the rich inheritance of the saints, to think seriously about what God has given us, and to prepare for the future.

It can be a time for self-examination, using that three-fold approach of remembering, taking stock and getting ready. Take personal prayer for example - something which many people worry about. "Do I pray often enough?" "Is it the right sort of prayer?" "Am I using the right words?" are all frequently asked questions. Try remembering - what has worked for you in the past? What have others done, especially the saints of the past? And then take stock - see what resources you have, such as books, pictures or symbols, and see what the best time to pray might be. Begin your prayers if you can with thankfulness and praise for what God has done for you. Prayer can then become and rich and expectant experience - a real "Getting Ready" time.

We can apply this to the whole range of our Christian lives and it can be very helpful. Of course it does not have to be only at this time of year that we do this, but All Saints and Advent give us a special opportunity to ponder these things.  I hope and pray that you will give it a go.

Tony Bushell