Dec 1st Advent day 5

So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.  Matthew 24:44


 ⁵ The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

   ⁶ “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

Matthew 25 5-6

That second passage really jumped out at me today.  The fact that the bridegroom was a long time coming.  Yes.  2000 years and still waiting. Despite the frequent assurances from various quarters that we are ' in the end times' the fact is that the end hasn't come yet.  Last Sunday in church we were looking at the genealogy in  Matthew - the 42 generations from Adam to the birth of Jesus. Another very long time to wait.  God doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry.    And then there's the next bit  - they all became drowsy.  good word that.  Drowsy.  lethargic, dozy, half asleep.   That sort of sums up where much of the church seems to be at the moment.  Maybe not entirely asleep.  But mostly.  Not terribly active. Tired of waiting.  Bored maybe.  Not really believing that a return is imminent. 

And then there's the time.  Its the middle of the night.  The midnight hour.   Which is exactly what it feels like at the moment in the midst of all the economic doom and gloom.  Dark, depressing, hard to see the way ahead.  Yes, that's where we find ourselves.

I suppose we are in no darker times than there have been in the past.  Certainly not as dark as in the middle of the world wars.  People living then must have surely thought they were in the end days.   Just like people living in Roman occupied Bethlehem, Nazareth, Judea must have felt.    And then, in the middle of the night, the baby, the bridegroom, appears.  A Saviour.  A Rescuer. A Redeemer, A King.

Even if he doesn't come back in person this Christmas, His Spirit is moving amongst us, ready to be invited into the problems and difficulties, the dark days and the trials.  Shining Light.  Bringing Truth.  Showing the Way.

Lord, in the same way You came the first time round, unexpectedly, suddenly, unannounced, You will be coming back.  Help the church, help me, to be awake, ready, not dozy and lethargic.  In the busy frantic rush of Christmas let us not close our eyes to the possibility of You actually arriving by Your Spirit in the midst of it and doing something amazing.  I don't want to miss You any single time You come.