Advent 2 - signposts

Even with a sat nav thing - i must confess i can get lost so easily. Partly as i think i know the way and try and speak to the device or argue against it. Sat navs can't turn the car round when we make a mistake we have to admit the mistake and turn back. One night coming from Heathrow i got so lost i ended up near Milton Keynes - all because I thought i knew the way i was going and so the journey to Essex was a very interesting one. Thankfully i was alone.

For the people of God in the Old Testament - they had the prophets who pointed the way to God and the coming Christ - but the people wouldn't look or listen and they ended up in all sorts of muddles and exile and far away from God. The prophets, a bit like sat navs, couldn't physically turn the people around, the people had to change direction themselves after hearing the word of God. Signs are there for a purpose but if you fail to see them or read the signs, then ultimately it leads to confusion.

Before Christ, the prophets were the signs along the way - pointing to God. One by one like candles being lit, the gave a little glow in the darkness around. They tell of the one who is coming. In Sundays reading Malachi (Ch3:1-4) says "the one whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple".

John the Baptist also points the way to the Christ and as we look at the signs we too wait with expectation. Isaiah says "the people who walked in darkness have seen a great light." It is a lot easier to find the way in the lightor when you have a bright beacon to guide you.

So what signs are we looking for this Advent time? Are we seeking to find the Christ Child? Will it mean a journey like the Magi from afar or are we close to God. It doesnt really matter how far or near to God we are - because he never gets lost and can always find us if we just ask.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer says:

"At Christmas, God's great promise is to be fulfilled. In the birth of Jesus Christ, God took on the form of all humanity, not just that of a single human being. Our living as real human beings, and loving the real people next to us, is, again, grounded only in God's becoming human, in the unfathomable love of God for us human beings. God becomes human out of love for humanity. God does nto seek the most perfect hhuman being with whom to be united but taken on human nature as it."

The prophets were right this is something to wait for!