"Advent: In the overwhelming commercialism of this time of year, it is easy to forget that the season of Advent that begins on Sunday is not focussed on preparing for Christmas, instead it is a time to remember that it was in “the time of this mortal life” that “Jesus Christ came to us in great humility” and “that on the last day... he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge the living and the dead.” To talk of such things can bring odd reactions, people thinking that such thinking is not part of their tradition, that the idea of Jesus returning is only something for those whom they would regard as religious zealots, that it is no more than an optional belief for Christians, yet every time we say the Creed we declare a belief that he will come again to “judge the living and the dead.”
Are the odd people not those who say that they believe what they say they believe every Sunday, but those who say the words every week, but then say that they do not believe them? If we do not believe in the advent of Christ, if we do not believe in the coming of his kingdom, then is our faith purely about the here and now? And if our faith is only about the here and now, then why do we believe at all?"
-Ian Poulton.
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