.

I’m excited about next thirty days of travelling together to Christmas with the daily Food For Faith reflections, beginning on Sunday, First Sunday of Advent.

I’m sending this email to everyone on the FFF email database – The next 30 Advent reflections will only be sent to those who have ticked “Lent & Advent Daily Reflections” at this link. Check here. If you don’t receive an email on Sunday morning  (and the following Advent mornings) it means you are not yet signed up.

People sometimes comment that it must be challenging for me to write a daily reflection over these weeks. My response is that if I am living with every sense heightened to the presence and the action of Jesus, really tuned in, then the reflections flow easily. If I’m sleepwalking through each day then preparing the daily reflections is not just difficult, it’s impossible.

Here in the Southern Hemisphere these days are among the busiest of the year since Christmas also marks the end of the study and work year and the beginning of the summer break.

The many demands of these days provide an ideal opportunity for noticing God who is present and active with us and in us even when might not think we have the time to notice.

But when we are feeling pressured, we are most helped by noticing that Jesus is with us. We are never alone.

There is a great novel, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, and when I read it a few years ago I was greatly challenged by one phrase:

“Faced with the Divine, people took refuge in the banal, as though answering a cosmic multiple-choice question: If you saw a burning bush, would you (a) call 911, (b) get the hot dogs, or (c) recognise God? A vanishingly small number of people would recognise God.”

As we make this Advent journey, walking together, set a few minutes at least a couple of times every day to practice recognising God. Savour the moments when you are walking or driving or waiting to recognise the presence and action of God.

Thank you to all who share this link with friends and family. Please invite others to share this Advent journey with FFF. Invite them to sign up at www.foodforfaith.org.nz.

I like this reflection from Pope Francis:

“In this season of Advent,
we are called to expand
the horizons of our hearts,
to be amazed by the life
which presents itself each day with newness.
In order to do this,
we must learn to not depend
on our own certainties,
on our own established strategies,
because the Lord comes at a time
that we do not imagine.
He comes to bring us
into a more beautiful and grand dimension.”
Pope Francis, Angelus, 27th November 2016

Again, take a moment to invite others to sign up either by sharing this email or sending the invitation by Facebook following and sharing this page, or Instagram check here.