Advent Calendars for me are very stressful..Firstly do you go for pictures or chocolate,  I did one year choose one with very prettypictures but no chocolate (Big mistake, huge mistake!) , then of course do I choose Nativity scene or High School Musical, am I going for contemplative or the full commercial excitement?

 

Yesterday as the kids waited for breakfast to be over to see their calendars, I wondered again if it was what they hoped for or would theybe disappointed, my kids are very easy going and kind, but you just know when you have got the wrong thing don't you?

 

Many years ago, the world waited for a Messiah, they expecteddeliverance, I am sure they expected spectacle, a warrior arriving in ablaze of glory, yet they got a servant King, a small baby who preachednot violence not the overthrow of a regime, but servanthood, love andturning the other cheek. We have a God full of surprises, who knows andacres about what we need rather than what we want.

 

"Just as there were many who were apalled at him- his appearance wasso disfigured beyond that of any man and his form was marred beyondhuman likeness-so will he sprinkle many nations, and kings will shuttheir mouths because of him." Isaiah 52 vs14-15