|PIC1|The Church of England has launched a new website for Advent with a message from the Archbishop of Canterbury encouraging people to slow down and take some time out to self reflect and consider the meaning of Christ’s coming for their own lives.

The Bishop of Reading, the Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell, tells us what he thinks would help people – and the church – get the most out of Christmas.

CT: Do you think that rushing through Christmas without a second thought is a trap that we as Christians can fall into?

SC: Yes I think so. Christmas carols would be a good example. I love singing Christmas carols but it feels like we start singing them in October and a bit of ancient Christian wisdom would be the balance between the feast and the fast. There is that song ‘I wish it could be Christmas every day’. But actually if every day is Christmas then no day is Christmas.

The ancient pattern of Christian life is where there is a Christian year with seasons and actually the seasons tell the story and each season has its own gift to bring and the gift of the season of Advent is heightening expectation and preparing, not just for welcoming Christ at Christmas but for that day when we will see Him face to face. When we start rushing over that and singing the carols too quickly we miss all that and what it can bring.

When we wait, then when Christmas does come you enjoy it all the more. It’s not about enjoying Christmas less but heightening your enjoyment by going through this time of expectation.

CT: Do you think Christians do this enough? The Archbishop mentions in his message the importance of using Advent to go back to the Bible and the prophesies.

SC: I think as a Church we would benefit from getting back in touch with some of those rhythms which are there in our history of which the church year, the Christian calendar was always seen by Christians as one of the primary ways in which you would meditate upon the whole of the life of Christ through the different seasons.

The more difficult seasons such as Advent and Lent which require fasting and penitence and waiting are pretty counter-cultural to the way we live today. We just need to encourage people to enter into these a bit more deeply.

CT: Would you agree with the Archbishop that the problem of not taking our time to reflect and wait and be patient is fuelling present crises like the credit crunch and environmental problems?

SC: Yes, because the negative side of it all is the instant gratification culture – I want it and I want it now, which ends up meaning that we don’t really know what we want. We lose discernment.

A really interesting question to reflect on is ‘what do you really want for Christmas?’ What do you really want? I think we are so busy being beguiled and seduced by what the world tells us that we want - this car, that house, this holiday, that body - it is always selling us these things which appear to give us joy and happiness but don’t really deliver or deliver just enough to get you addicted. Just stopping to ask ‘what do I truly want?’, that’s something that every human being would benefit from.

What do I really want for Christmas? I think what I would really like is a day of rest with those I love. That’s what I really want. And so inviting people to reflect on their heart’s desire and what they are really looking for in life, that’s at the heart of the season of Advent.

CT: Touching on something slightly different, the Church of England has recorded year on year increases in attendance at its Christmas services. How can the Church seize upon that interest?

SC: The honest answer is I don’t yet know. I think it is undoubtedly the case that most traditional mainstream churches are experiencing big increases in attendance at Christmas. I think what we can do is ensure that we give people a good experience.

I think what churches could be better at is to offer an invitation and opportunity for people to find out more. Many of the people who are coming would like to find out more about the Christian faith but don’t know how to do it. Just putting a little thing on the service sheet saying whom to contact or what you might do or some details of websites is really helpful.

A key thing for us to understand as a Church is that nowadays for most people becoming a Christian is like a journey. Therefore, the key thing for us is how can we help people make the journey and if coming at Christmas is a first step on the journey we need to look at the next steps. The next step of course shouldn’t be ‘wait until next Christmas’ but also it might not be ‘come to church on Sunday’ because they may not be ready for normal Sunday church.

That’s something that the Church as a whole could think about, what next steps we could put in place. There are some things available. It’s just a matter of making the connections.

CT: What’s your personal prayer as you go into the Christmas season?

I think ‘physician heal thy self’! If my family were here they would say dad you talk a good game! My prayer for myself is that I can actually find some space for reflection upon what my heart’s desire is. And that’s my prayer for everyone really. If we all learned to sit still the world would be a better place.