Diary Confusion

October seems to have come and gone so quickly.  Not long ago the news reporters were remarking how, for the first time in years, the weather has meant the leaves on the trees are changing colour before falling.  They remarked, at least on one occasion, that it should allow there to be a good autumn.  Then the snow and hail came.  Winter seems well set, the summer a distant memory and autumn was gone in a blink. 

It’s not just the weather that seems to be set in winter, much of city centre life seems to have progressed that far already.  Not being in a residential environment means the community have missed any acknowledgement of the Autumn activities.  Hallowe’en, marketing opportunity that it is, came and went long before 31 October and Bonfire Night will be barely felt in the city centre.  Autumn, I’m sorry to say, is long gone and winter is here to stay.

Winter, at least in the city centre, means only one thing.  Christmas.  The German market will be here from 13 November; the lights will be switched on as early as November 8.  The shops have got their displays up and running; the retailers of gadgets, trinkets and calendars have crawled out of their summer hibernation and Starbucks are championing their seasonal red paper cups.  For those of you who haven’t spotted, it’s worth remarking on the Christmas Decorations for the Bullring – fake magpies and peacocks with lurid colour plastic chandeliers.  Obviously the season is far more varied than the religious traditions suggest.
Many of us will be despairing of how early Christmas is settling in, and I certainly count myself amongst that number.  However it’s not just the shops and local authorities that can get carried away by Christmas long before it ever arrives.

The church, at times, can be nearly as bad.  Christmas starts, not ends, on December 25.  For many of us, however, we’ll be craving Christmas carols and opportunities to mark the birth of Our Lord long before the 4th week of advent.  We have the end of the liturgical year, and then the change into the next.  With that comes Advent, and only then Christmas.  In the mean time let us enjoy and embrace the final biblical passages of this liturgical year as we share together in worship and fellowship.  And, once advent arrives, let us journey through it step by step, not being impatient for the conclusion.

And with that, I’ll stop talking about Christmas in November and get on with enjoying autumn come rain, shine or snow.