“Attention shoppers,” sang the stores speaker system cutting through the cheesy Christmas tune, “we have a lost season, he could have been left behind some time ago and answers to the name Advent. Would the carers of Advent please leave their shopping and make their way to the nearest exit where the season is desperate to be found?”

The announcement went unheard amidst the Christmas crush, both by bargain hunters who clawed items from the shelves, their painted smiles lit by the fake trees and flickering fairylights, and the seasonal employees whose senses had been dulled by the stress of over demanding customers and a Christmas soundtrack featuring traditional 70’s rock on heavy rotation. Nobody noticed and poor little Advent remained alone and forgotten.

Ok, so there was no in-store announcement, but in the relentless tide of commercial Christmas, Advent has become something of a forgotten season.

Please don’t misunderstand me; I’m no scrooge! In fact as soon as I get home next week I’ll be looking forward to taking my kids on the annual trip to pick up the family Christmas tree and decking the halls with bows of holly (and tinsel) whilst supping eggnog and singing ‘ding dong merrily on high’! It’s just that I think we miss out on the treasure Advent offers as we are swept up in the ‘shazam’ of Christmas. We’re so busy feasting that we forget the fasting. Advent tells us to slow down and wait, and it’s in the waiting that we find it’s treasure, or at the very least we bring Christmas back into focus and appreciate it all the more for the anticipation that builds.

But perhaps we’ve forgotten how to wait, or at least to wait well. I stood recently on a cold Berlin station platform, the train (unusually for Germany) was going to be 10 minutes late. I pulled my phone from my pocket, flicked through some recent emails, then set about my favourite current distraction: a few rounds of Angry Birds (a trivial but fun game for my phone) occasionally I glanced up at the station clock but otherwise I was fully disengaged from my surroundings and immersed in a world where I catapulted little red birds at thieving pigs! Life has become rather like that these days; I live in a series of moments and should something not present itself immediately I look for ways to occupy my time until the moment catches up with me. The season of Advent cuts across that mentality and asks us to look at Christmas from a distance and watch it’s approach considering all it means to us and the world around us.

Does Christmas time really start earlier each year? Or are we just shocked each year to see reindeer, sleighs and bearded santas in October? Regardless, an October start for our celebration season is quite ‘normal’ these days and Christmas now begins at least a month before advent… and that can’t be right. Advent begins 4 Sundays before Christmas and Christmas, according to tradition rather than the high street, begins on the 24th of December. That’s 4 weeks to look ahead anticipating the coming of Christ.

Advent may have been overshadowed by a 3 month winter celebration but this year I want it back!

I want to take my time and prepare for a real celebration. I want to consider what the Hope of Christ means to a world in darkness, the Peace of Christ to a world in turmoil and the Joy of Christ to a world in pain. I want to (for a while) turn my back on the busyness of the high street stores and listen to the voice which calls out through the rush of panic buying, urging me to still my heart, to put down my shopping leave the store and cherish the lost advent.

To help us prepare well 24-7 Prayer will be blogging daily throughout advent on themes chosen to make us think, reflect deeply and anticipate the celebration ahead. We’ve asked bloggers from around the world to get creative and they’ve responded sending poems, stories, videos and artwork to bring a focus to advent.

The themes are traditional advent topics; the first week focuses on Hope. The second, peace. Then as we get nearer to the celebration the third reminds us of Joy and we finish up with blogs on the topic of Love. We’d love to journey with you towards Christmas and if you’ve come across any helpful resources or want to share your thoughts do let us know by leaving a comment either here or on one of the advent blogs.

Wishing you all a splendid, thoughtful advent.”

24-7 is offering an advent calendar to inspire you through the season of advent with poems, art, scriptures, video’s and much more. You can check it out over on the International site here!

You can read more from Scot over on his blog.