A stress-free Christmas countdown

For children, there's no panic about Christmas

Father Chris Jackson from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle says Advent shouldn't be a time of stress and Christmas panic.

Countdown for Christmas?

That's what an Advent calendar encourages us to do.

The excitement of opening a door, eating a chocolate, or even logging on to BBC Radio 4's Advent calendar website - all calculated to remind us that the days leading up to Christmas are flying by.

And so what? For most adults that will simply mean panic rather than the excitement that the approach of Christmas brings for the kids.

"I haven't bought the cards, let alone written them", "I haven't bought a single present and the traffic to the Metro Centre is hideous", "How are we going to fit everyone round the table on Christmas Day?"

December seems to be a month of worry for most of us.

Look busy

It's not meant to be about worry. The four weeks before Christmas take the name Advent from a Latin word that means "The coming [of Christ]".

Advent candles countdown to Christmas

Not just his coming as a man which we celebrate at Christmas, but his second coming which he has promised and which Christians are waiting for.

Seen on a poster - "Jesus is coming, look busy." No! Surely that's the last thing he wants?

It's all the busyness of December that stops you from doing the one thing that would make him glad - to pause, and be still, and wait for him peacefully.

Look at Mary and Joseph. The last weeks of her pregnancy were full of problems - the journey to Bethlehem, no room at the inn, birth in a stable.

So much to worry about, and yet tradition points us to a family for whom 'all is calm'. Mary and Joseph found peace in the midst of chaos.

What was their secret? They both trusted that God would give them all they needed to fulfil the roles for which he had chosen them.

Absolute trust

Christmas shopping in December can be stressful

The difficulties were still there, but they were given exactly what they needed to do what had to be done.

Perhaps they prayed a verse from the psalms that they would have known - "Into your hands, Lord…".

Years later, their only Son would pray the same prayer as he died on a cross.

It's a prayer of absolute trust that you can pray anywhere no matter what or who threatens your peace.

Before Advent calendars it was an Advent custom for preachers to remind people of the four last things - Death, Judgement, Hell, and Heaven.

The Advent wreath with its four candles can be a similar reminder and some clergy still use the four Sundays as an opportunity to speak about these things, scary though they might seem, these great themes can get us back on track and keep us in mind of what really does matter.

So, Advent calendars, the Advent wreath, the example of Mary and Joseph.

Let the days that remain before Christmas take you out of the mad circle of busyness and place you in the quiet circle of God's love.