MINISTER'S BLOG   November 2026

As we enter November we are conscious of the dark nights and cooler weather. Perhaps a season for wrapping up in a blanket next to the fire while watching your favourite TV
programme rather than venturing outside. But I, along with many other Church leaders, am preparing for Advent - this year starting on Sunday 29th November - and looking towards
Christmas. Advent is, as you may know, the season of waiting, of preparation, of looking forward to the birth of Christ, of God coming to the world in human form.

Matthew 25:1-13 is a parable about preparation and waiting. Ten virgins all waiting for the bridegroom to arrive; all waiting, all with a lit oil lamp, all seemingly prepared. But what they didn't know was exactly when the bridegroom would arrive. Some were caught out because they didn't have spare oil to keep their lamps burning.

This parable isn’t about looking ready but about actually being ready. It is referring not to Christ coming to the world as a baby, as we will hear about over the coming weeks, but to His promise to come again.

You may have heard suggestions that we should each have an emergency kit of food, blankets, candles etc to see us through a few days in the case of an extreme cold spell in the winter. This isn't about scaremongering but about being prepared, ready for an event to take place at an unknown time so we don't get caught out. And so it is with this parable. We are told to be prepared for Christ's return, whenever that may be.
 
Preparation is about the prayers prayed in secret, the obedience that costs something, the love that remains when the wait is long, the commitment to worship in the dark times, the encouraging of each other.  To the world the women in Matthew 25 all looked ready because the world could see a light. But God looks at your oil supplies.  

As you prepare for cold nights and look towards Christmas, are you living your life now and preparing your heart for Christ's return?

Keep your heart faithful in the waiting.
Nigel