On our holiday in Canada this summer we joined a trip, in a huge vehicle, which ‘disgorged’ us, onto a glacier, on the edge of an icefield. It was a hot day and the surface of the ice was wet. I made a flippant comment about the ice taking our weight, to which the guide replied by assuring me that the ice under our feet was deeper than the Eiffel Tower is tall! There is more to life that we dream of. We live so much on the surface, that we assume that is all there is, unless or until, we catch a glimpse of something deeper. To me those ‘glimpses are the footprints of God – the evidence of his presence and purpose in his world. I believe it is at least as difficult to explain the world without belief in God, as it is to wrestle with the difficulties of belief.
I wonder if it is for you, as it is for me, that there have been moments of revelation in your life, when you have seen the footprints of God. It was such a moment for the Psalmist when he wrote:-
“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers:
the moon and the stars which you have set in place,
What is man that you should be mindful of him:
or the son of man that you should visit him?” (Psalm 8)
Sometimes it is the sheer grandeur and majesty of a scene in nature which humbles us into recognising the footprint of God. Other times it might be the beauty and delicacy of a flower or butterfly. It could be a dawn or a sunset or the light playing on a stream or estuary or a single dewdrop on a spider’s web. But it is not only scenes of nature where we see God’s footprint. There are moments of human experience: moments of birth; moments of death; the experience of love and the unexpected gift of revelation and creativity. The borderlands of mortality where we catch a glimpse of eternity. We also see them in examples of goodness and selfless sacrifice: people who devote their lives to alleviate the suffering of others: people in whose lives shines the light of Christ and who live out the Christian paradox of losing their life to find it.
Advent is a time to prepare for the coming of Christ and to seek out the footprints of God. It has been said that “you never see God face to face, only his footprints after he has passed.” Through the pages of the Old testament we see the footprints of God leading his people from darkness to light. The Prophets point out those prints and show them leading to the one who comes in justice but with mercy: to cleanse and purge, yet to purify: to turn spears into pruning hooks and to declare justice for all who are oppressed and to bring in a time of righteousness and peace. So the prophecy was fulfilled in the Babe of Bethlehem for “in him was life and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness will never overcome it.” Jesus is the physical imprint of God on our world. From crib to cross Jesus walked the way and left the footprints of his love. And still today he calls us to follow. Christ has come: Christ is present: Christ will come again. The coming of Christ is not just about a footprint, petrified in time. Advent is a time for us to see the footprints of God in your life and mine, here and now. It is also a time to follow where those steps lead and to scan the horizon for signs of his coming.
I invite us all to use Advent, not just to get ready for Christmas, but to seek out signs of Christ’s presence, and discover the depth and reality of God’s purpose and power, in his world, and to recognise that as the truth to which we move. Then we shall truly celebrate Christmas, not as a fleeting physical indulgence, but in awe and wonder, as the footprint of God – the promise of his presence and purpose in your life and mine – the origin from which we come and the destiny to which we move.
Yours sincerely
Peter Lee
