Coffee Theology

I've been so looking forward to Advent.   One of the great things I've found about being part of a Christian community is that the joy of anticipating Christmas starts on Advent Sunday, four Sundays before Christmas.  Growing up, any attempts to celebrate Christmas before the start of the school holidays were frowned on.  (I would never have been able to get away with watching 'Scrooged' in November).  The Christian calendar observed by most churches allows the fun to start early, however.  Today is Advent Sunday.  It's official: Christmas is coming. This is a photo of the fun and games that were had in the church garden on Friday during the switching on of Leigh on Sea's Christmas lights.  I had very little to do with the planning and setting up and wasn't even able to be there on the evening.  My small contribution was towards the crib you can see in the foreground.  Propped on a display of autumn leaves and branches (artfully arranged by a florist friend)

This is a really tricky one for me.  On the one hand, I'm a woman.  Cases of sexual violence against women upset me on a visceral level.  I started reading Laura Bates' 'EverydaySexism' book and it was so depressing I stopped reading.     Women are often physically weaker than men (though I imagine Jessica Ennis is pretty strong) and if a man decides to do something a woman doesn't want him to do, unless she has had some effective self-defence classes, all she can do is scream. Of course, if she's blind drunk, she can't even do that.   On the other hand, I am a follower of Jesus and so by definition I believe in forgiveness and redemption, both for me and for those who hurt me.  Christians are not especially moral people; they are people who recognise their own imperfection and frailty and put their trust in one who knows them intimately and accepts them completely.   Like Jessica Ennis-Hill, I don't want Ched Evans to receive another lucrative contract