Advent is about preparing for the second coming of Jesus, in glory on the last day, in the light of his first coming, as a baby in Bethlehem.

When Israel returned from exile in Babylon, it found the comfort of discovering its sins were no longer held against it, and the joy of knowing it was going home. Advent is about the slow realisation that for all the prisons others and ourselves put us in, God has the key. The name of that key is Jesus.

Today’s reflection is written and read by Sam Wells, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields.