Some jewellery advent calendars include items in a range of metals, and some include gems, so whether you're a gold fan or a silver stunner, there's something for every taste. So, in today’s church setting, I should be saying to you ‘Happy New Year’. And yet everything in our lives outside the church tells us we’re not there yet. And equally, it is one of the challenges of our discipleship that we should look occasionally beyond our immediate surroundings to the eternal life which Jesus promises and to which we all are destined. When we sing hymns about Christ coming “with clouds descending”, and bringing judgment and victory, we are looking towards a future event beyond our immediate horizon - a revelation yet to happen.

The answer to this puzzle is that the church does have its own new year celebration, and today is it! Advent Sunday marks the church’s new year. This year there are a number of gorgeous calendars to choose from, including must have countdowns from Missoma, Astrid and Miyu and many more.Advent takes the prophecies of the coming of the Messiah in the Hebrew Scriptures, places them alongside our knowledge and experience of Jesus in the gospels, and challenges us to prepare ourselves to meet Christ in glory when the Kingdom of God is finally established. But first, have you ever wondered why the church seems to have very little to say about the coming of the New Year on January 1st? Perhaps more than in many other places, here we celebrate not only the diversity of our cultures, sexualities and gender identities, we also celebrate the diversity of our reflections and our hopes.

And the more we invest in that celebration in terms of energy, excitement, and preparation, the more we are likely to direct all our thoughts and reflections throughout the whole of December towards a magical Christmas Night, and a glorious Christmas Day, and the recovery offered by a lazy Boxing Day. This fabulous calendar includes 24 pieces of jewellery to help you count down to Christmas in style, and includes luxury pieces made with crystals from Swarvoski. We are looking forwards to a glory which is yet to come in all its fullness, we are not commemorating a sequence of events from 2000 years ago that we re-enact each winter.We believe, as Christians, that our eternal life is to be spent in relationship with Jesus. And Advent says: start your yearly round of festivals and celebrations by reflecting on what that relationship means to you now, and what it could mean for you in the future. Many big-name brands including Missoma, Astrid & Miyu, and Estella Bartlett have revealed their own jewellery calendars for this year, which promise to make your Christmas even more dazzling than usual. But for those of us within our churches, Advent has its own challenge: a challenge which asks us to widen our vision and look through the lens of Jesus’s birth, so that we focus on how we can make the kingdom of God more of a reality: in our lives, in our church, in our communities, and in our world. Last year, Astrid & Miyu launched two calendars, the 12-day advent calendar as well as the 24-day advent calendar. This year there is not just one, but five jewellery-filled advent calendars to shop.