The power of habit

Advent Talk 2 – 04.12.11




My second Advent talk is fairly ambitious. In it I aim to provide a link between my often erratic behaviour behind the wheel of a car, the dates of birth of our most able footballers (soccer players), the successful landing of Flight 1415 on the Hudson River and advent itself. All that in two or three minutes! To stop you fretting, here’s the link – habit.



Let’s start with cars. I drive two (though not at the same time). A Fiat Multipla which has six seats – the ‘bum’ car as my kids call it – and a Mazda MX5 (Miata) which has two. Before you ask, yes, I do just about fit into the Mazda and, no, I am not a hairdresser. Usually, I drive the Multipla, particularly it is a longer journey or if there is luggage or passengers. When it is a nice sunny day, though, or I feel like having a bit of fun, I drive the Mazda. The problem is that, although it is a RHD model, it was originally imported from Japan and so the controls are the wrong way around, hence my erratic driving as I wash windows instead of signalling and flash instead of squirting water! I might be said, then, to be in the habit of driving the FIAT and so my brain can’t re-programme itself fast enough to cope with the Mazda.



Next, successful footballers. Statistical studies have shown that you stand a far greater chance of playing soccer at the highest level in the UK if your birthday falls between September and December than you do if it falls between June and August. Similar studies have been conducted in Europe and also in Canada with ice hockey players. Why is this? Because we’ve got stars directing our fate? (Robbie Williams). No. Because children born in the autumn are in some way superior to those born at other times of the year? No. The reason is that the cut off date for the football training year in the UK is currently September 1st and so in school and club teams some players are playing against other players who may are as much as 12 months different in age from them. And the reason that matters, and the explanation for the fact that this difference does not even itself out over the years, is that the older, more apparently ‘capable’ players, are the ones who receive the best training and it is that training that, in the long run, makes the difference. Or we might say, that it is a matter of habit



Lastly, Flight 1549. The ability to control an aircraft is more important than that of controlling a car given the number of passengers on board and, surprisingly for some, more important even than controlling a synthetic leather ball, especially if you’re trying to fly a plane without engines and land on an icy river, which is exactly what Chesley ‘Sunny’ Sullenberger III managed to do back in 15 January 2009. It was an amazing achievement and one that I came close to witnessing first hand as I had arrived in New York about one hour earlier. At the time, the feat was proclaimed ‘The Miracle On The Hudson’, but, although I obviously do believe in miracles (its part of my job description), in my opinion, this was no miracle, rather it was a product of Sullenberger’s vast experience and repeated practice e.g. 19000 flying hours. Or, we might say, it was a question of habit



Advent is a time for self-examination and for re-evaluation as I said last week. What are our habits? In other words, what sort of a pattern of life are we practising and is it one which is the best for us and for others? This week, the second in Advent, we recall the prophets. The popular view is that these were individuals who looked into the future. This is true, but only in part. The OT prophets looked into the future, but they also sought to bring the values of the future, God’s future, into the present and to encourage people to practice those values in the here and now. Practice or habit may not make perfect, but it certainly makes a big difference. Hence the prayer of the greatest of the prophets (and far more besides) Jesus Christ, ‘Your Kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.



God our Father, you spoke to the prophets of old

of a Saviour who would bring peace.

You helped them to spread the joyful message of his coming kingdom.

Help us, as we prepare to celebrate his birth,

to share with those around us the good news of your power and love.

We ask this through Jesus Christ,

the light who is coming into the world. Amen.