Presby-Musings

We have this Christmas decoration at my house that counts down the days until Christmas.  My little kids love this thing.  They look at it every day in anticipation of the the coming of Christmas.  You can almost feel the excitement that emanates off of them as the Day approaches. I remember feeling that intense feeling of anticipation when I was a kid.  I think it happens more when you're a kid, honestly.  It's not that I am not excited about the coming of Christmas now--I am.  In fact the stretch between the end of October and New Year's Day is easily my favorite time of the year.   But you know how it is... when you get older you start associating this time of year with the sorts of things that leave you decidedly less than excited.  You think about how busy you are going to be... with family obligations, church obligations, work stuff, parties, dinners...  Then there is the shopping, the crazy busy stores... the credit card b...

When I was growing up in the non liturgical, "low" church Baptist churches we frequented, the season of Advent was not something we celebrated... or discussed... or had ever heard of before.  It was not part of our language.  I suppose this was the case because the powers-that-be in the fundamentalist churches I attended thought things like "advent" and "candles" were too "Catholic" for "church."  I put a lot of things in quotes just then. And while most church-going folk probably won't give a second thought to Advent or it's meaning, I think that it's making a bit of a comeback outside the church.  For example, I just bought a Star Wars Lego Advent calendar at Target, which is the retail chain famous for encouraging it's employees say "Happy Holidays" instead of " Merry Christmas ." Boom.  There are undoubtedly some within the sound of my voice (or key strokes) who might be saying at thi...