The Season of Reflection
Advent: The Season of Reflecting For years, the season of Advent and Lent has been most difficult for me. Part of that is due to the cultural materialism that has stricken all of our most sacred days, and it is most revolting to me. But it’s difficult in another way. These days of Advent have caused me to ponder, think back at how I treated Christmas, and those images that seem to be most associated with it, like family, gift-giving, and even the benevolence of Santa Claus. This past Sunday was then the 2nd Sunday in Advent. Part of our congregation’s tradition is to have the Children’s nativity on this Sunday. So instead of the sermon, we saw and heard the nativity story by the very young. To be honest, it was excellent. The child readers, the music, even the organization of more kids than I could shake a stick at, were so caught up in what they were doing that they were believable. They did it so well. But what caught me was my emotion. It was...