Somebody told me they hated Advent. The malls are playing “Frosty the Snowman” and “Winter Wonderland” and at church we’re singing. “O Come, O come Emanuel.” One church has responded to such criticism by chopping a week off of Advent so they can start celebrating Christmas earlier. Ha! They’re never going to catch up with the commercial word that starts observing the Winter Shopping Season just after Labor Day.
I suspect part of the problem is people don’t like to wait. When I was a kid it took two days to do the shopping. You had to take a number and wait at the grocery store, wait at the butcher’s shop, wait at the bakery, wait at the deli. Today people get grumpy if there are more than two people ahead of them at the check out lane.
So we can’t wait for Christmas. Let the parties begin! And in the rush, there is no time reflect on our Lord Jesus Christ. Advent carves out a block of time (four full weeks this year) in which we can think about our human condition and turn our hearts to our Savior whose coming delivered us from the power of sin and death.
Now is a time to sing Paul Gerhardt’s great Advent hymn, “O Lord, How Shall I Meet You”
Rejoice, then, you sad-hearted,
Who sit in deepest gloom,
Who mourn your joys departed
And tremble at your doom.
Despair not, He is near you,
Yea, standing at the door,
Who best can help and cheer you
And bids you weep no more.
Read Psalm 130 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.
Wayne
Today’s Reading: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+130&version=NRSV
Joy Lutheran Church Ocala, Florida 