December 2, 2024 - Good Morning! It’s Monday, December 2.
Yesterday, December 1, was the beginning of an important holiday season. No, not the Christmas season, but the season of Advent. On the traditional church calendar, Advent is the period that includes the four Sundays leading to Christmas Day. The Christmas season, on that calendar, doesn’t begin until December 25, and continues to January 6 - the “twelve days of Christmas”!
The word advent means “coming”. It is intended as a time of preparation - preparing our churches, our families, our hearts - for the coming of the Christ Child. I’m not referring to the preparation of decorations, or gifts, or holiday food. The preparation of Advent is something deeper. We get a sense of that in the words of Isaiah 40:3 - “Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God”.
So how do we do that? Perhaps one way would be to go back to the source, to read, once again, the story in the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke. It would take about five minutes, maybe another ten to meditate on it. Would you be willing to give fifteen minutes each day in December, during this season of Advent, to prepare yourself? The Christ Child is coming! Better get ready!
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
