Advent 1A November 27

Is it REALLY Advent already? I’ve had the strangest feeling all week that we’d skipped a few days or that something wasn’t quite right. But no, it’s here. Advent is here! Happy New Year, Body of Christ! We’ve had our turkey day and black Friday and small business Saturday and soon enough cyber Monday. The wonderful, albeit often overblown and dripping in excess, journey to the Festival of the Incarnation is under way.

For many years, I shared an annual Thanksgiving tradition with my mother: watching her neighbors set up their outdoor Christmas decorations. The ever growing crew of the inflatable larger than life NASCAR driven by snowmen, giant candy canes, gazillion lights, and the bowing, under-inflated monster Santa would be set up on the lawn just as soon as leftovers were sealed in Tupperware. When we saw all of that, we knew Christmas was on…