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PARADISE CORNER

I was recently driving back to the church from Hershey along 422. Two signs caught my attention on the trip. Outside a furniture store: “Is your dining room ready for the holidays?” On a billboard: “Is your furnace ready for the winter?” We are clearly in a season of getting ready!

Advent comprises the time of waiting and intentionally getting ready for Christmas. What makes Advent challenging is that we can count the length of the time in different ways. For example, so-called “Advent” calendars are widely available in stores and online. These have a small space or window for each of the days of the month before Christmas. Each day a space or window is opened to find a different picture, a piece of chocolate, or a present, etc. That description illustrates the challenge. This is because, when the church keeps Advent, we mark the intentional time of waiting before Christmas using the four Sundays before Christmas. This means that Advent, as we keep it in church, can, and often does, start in November, depending on what day of the week Christmas comes. The result is that the so-called “Advent” calendars we buy at the store are really countdown-to-Christmas calendars (beginning on December 1) instead of actual Advent calendars (beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas).

My trip along 422 reminded me we have seasonably convenient help this year. My usual distinction between countdown-to-Christmas calendars and actual Advent calendars doesn’t apply this year. It just so happens that December 1 comes on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. This leads to a suggestion I usually don’t make. That is to go ahead and buy an “Advent” calendar from your favorite store or online vendor. It will match up with what we do in church during the month of December.

That doesn’t mean all the differences between countdown-to-Christmas and actual Advent go away. Stores and online vendors have been able to appropriate Advent as a way to make money. We will mark Advent differently in church by engaging (as best we are able) the themes that permeate Advent’s readings, hymns, and other music. According to the Worship Word Book I keep nearby, these themes include repentance, darkness, hope, watchfulness, and preparation.

I was grateful for the reminders to get ready. This year gives us the best of both ways of keeping Advent. We get to do something fun with those countdown-to-Christmas calendars. We also get to remember the importance of the coming of Jesus starting with his birth at Bethlehem continuing as we hear about his return to judge the living and the dead while, in the meantime, celebrating Christ among us here and now. This is a big task for a short season, but we have our friends in Christ to help us in the waiting. And, we also have some really fun Advent calendars to enjoy along the way.

Live as children of light!
Pastor Scott Paradise