Advent Articles

Some years ago, I ran a series of articles for a newspaper during advent. I am going to do that on my blog this year. Tune in every Sunday now till Christmas to see whats up in the religion section.

Advent has rolled around again. Once again this year I am forced to endure the same tired messages and sermons that I hear every year at advent. They all go something along the lines of “We are a people waiting alone in darkness and fear…” or “Don’t rush advent, wait for the coming savior …” or my all time favorite, “Naughty, naughty, you are commercializing Christmas!”

Let’s look at the facts. No one is waiting for anything except the next holiday sale at Sears, Target, or wherever. We only fear nothing from our shopping season and we most certainly rush-rush-rush, the same way we do for every event the rest of the year. Christmas is already so commercial that there is not one thing that anyone could do to make it more so. After all, Christmas items went on sale roughly at the time of Halloween.

So what is it that I propose that we do to change the world? Simply stated, we do nothing. The world is much the same now as it was over 2,000 years ago. People are coming and going, so absorbed in their own things that they cared practically nothing for what was happening in the lives of others. The government was doing something stupid that was making the lives of its citizens difficult. Poor people were doing their best to survive while those with money lived extravagantly. This is the world now and this is the same world that the Savior was born into.

What then is left? Remember. Remember the state of this world, then and now. Remember that this world needed a savior so badly that God sent one into the mess with nowhere to be born in a world that barely noticed. Born in a barn with ox and burro, to animals who are notorious for relieving themselves when and wherever they see fit. Slobbering all over their trough, where the Son of God would be laid down after his birth.

Remembering during this time of year that the Son of God was born in a barn; born to die, in order that a world of people who care more about the next sale at the mall than the spirit of the season. Remember that the Son of God died because he did the one thing that people could not tolerate: forgave them. Remember that you are already forgiven for the failings in your life and humanity. Remember, and be thankful, for in remembering this, peace will be with you.