¶I have always celebrated Advent, even when I had to fight to do it. I softened my stance through the years as far as hymns and carols, however, never enough to satisfy everyone who was ready for Christmas. There was often more heat than light in the discussions, with plenty of guilt on both sides of the conversation. This year, I have had some time and distance to consider what it is about Advent that makes it an important part of the preparation for Christmas. ¶American culture begins celebrating Christmas as early as July, and I am good with that. I enjoy Christmas music, peace on earth, and goodwill to all. It is too bad we don’t keep Christmas in our hearts all year. The Church lives by a different rhythm. In the lectionary cycle, a three-year series of Scripture readings, we remember the arc of salvation history from beginning to end. More accurately, we remember salvation history from end to end. The season of Advent begins the cycle. The first Sunday of Advent tells of the end of the world as we know it. It seems a downright stupid place to start. My dad taught me to begin a wedding rehearsal at the end. ‘Place everyone where they are going to be at the end of the service. That way they will know where they are heading as they process up the aisle.’ ¶Beginning at the end is not the usual way to tell a story. For those who are hurt, frightened, oppressed, downtrodden, it is a great source of comfort to know that, while the story plays out with some bad things happening, the people of God win because in the end God wins. Knowing what happens to us, helps us weather the storms we encounter on the way. ¶The other Sundays of Advent continue to be less than cheery. John the Baptist tells us that we are in trouble with God and desperately in need of repentance before we can ever meet the Savior. The third week, John calls us all snakes/vipers who run the risk of being among those who will be burned up like chaff, unless we straighten up and fly right. Not the merriest of thoughts while we are trying to keep the smiles on our faces through traffic jams and crowds of people, through supply chain breakdowns, back orders, and other forms of delay that just might ruin Christmas. Week four of this year, Mary runs to visit Elizabeth to avoid the possibility of being stoned to death for a pregnancy before her actual marriage to Joseph. Mary and Elizabeth do get to celebrate together that God has seen fit to trust them with these special lives they carry. In all of this there is an undercurrent of danger and the possibility of death for many. ¶Advent reminds us that Jesus does not come to world that is ready and waiting, with packages wrapped and bows tied as neatly as department store professionals manage to do it. Nope, Jesus comes into a world that is broken, and unkind to those who most need the support of the world. Jesus comes to the outcast, the disabled, the downtrodden and offers them hope that those of us who have more than enough will find it in our hearts to share some of our bounty more than twice a year, and as more than a gesture to salve our consciences. Jesus comes to flip over tables and drive out all those who have taken the place of God in our lives. ¶Advent is a little slower than the season outside the Church. In Advent we are waiting with anticipation rather than scurrying and shopping. We look to our hearts rather than our wallets to see if we can afford to welcome Jesus into our lives, knowing that he comes to carry out a counter cultural revolution. Jesus is intent on calling us to God. We are not being called out of the world, we are being called into the world, to stand with those who need us rather than to support those who promise to help us get the next bigger, better toy/tool/machine/item. ¶While I am happy to join the celebration of Christmas, beginning in June or the day after Thanksgiving, I am also moved to celebrate the season of Advent. Advent reminds me that there are those around me, as well as those who have been pushed to the fringes of society, who do not experience any joy at Christmas or any other time of the year. Advent reminds me to use my voice, my vote, my time, energy, all the resources I have available to change the systems that cause and contribute to the poverty that many experience. ¶Sing ‘Joy to the World,’ ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas,’ and all the other Christmas songs and carols that bring joy to this season. At the same time, I commend singing ‘Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus,’ and ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,’ and other Advent hymns to serve as a reminder that we are a world in need of a Savior.

Among other things, Indiana is an agricultural state. While it may not be that obvious in some places, it is very obvious on the county roads. In the spring and fall, planting and harvest seasons, it is likely that you will meet or get behind a piece of farm machinery that is going as fast it can but still way under the speed limit. And if the reason you chose the county road was to avoid all the slow-moving traffic on the highway, you are more likely to get behind that piece of machinery and for a longer stretch of miles. You can honk and the farmer will wave but won’t be able to get out of your way. You can lay on the horn and the machine may slow down a bit, just to boil your blood a little faster. You could try running into the machine to push it off the road, but chances are good that the damage will be to your vehicle more than the machine. So, the best solution is to cool your jets, enjoy the scenery, tell folks you got stuck behind a farm machine and they will both commiserate and laugh, because they have probably done the same thing. ¶Turns out, it is not the machinery on the road that is the problem. If you want to eat, you will have to tolerate farm work during busy farm seasons. The problem is our sense of being inconvenienced, which comes down to a sense of entitlement. ‘When I am in a hurry, everyone should be out of my way so I can make good time.’ But, the roads are not yours to control or command. Roads are for transportation of many sorts. I started with farm machines because they are bigger than cars and trucks so you can be annoyed without the prospect of being able to act on the road rage you may feel. ¶What about smaller things, you know, like bicycles? ‘Bicycles don’t belong on the roads; they belong on the sidewalk or bike paths.’ Unless of course you are on the sidewalk, in which case bicycles belong on the streets or bike paths. It isn’t the machine, the bicycle, it is the inconvenience of a bicycle either getting in your way or running you off the sidewalk. Again, it is the sense of entitlement we carry rather than the actual people and machines involved. ¶I took a break from writing to go to a dentist appointment. After a heavy rain with lightning and thunder some of the traffic lights were out. The driver’s manual says to treat malfunctioning traffic lights as four way stops. We did not. Several vehicles went through at once, sometimes blocking traffic flow from other directions. I was going to be late to my appointment, so I may have acted entitled even though I was in the process of writing this. ¶On the other hand, when I asked my friendly, neighborhood bike shop employee if there are as many people injured in car bike collisions as it seems in the bicycles forums I stalk, I was assured that there are more people who drive and ride safely than are involved in accidents. He added that about thirty percent of car bike accidents are from bikes riding against the traffic instead of with it. Accidents will happen as drivers show their resentment of the little punk bikes that get in the way of their big cars, and as bikers ride in ways that seemed good until someone gets hurt or killed. ¶Where else does entitlement keep us from sharing space with any of ‘those’ people? I am sure we each have our list of annoying people and things that get in our way when we are in a hurry, as well as those who rush us when we are calming ourselves by taking things more slowly for a moment. I am pretty sure no one is going to feel less entitled from having read this, maybe one of us will be able to call our annoyance by a different name – entitlement.