Christmas Joy

We all have options in our lives - what else could I possibly post on December 25th - anger - unhappiness - loneliness?  Yes - those things do exist - my blog - my choice.  I chose - JOY - an emotion foreign to many people.  In spite of everything that surrounds Christmas - too many people find Christmas to be a very stressful - angry - time of year.  I understand - death - loss of a loved one - loss of a job - loss of hope - colored in a lot of different ways - creates a sad environment.  I remember a time when I had - parents - in-laws - an older brother - a twin - the expectation of a child who was never born.  Very personal - very sad.  I could hide myself away - ignore others - feel unhappy - chose sadness - not my choice.  I chose to look at life differently.  Rather than dwell on what was - I chose to focus on what is.  Family - here and now - the promise of future happiness - acknowledging the blessings God has given to me - my spouse - my children - my friends.   If any of us would count our blessings versus the negative - we would have to admit that all of us have received many more blessings than not. 

Like most of my friends - Christian - otherwise - we are people of HOPE.  We accept the bad moments in life as moments - time that passes away - lives in the past - looking forward to all the good - Joy - that we will experience in the near future.  Religious or not - Christmas is about Jesus - The Christ - God wrapped in swaddling clothes - laid in a manger when there was no proper room for the King of Kings.  If He who is LORD can accept His first bed made of a manger filled with straw in a space shared with cattle can't we do as much?  Life is filled with thousand of moments - most of them very good.  In your own life - stop this Christmas and think - I am certain there are many moments - when you experienced Christmas Joy.

Merry Christmas

Deacon Dale 

Adventus

Adventus - no - not Advent - Adventus means arrival.  Arrival of what you ask - obviously - the Season of Advent.  Yes - this Sunday is the Third Sunday of Advent which means there were two Sundays of Advent previously.  So what is the point - why do we have Advent in the first place?  Some will say - it marks the beginning - start - of a new Liturgical Year on the Church Calendar.  Again - yes - the Church has an official Calendar.  Similar to the secular yearly calendar which goes from January 1st to December 31st or the Fiscal calendar that normally goes from July 1st to June 30th - the Liturgical Calendar goes from the First Sunday in Advent - normally the Sunday following Thanksgiving - to the celebration of Christ the King Sunday the week ending the liturgical year. The cycle repeats itself every three years though Cycles A - B - C - thus giving the Church three years to read through a majority of the Bible - giving it the time to share with it's parishioners a very full view of what the Bible contains - exposing all to the majority of the Gospels - Words shared by Jesus - to all believers.  

Advent is a Season of four weeks - four weeks in which the faithful are encouraged to prepare themselves for two things. The first two weeks focus on End Time Theology - that time when we will meet Jesus at His Second Coming - either the end of this world - or the end of our life. The second two weeks tend towards our preparation to properly celebrate Christ's First Coming - His Birth at Christmas.  In this Season of Advent we take time to reflect on ourselves - our goodness - our failures - how well we have prepared ourselves for that day when we will meet the Lord - face to face - when our life ends here - as we transition from this existence to a heavenly one - how well we have prepared ourselves to celebrate his coming as Emmanuel - God with us - at Christmas.  As people of Hope - as modern day Christians - as true committed believers - we pray that we have prepared well - for both.

Deacon Dale