Happy New Year!

Advent. Only a few more weeks until Christmas as the year winds down. Not for the church. The First Sunday of Advent is the first Sunday of the Christian Calendar, so Happy New Year!

Advent is about preparing for Christ's coming... coming to Bethlehem in the Incarnation, coming into one's heart in conversion, and coming in the Parousia--the second coming or second Advent. This is a time to get ready to receive Christ.

Christmas can be disappointing for kids. If it weren't, every family would have a pony! Sometimes our expectations don't match up with reality. I remember a disappointing Christmas as a kid in the 60s. There was a great toy on the market that allowed a kid to make his own mini action figures. It involved a mold, plastic pellets, and the main part: a device that melted the plastic pellets into molten plastic allowing it to be injected into the mold. After it cooled, you had your action figure.

I wanted it so bad.

Flash forward to Christmas morning. I opened my present. It was a refill kit of the little plastic pellets. The toy was such a hot seller that my parents couldn't find one, so on Christmas morning I got the refill kit--and a promise. As soon as it's back in stock, we'll get it for you. Now 40-some years later, I don't know why, but let's just say I'm still waiting.

Peter had expectations. Because of his Jewish upbringing he expected the Messiah to be the Son of David establishing a kingdom that would never end. In so doing, Peter expected this conquering hero to free Israel from Roman oppression. On a retreat to Caesarea Philippi, Jesus asked his disciples, Who do you say that I am? Sometimes our expectations can obscure the realities standing right in front of us, but Peter had already begun a journey of discovery that would last a lifetime, as he re-evaluated his expectations of the Messiah in light of his one-on-one Christ revelation. Peter's answer: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

What are you expecting for Christmas?

What are you expecting from Jesus?

(I owe some of the ideas in this post to Janet Lilly Wanner of Women of the Church of God. Thanks, Janet.)