Advent: Perhaps the least adhered to or talked about part of the Christian liturgical calendar. How sad that this holiday of waiting on God's mystery has been swallowed up and monopolized by the religion of capitalism and the marketplace. Well, for those who are disenchanted with the buying and the selling like Jesus was when he overturned the tables in the marketplace outside of the Temple, I'm here to wish you a happy Advent. A time when we wait on God's promise that God is with us always, even in suffering...and that God comes to us....whoever we are and wherever we are in life....if only we listen and "have ears to hear."
So the anti-commercialist holiday gets swallowed up right before Christmas. There's certainly a lot of irony in that. I know the story, I didn't know there was a holiday about that. That's kind of interesting.
I always thought this was just a Catholic thing. But then, I grew up in very catholic surroundings (school, church, and a lot of my neighborhood) so I guess I just assumed it was only for the Catholics. Seems like one of those things they added into the Christian tradition. Is this Biblical in any way?
my family has an advent calendar we hang on this door in our house every year. it has a flat christmas tree on it, and you put little ornaments up on the tree for every day of december until christmas eve. it's become my favorite christmas tradition at my house.
