Now that I’m in seminary I get way TOOO excited when there is a letter waiting in my mailbox.  I could be someone writing me a note, it could be a check, it could be a note saying “you have a package waiting”, and there are always bills, too…  I feel a ‘let down’ when I go to my box and there is nothing waiting for me (or if it is just a bill).  Does anyone else ever feel that?

There is a sense of anticipation for me as I go for the mail and as I draw closer that anticipation grows as well.

Two weeks ago we turned in a paper on the church calendar for our United Methodist Worship class.  One of the things that becomes startlingly clear  as I read Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church by Laurence Hull Stookey (Abington Press, 1996) is that in American culture today we have forgotten what it is to relish in anticipation.  I open up my Mail program for instant email.  I go online and watch my favorite television show instantly on a whim.  I can purchase something immediately, online, and have it shipped to my home the very next day.  Our world is full of instant gratification.

The story of Christ is a very different story.  It is a story of waiting and hoping.  In fact, even before Mary began her anticipation the world had been anticipating.  Why is it, then, that we skip advent.  Why is it, then, that Christmas turns into one day?  Christmas is a season beginning on December 25 and Advent is the season of anticipation for four weeks prior.

What if we put away the wreaths and holiday packaging and left them until later.  What if we pushed Christmas away until  December 25 so that we could truly appreciate its absence right up until that most joyous season begins?