Advent XXII (The Final Week)

Today marks the final Sunday of Advent.  The week is shortened since Advent always ends on Christmas Eve. Those worship communities which adhere strictly to the liturgical calendar may continue with Advent worship, but for most communities of faith, it will be observed as Christmas Sunday.  It becomes increasingly difficult to ignore the nearly here day of Celebration even though most Christmas Eve Worship services will surpass it in terms of attendance and spiritual energy.  

The Sunday after Christmas is actually the first Sunday of the Christmas season, but practically speaking, it is hard to generate a lot of excitement in worship for a day that has been celebrated so powerfully on Christmas Eve.  No matter what worship leaders do, the Sunday after Christmas falls upon the church as anti-climatic.  With the four candles of the Advent Wreath ablaze and the Acolyte holding the fire over the large Christ Candle in its center, our focus shifts from the Christ who is coming to the Christ who has come.  Indeed, these final four days of the Advent season is a moment for considering and reflecting on the way the coming of Christ in Bethlehem has radically changed our life.  

I watched an old Christmas movie classic, "It's a Wonderful Life," and was reminded of the way one person's life can bring change to the lives of so many people and even a community.  The one life brought forth from a virgin's womb long centuries ago in Bethlehem is still sending its rippling power across the history of the world. Who can imagine life without Christ?  Who wants to imagine such a life?  Even as Jesus has changed the trajectory of my life, so has His life changed the life of each one of us.  Thanks be to God!