Advent

Great to go to church today and hear about the Advent season which is starting now. There's so much going on at my church in the next three weeks, it's incredible. They were drafting angels and shepards for the Christmas pagent, a tradition that takes place on Christmas Eve. We act out the nativity and sing about 50 Christmas carols, it's lots of fun. My friends with a new baby are playing Mary, Joseph and Jesus this year ... they do have a girl baby, but no one will be the wiser. I met one of the teenagers in the youth group at coffee hour who was really unhappy to hear she couldn't play Mary this year. She looks a bit like Brittney, "I can't believe they want a real mom and a real dad with a real baby this year." She looked a little pissed off and a lot disappointed.

Church is just about the best antidote for the commercialism of the season. They keep your mind on caring about people who are really having a hard time and giving you opportunties to help them out.