Excerpt from Romans 13:11-14

"...You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep."

Reflection by Anthony B. Robinson

I like Epiphany, I respect Lent, I wish we did Eastertide more and better, but it's Advent that I love.

I love gathering greens from the cedars in our backyard to fold around the Advent wreath. I love the new purple candles, ready and waiting. I love getting out the silver candle snuffer that a college professor gave us as a wedding gift and laying it beside the wreath.

I love the first, haunting strains of "O Come, O Come Emmanuel," on the first Sunday of Advent. I wait eagerly to sing, "Watchman Tell us of The Night," and "On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry."

I like purple.

I love that when the stores' Christmas decorations are already getting tired, Advent is just getting going. I love lighting candles around the house as evening comes and laying a fire in the fireplace. I like hanging the Advent calendar on the wall, and taking turns opening one window a day.

I like the waiting and the watching, and the anticipation. My grandmother, Victoria, used to say, when something good was coming, that she had, "The Anticipates." Advent is a season for "The Anticipates." It may be dark now, but a change is coming.

I like the Advent idea of "keeping faith, hope and love alive in the midst of dark times," because that's where we so often are and so often need to be. I love that, just when we want to hibernate, Advent says, "Wake up," startling me like a noon factory whistle. "Wake up," says Advent, "the world is open at the top."

I love that when anxiety and fear seem to be so all-over-the-place, Advent's call to be alert isn't about fear but hope; that Advent isn't for mad anxiety but glad urgency. I love the mystery of it.

Advent is a season I love.

Prayer

Wake us from sleep, O God, for the night is far gone, and the day is near.  Amen.

Today's Advent idea from the Stillspeaking Advent Calendar for Families, Friends, and Everybody, by Lillian Daniel and Quinn Caldwell.

About the Author Tony Robinson, a United Church of Christ minister, is a speaker, teacher and writer. His most recent book is Changing the Conversation: A Third Way for Congregations. Read his weekly reflections on the current lectionary texts at www.anthonybrobinson.com/ by clicking on Weekly Reading.