St. Andrew's Day

Now officially begins the waiting. 

I realize that the first Sunday in Advent is officially the start of Advent, but traditionally St. Andrew's Day has also been a marker of the new season and the new church year.

I love Advent.  Perhaps it's that my birthday comes in just a couple of weeks.  Or perhaps it's that I've lived my life on the academic calendar, and this is the season of the year where we all take a deep breath and sprint to the end.

Most of all, I've learned to treasure Advent's lessons of waiting for fulfillment and revelation, the tension of already-but-not-yet.  We know what's coming (or, at least, we think we do), but the mystery of the incarnation nevertheless confounds us every time we try to make sense of it.

And this is what I love:  Advent calls us to consider the mystery of the incarnation, to the mystery of God's divine being becoming (not seeming, not appearing, not pretending) human.

But it's not here yet.  We have to wait.  And in the waiting, we get to contemplate the mystery even more both as we see it now and as it will be revealed in the end.

And there's time to make cookies in Advent.

Happy new year, everyone.