Advent is Christmas Spelled Backwards or How the Lectionary Can Save Christmas
Have you ever noticed how the lectionary readings for Advent are, in effect, Christmas spelled backwards? Yes, Christmas spelled backwards. And that makes the tragedy of Advent Lost in our culture all the keener. Yes, few would contest my claim that Advent has gotten lost in our culture. While other parts of the church year have taken good and deep root in many churches across traditions in the last forty years or so, Advent remains a liturgical stepchild at best. Christmas rules here – and its reach each year seems to engulf more and more of the calendar. And not the biblical and liturgical Christmas of the church - the 12 day season from December 25 to Epiphany, January 6. No, the Christmas/Holiday season for us runs from mid-Fall to December 25. ...