The sweetness of the season of Advent is so precious to us, because it is so short. It is only four weeks long! To children that may seem like an eternity. To adults it goes by in the blink of an eye. But there is sacredness to the waiting time and the preparation in this season. Preserve times in Advent simply to sit and savor the anticipation. Allow times of quiet in our worship, a rich quiet that invites deep thought and prayer. Our worship needs to create an environment-visually, liturgically, musically-that celebrates the holy waiting. The anticipation should be just as exciting and stirring as the actual event. If we can't enjoy the anticipation, we won't enjoy the event. Our waiting can be fraught with fear, boredom, restlessness, and frenetic activity, and the day itself can be anticlimactic at best.  But if our fears are tempered by hope, our boredom by eager anticipation, and our restlessness with purposeful preparation, then the waiting season can be meaningful and holy.
Advent-the season of waiting, watching, and wondering-is an anomaly in our frantic, fast-paced culture. And yet, God continues to call us to step out of the madness that afflicts us for a season. God calls us to pause and reflect, to wonder and hope, and to wait and savor the holy mystery of birth and new life.

Christmas is a season of welcoming-a time to welcome the stranger, welcome the newborn, welcome the lost sheep, welcome the near and dear. Yearly, we invite Christ to come fresh into our hearts, to lighten our darkness, heal our wounds, and restore our souls. Our worship needs to reflect this welcoming attitude, for it is the attitude of grace. Now is not the time to scold, but to enfold all into the family gathered around the manger.
Christmas is a season of gifts, both given and received. We are profoundly gifted by the presence of Christ in our midst. It is a precious gift intended to make us whole and holy. Freely we have been given this gift, freely we receive this gift with joy. And frequently we respond in this season by giving gifts to each other. Besides trinkets and toys, we are invited to give the gifts of welcome, friendship, peace, patience, blessing, and love. Freely we have been given, freely we give. We need not always bemoan materialism. Rather, begin with the grace from God that allows us to give, and then move into how we can model our gift giving after God's. How can our gifts, like those God gives us, lift up and truly enrich those who receive them?