Advent 1, 2016

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"The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us: and we beheld his glory … and of his fullness have we all received, and grace for grace" (John 1:14, 16).

I am down with a cold or something worse today and yesterday and hope to be able to go to work tomorrow. This is the worst time of the year for college teachers.  All the Christmas events collide with the end of the semester, which collide with illness and other aspects of life.  I am not a good sick person and become depressed at the very thought of not being able to do what I want, which today was attending church on the first day of Advent. Our new pastor is going to preach on it, something I looked forward to. Baptists don't usually pay much attention to the ecclesiastical calendar.

Christianity Today has some good articles right now on Protestantism and Advent.  It strikes me that the church is so deeply embedded in history but no one today seems to realize it.  We can't dismiss 2,000 years of church practice just because we don't like or are too lazy to delve into history.

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