Is that all there is? Is it only a month of worry and preparing for “how to celebrate in these economic and uncertain times?”

Perhaps looking around this month it might be better to see each day with glasses that see “the glass half full” instead of “half empty”.

Our church calendar shows that most of the month is The Season of Advent! Advent: “A coming or arrival, the coming of Christ,” according to the dictionary.

Now, we know that Christ came to us over 2000 years ago in that first “Christmas”. Today, The Season of Advent is a time for us to celebrate that event and to remind us that the season we are awaiting the arrival of is the second coming of Christ. Now, that will be quite an advent-ure (a “suspenseful experience” according to the dictionary.)

This year we will be able to invite our neighbors and friends for three Wednesday evening gatherings preparing our minds and hearts for the annual arrival of Christmas through worship. We will use the 35 minute Holden Evening Prayer service beginning at 6:30 PM, Dec. 5, 12 and 19.

But that is not “all there is” this month. What started in the Book of Genesis when God came down to find Adam and Eve in their sinful condition and continued through God coming down to humankind in the person of Jesus 2000 years ago continues to come down to us through our baptism in the Holy Spirit today.

With a “glass half full” approach to life, we can recreate the event of that first Christmas on December 24th, and understand that our worries about our material gains and losses this past year are not what the month really represents. This is the month to celebrate our eternal life, lived here and now and in the future through the event of God coming down to us that first Christmas in the person of His Son, and the freeing power that GIFT gives to our lives, a real present in our presence.