Swan Lake Advent

The first Sunday in Advent describes the importance of being prepared. Not like the Boy Scouts so much, as like soldiers preparing for battle or refugees preparing to flee the devastation of war. We like to think of Advent as a time for eating candy out of a calendar to count down each day until the over-indulgence that marks modern Christmas. Instead it was meant to be a time of assessing our readiness to meet our King. Just as a swan's effortless glide across the water doesn't show his feet churning away beneath it, so our hearts and minds should work during Advent to under-gird all our visible holiday preparations. We should be welcoming, not the "jolly old elf"of The Night Before Christmas, but the triumphant, Wonderful Counselor, Lord of Lords, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, of Handel's Messiah. (Isaiah 9:6)