REFLECTIONS

One of the essential paradoxes of Advent: that while we wait for God, we are with God all along, that while we need to be reassured of God’s arrival, or the arrival of our homecoming, we are already at home. While we wait, we have to trust, to have faith, but it is God’s grace that gives us that faith. As with all spiritual knowledge, two things are true, and equally true, at once. The mind can’t grasp paradox; it is the knowledge of the soul.”

MICHELLE BLAKE

What did Adam say on the day before Christmas? “It’s Christmas, Eve!”

Christmas gift suggestions: To your enemy, forgiveness. To an opponent, tolerance. To a friend, your heart. To a customer, service. To all, charity. To every child, a good example. To yourself, respect.

OREN ARNOLD

The worst gift is a fruitcake. There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep sending it to each other.

JOHNNY CARSON There’s nothing sadder in this world than to awake Christmas morning and not be a child.

ERMA BOMBECK

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes...and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.”

DIETRICH BONHOEFFER, 1943

The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world.

AUTHOR UNKNOWN

What is Christmas? It is tenderness for the past, courage for the present, hope for the future. It is a fervent wish that every cup may overflow with blessings rich and eternal, and that every path may lead to peace.

AGNES M. PAHRO Three wise women would have... asked directions, arrived on time, helped deliver the baby, cleaned the stable, made a casserole, brought practical gifts, and there would be peace on Earth.

Christmas has lost its meaning for us because we have lost the spirit of expectancy. We cannot prepare for an observance. We must prepare for an experience.

HANDEL BROWN

One of the nice things about Christmas is that you can forget the past with a present.

I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he or she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas lights.

MAYA ANGELOU

Advent: the time to listen for footsteps - you can’t hear footsteps when you’re running yourself.

BILL MCKIBBEN