Tis the Season

This time of year I am in Thanksgiving/Advent/Christmas mode.

It’s one week until Thanksgiving Day and while I am finishing my Thanksgiving shopping and decorating my Thanksgiving tree and wrapping Thanksgiving presents and addressing Thanksgiving cards (read facetiously), my head is full of thoughts about Advent and Christmastide.

The observance of the Advent season began somewhere near the end of the fourth century. It was a period of 40 days leading up to Christmas and was a time of fasting and prayer. Now it lasts about four weeks and is intended to be a time of reflection and preparation for Christians. This year, the first Sunday in Advent is November 27, making it a season of 29 days until Christmas Day.

For the past 10 years I have edited an Advent devotional booklet for my home church, First United Methodist in Beebe. This means that throughout the Thanksgiving week I am collecting, writing, editing, formatting, copying and stapling.

Members and friends of Beebe FUMC write short devotionals to be included in the book. These can be either poetry or prose and often are Christmas memories or insights about a particular scripture. The writings are then assigned to a certain day, one reading for each day in Advent.

Though this is a busy time for me, I enjoy it and look forward to reading my friends’ thoughts about this blessed time of year.

You will hear more about this as the season progresses.