Welcome, Advent!

With the setting of the sun tonight, Advent begins. The older I get, the more I welcome and love the penitential seasons. The collect (prayer of the day) for this Sunday asks the Lord Jesus to stir up His power and come and rescue us from the threatening perils of our sins. 

And this is why we need Advent (whether or not the Christmas tree is up as ours is): we need to be reminded again of what we don't want to really believe. That our sins ARE threatening. That our sins ARE perilous. That our sinful desires need not indulgence, but execution. That this fallen age can never be our true or lasting home. That we need the salvation that comes only from our Savior's gracious visitation. The light begins to grow amid the gathering darkness and intensifying gloom (here in the northern hemisphere) and throughout this strife-torn world: and our sin will never NOT be the enemy of the light, but the light is our hope. It spills out from the cracked open door of our true and lasting home. "Come, Lord Jesus!"