Paying Attention
Paying Attention First Sunday of Advent November 30, 2008 Isaiah 64:1-9 Ps. 80:1-7, 17-19 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 Mark 13:24-37 We thank thee God for thy care For thy bounty everywhere, For this and every other gift To thee our grateful hearts we lift. Amen “Beware, keep alert; for you do not know when the time will come. And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake." –Mark 13:33, 37 I remember this time of year as a young boy feeling as if I were stuck between the times. Thanksgiving is a recent taste; Christmas is so close, yet an interminable number of days hence. The anticipation grew daily; and the waiting was agony. I remember my aunt giving us one of those Advent calendars on a festive cardboard poster, the dates of December marked with the paper doors that you opened for each day, with a little surprise picture or words behind each flap. We put it on the refrigerator door and I would look at it every time...