And Advent Begins

From the Book of Common Prayer:

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Ghost, now and ever. Amen.

In spite of the yard displays that are visible from space, the plethora of pre-christmas sales and the like, it isn't Christmas.  No, its Advent.  Its the first season on the Church Calendar and that period where the Christians consider the three comings of Christ.  These being His first coming to a foul stable on a cold night in Bethlehem, His coming into the lives of all who fall at his feet in repentance, and that final coming when He'll break onto the world's scene suddenly and finally.