Listening to Christmas

My mother loved Advent and Christmas. She decorated and baked. An Advent calendar was hung on the refrigerator door with magnets, and we took turns opening the cardboard doors each day. We lit the Advent candles, and we sang the hymns, carols, and songs of Christmas. Later, as an adult, I learned more about the liturgical calendar. With that deeper understanding came a more nuanced view of the Seasons of Advent and Christmas. The ministers and wonderful people of North Broad Baptist Church in Rome, GA, and Northside Drive Baptist Church in Atlanta (Buckhead), GA, introduced me to a worship deeply rooted in the liturgy and lectionary. And, as a dear friend and colleague remarked, "Once you go liturgical, it's hard to go back." The liturgical seasons became far more woven into the fabric of my life. My mother's death coincided with a change in employment and vocational focus. I was looking for ways to remain connected to my love of biblical scholarship, even though my academic work was almost entirely administrative. Mom had been a prolific writer, and she often submitted entries for the annual Advent devotional booklet published by her church. The first Advent following her death, I edited a group of those devotionals into a booklet published for family members as a way to remember her love of the Seasons. The next spring, unwilling to "give up" anything for Lent, I chose to "take on" writing a daily meditation/musing, using the daily lectionary reading and beginning an email distribution list that has continued to grow. When some on my email list asked if I was planning to repeat those meditations for Advent, it seemed a natural commitment to undertake. Fifteen years later, I am still writing daily meditations/musings on the lectionary readings during the Seasons of Lent and Advent.