I really need a "good" Advent this year.  I need the reminders of hope and promises fulfilled that this season represents.  I need to see an acolyte stretch to light the candles of the Advent wreath and to re-live that moment of terror when I was a "height-challenged" acolyte and couldn't remember which of the candles I was supposed to light.  I need to sing Advent Hymns, and not Christmas Carols, at least until the last Sunday of Advent, when I might be ready to sing just one.  I need to have a few weeks of delayed gratification, if no other reason than to remind me that it's not always in our best interest to have immediate access to all the things in our lives which many in the world do not have access to at all. 
 
I have just finished reading a whole stack of congregational newsletters which occupy my desk once a month.  Thank you for all the ways you have reminded me of the Spirit's creative energies in the writings of pastors and presidents and the calls for people to come for soup and Advent services of prayer.  Thank you for the way you have called people to remember there needs to be a commitment to giving and service for those in need in this time of "uber-commercialization" of the birth of our Savior.  Thank you for the invitation you have extended so well for others to discover their "need" for a good Advent, and for providing the means for that to happen through your ministries.  Thank you for your willingness to walk with the Holy Family to Bethlehem, and to be, in your lives and ministries, the fulfillment of God's promise of salvation for the world, now and in the future. 
 
God's Peace as we journey through Advent together.
 
Bp. Mark