Approaching Advent and Christmas, it feels like the ante has been upped, the stakes have
been raised, and it is no time for bluffing here. As a child and young person growing up
in the '50s, the lectionary reading assigned for the first Sunday of Advent felt a bit forced
and fake. In the late '50s and the early '60s, talking apocalypse was not the primary skill
set of mainline folks. You sort of went through the motions on this, flattened the tension,
and ratcheted up the metaphors as best you could.
