As we turn to Advent and the first Sunday of the church year and a new lectionary cycle, the foremost theme in the readings is one of anticipation -- characterized both by hopefulness and (in the gospel text) the perils of not being prepared. That mood of anticipation coupled in many cases with underlying dread is also seen in our secular culture -- but as team member Chris Keating points out in this installment of The Immediate Word, what our culture is pointing toward is very different from what we as Christians are waiting for.
