Liturgically, we've arrived at the violet season of Advent. But everywhere else around us "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas."

“The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him.”

I was at a liturgy celebrating the reunion of old classmates, and the song leader invited us to turn to page so-and-so to sing that chestnut from my Boomer youth: "Let There Be Peace on Earth."

In 1955, a commercial on all four stations on our black-and-white RCA television after Thanksgiving convinced me I wanted a set of handbells, with lyrics to songs in colors that matched similarly colored bells, guaranteeing I would produce beautiful music.

Mark Doty's “Messiah: Christmas Portion” begins with an ironic observation. As the speaker enters a church in a small New England coastal town to hear his fellow citizens attempt this masterwork by George Frederic Handel, his eye is caught by a glorious sunset and he can’t help wondering “how could they / compete with sunset’s burnished / oratorio?”

Brothers and sisters, the reign of God is at hand, let us acknowledge our sins, and so prepare ourselves to celebrate the sacred mysteries.

The God who creates justice for those who suffer violence . . . that is the God of hope for the new world of righteousness and justice and peace.