At our Church - Saint Patrick's - we follow the Christian calendar. This Sunday is the second Sunday in Advent. The gospel reading is the intro to John the Baptist's ministry found in Luke 3:1-6. One haunting detail of the passage is that it tells us that John preached a Baptism for repentance. Hmm.... Interesting text to study three weeks before Christmas!

In the weeks before Christmas I am not in much of a repentance mood. I am in a Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole mood. I am in the "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas posture" rather than the "you brood of vipers posture."

Someone put a post on another blog I read that mentioned John's challenge that if one has two coats, one should give one away. Ouch - that hits right at the idolatry that our culture builds around Christmas.

Now, I am not slamming gift giving, merry making and Bing Crosby. But I am wrestling with the challenge of repentance, especially economic repentance, as part of Advent.

Hmm.....