(Post originally appeared on www.sdewitthall.com) This is our Christmas tree, and no, we aren't getting ready to drag it out to the curb. It's been naked and waiting since the day we bought it. I had a vision of decorating it Christmas Eve, the way they did in Ye Olden Days, when the twinkling lights adorning the branches were candles and the risk of fire was significant. Back when Christmas began rather than ended on December 25th. It's a vision I've entertained for decades;

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5) Advent has been troubling. My dad's been in the hospital since Thanksgiving, dealing with some pretty serious health issues. The young adult daughter of a lovely, generous couple fell ill this week and died. A friend who's led a torturous life and who battles addiction as a result tried heroin for the first time and loved it. There were bomb threats at Sandy Hook Elementary School. A child seek

The passage below is Day 8 in the Our Gender-Full God section of Transfigured. It offers a concept for Advent contemplation; Jesus, forming himself in Mary's womb in order to be like all of us, in all ways. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up