The season of advent is upon us! Today is the first of four weeks preparing ourselves for the coming of Jesus. That’s what advent means: “coming” or “arrival". We prepare in retrospect, for the king who we know was born in a manger in a few short weeks. This is an act of remembrance, not all that different from eating the bread and drinking the cup at communion. We remember the birth of the savior, and we prepare our hearts for his advent into the world. But there is a second advent or second “coming” that we await too. The return of the king. When all things shall be put right in their finality. When all hearts shall be judged. When Christ will open the gates to the city of the New Jerusalem and people of all tongues and tribes in every nation shall enter in.