Borders

So, when exactly, does the last day of Advent end and Christmas Eve begin?  At our church, one could argue 5:00 pm, when the Children's Pageant service begins.  But maybe it will be at 10:00 am, when I begin streaming the Lessons and Carols Service from King's Chapel in Cambridge, England.  Marking out a hard and fast delineation isn't as easy at it seems; one just seems to morph into the other.  That seems especially appropriate on this day when the Kingdom of God manifests itself in our lived reality in the person of an infant.  One realm doesn't displace the other.  Instead, the holy permeates the mundane, subtly yet powerfully recasting everything.  The border between Advent and Christmas is porous, one leading seamlessly into the other.  So, perhaps we shouldn't ask when Christmas Eve begins but how it will unfold, what it will change, and how we will respond. 

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