According to the church calendar, the weeks leading up to Christmas are the season of Advent.  Even while department stores and homes are decorated for Christmas during those weeks, Advent is supposed to be a season of waiting and anticipation.  As Christians, we no longer have to wait for the Messiah as the ancients did, but now we use this season to quiet our hearts in anticipation for Christ's second coming. Our preaching series (December 2 through 23) will follow the common lectionary used by churches around the world and will focus on the "waiting" verbs in each of the stories: Watch, Prepare, Expect, and Leap.