I have a Grinch tie, which was a present from someone in years past who was protesting prophetic sermons during Advent. And I showed my stuffed Grinch, which I received last year after preaching sermons that called us to prepare not for the coming of Christmas, but to prepare for the coming of Christ. Recently this card was added to my Grinch collection. ["EveryWho down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot But the Grinch who lived just north of Whoville, did NOT!"] I like Christmas a lot. I love Christmas. I like an open fire, stockings hung by the chimney with care. I like family visits and good times with friends, bright sparkling lights and a sense of generosity. Love prevails – and I am grateful. But I have learned to listen to the prophets, those Grinchlike people in the Old Testament and the New – who do not speak words of comfort and joy, but words of warning and repentance.
 

Advent is about prophets more than angels.