A retired United Methodist bishop once said: "If you are at the stage of life or age of life when your back goes out more than you do, do not let your aches get in the way of your alleluias." That's a good message for us.

Dr. M. Scott Peck, in his best-selling book The Road Less Traveled, begins with the statement, "Life is difficult." In a sequel to that book, he begins by saying: "Life is complex." Both statements are of course true. Life is both difficult and complex, but Advent is a season of hope. The prophet Isaiah cried out to God, "O that Thou would rend the heavens and come down . . . ." We affirm during this season of the year the most basic teachings of our faith that God has come down into our world through the person of Jesus Christ. The Word has become incarnate and now life does not seem as daunting, as frightening, as dreary or as gray.