A.G.E's Joint

  May the new year Be as a lark ascending A crescendo to a forte Never in a minor key

  Looking heavenward Alternating blinking lights Did E T phone home? I'm not much of a science fiction fan, but I did go through a short phase in college where I read Arthur C. Clarke, Heinlein, and Asimov. I spent time in Perlandra and Dune. Even did Watership Down and The Clan of the Cave Bear series. I appreciated their efforts to get me to think of what was beyond the veil. But in the end, I'm too much of a realist to suspend my belief in theories that, at least at the moment, have no basis in the real world.  I eventually came around to Carl Sagan.  He was one of few people who could communicate both what could be and what truly is (at least at the moment). The balance of skepticism and wonder rolled through his writing, whether it was Cosmos or about this family life. There is an essential hope to draw from there.  I hope I passed that on to my kids. 

ALMIGHTY  God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty, to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and ever.  Amen. The above is from the Book of Common Prayer service for the first day of Advent. In the Christian tradition, Advent is both the beginning of the Church Year and the beginning of the Christmas season. It is a time of preparation and introspection. It has its roots in various Roman and Goth overwinter celebrations as European humans hibernated in the winter. The first candle is hope against the darkness of the world. That the snow would go away and warmth return.  These days, it's all about commerce. No one cares about the weather or war...