The A of Advent
A would stand for "awe in God's presence", which is commonly known as "Fear of the Lord". I reckon without awe in God's presence, we are really hopeless folks. Hope being the traditional thrust of Advent, hoping for the coming of our Saviour, etc., etc., etc., hopelessness kinda goes against the deal. If we don't have awe of God, then I reckon we've made Him a bit smaller than He really is, which is infinite to tell the truth. Probably, we've put God in a box and have Him all figured out. He's our buddy and He's always predictable and we know exactly how He will react to certain things, and so forth. This may seem a bit far fetched to those of us who like the idea of Jesus saying, "You are slaves no longer. I call you friends." And so, yes, we can have Jesus (AKA God) as our buddy, our closest friend, and that is all proper. However, we must also remember who this person is that is our best friend. And we should have awe that He chose us before we ever chose Him or even knew Him or even before we ever existed! It's like the old saying, "I know two things: there is a God, and I'm not Him!" Awe in God's presence requires humility as well. If we are so caught up in ourselves and our power and/or ability, it's no wonder God isn't a part of it. God is then put in the "On Sunday Only" box, and let out for about an hour if the priest goes too long.