Third Thursday in Advent

You can find the "Following the Star" Advent devotionals here.

I wonder how Christmas got to be so much about fighting in line to get stuff instead of focusing our vision on those in need.

I wonder if in our culture Jesus has become so much of a "celebrity" that no one has to pay any attention to him. I mean, everybody "knows" a celebrity, and everyone "pays attention" to what a celebrity says, but how many people order their lives around one?

Actually, I guess there are people who order their lives around celebrities, whether that celebrity is one person, or maybe a team of persons. Maybe the problem is that Jesus is considered one celebrity among a cast of millions. And knowing about Jesus might help you answer a question on Jeopardy or defeat some of the crowd on "One vs. One Hundred," but how many people, even "church people," have made Jesus the One they have ordered their entire lives around?

This post seems to be a little random, but maybe John the Baptist inspires such random thoughts in one! Maybe we should add a "John the Baptist" day to our Advent celebration. What would that look like?