Advent does not begin in buoyancy or celebration or in a shopping spree. The natural habitat of Advent is a community of hurt. It is the voice of those who know profound grief, who articulate it and do not cover it over. But this community of hurt knows where to speak its grief, toward whom to address its pain…. And because the hurt is expressed to the One whose rule is not in doubt, the community of hurt is profoundly a community of hope.
Walter Brueggemann
Advent /Christmas Proclamation 3
