Today's Gospel lesson is not very Christmas-like to some, yet today is the first Sunday of Advent, the beginning of what many call the Christmas season. But Advent is really a time of waiting and preparation. We wait for and live in the hope of the return of Jesus, while we now prepare and celebrate His first coming, the birth of the Christ Child. As Jesus instructs us in Mark's Gospel, we wait, watch and prepare. All part of Advent!