Commit To Failure This Advent Season

Many of the Advent-season prayers, hymns, and readings focus on final judgment and the end of the world. The “end of the world” is further subdivided into “the four last things”: death, judgment, hell, and heaven. “The end of the world” on a cosmic scale and “failure” in the more tactical or strategic channels of our lives—professional and personal—have a congruence often overlooked by many Christians as we hurry to get to Christmas itself.  If we think a little more about “failure” in terms of the last four things, we may be able to achieve a perspective that does not turn everything magically into success but at least gives us a deeper understanding of purpose, plan, and the present.

Here is a talk I offered at the Cathedral Church of the Advent (Birmingham, Alabama) about the Advent season.