Any of us who has driven through an interstate highway construction site is familiar with the lingo and signs that accompany such an endeavor: shifting lanes, detour ahead, reduced speed, no shoulder, bottlenecks, traffic jams and delays. Road construction is an inexorable process and at times as we are sitting in traffic (impatiently) waiting we can see what the end result is going to achieve.

The taste of Thanksgiving turkey is surely still fresh on some of our tongues. But today the invitation is to move on to savor something quite different, indeed, something much richer and long lasting. Today we begin the Season of Advent, a time of expectation and of preparation.