Instead, what happened was really quite startling. He was someone who was saying that he couldn't know the state of his patient's physical health without knowing the state of her spirit. And it's more likely they'll ask those questions if they have a stable place to do it, and if they have the promise of Somebody leading them into maturity and growth. What a wonderful way to live. To be in a place that you know won't go away, that really stands for something deep, and a place where your questions are allowed and encouraged, and thought to be the way of growth.
Advent is a season of expectation.
Christmas, we say glibly, is a season of giving. So I'm going to suggest that you retrace the moments of conversion in your life, beginning, perhaps, with the day you saw Santa in a new light. I think you may think of that as an act of maturity. If you are ready, you are ready to embrace conversion not as a moment but a life. 1999 by St. Bartholomew's Church in the City of New York.