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I love this time of Advent, which is now in its third week. While we prepare to celebrate Christmas with the usual hustle and bustle, over-booked schedules and stressed-out moments -- all the while wondering how to stretch our incomes to accommodate gifts -- it is still a time of reflection and anticipation. And so I muse on this time to bring you these thoughts.

The third week of Advent marks the time with a rose candle in the Advent wreath signaling that even in the darkness, both literally and figuratively, we believe and hope in the light that is to come as we move toward Christmas.

We ring our homes, trees and windows with lights in the hope that some of that light would shine in our hearts as well. As the war in Iraq continues and we engage in our own wars closer to home in the political realm as well as the academic, we are reminded how hard it is to reach out in peace and forgiveness to each other, not only to those in other countries but also to those with whom we work and live each day. It seems the darkness that overtakes us at this time of the year reaches into our hearts, and we need to believe in the light that will hopefully appear to push away the cloud that separates us from each other.

I am reminded of this in the gospel of the first week of Advent from Isaiah 2:1-5 -- "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: One nation shall not raise the sword against another Nor shall they train for war again.

Whether you agree with the political stance of the war in Iraq or not, I believe it is the hope of every American that we will see the end of this war that kills and maims our military men and women each day or sends them home without limbs to fight other battles as they try to re-enter into their world that is now changed forever.

I thought of this especially when I came across an article of a young service woman who returned home with no legs and who is now seeking political office in order to advocate for all of those returnees who have also been seriously injured, losing arms and legs as well.

And what about the healing that needs to take place within our own communities?

The recent "happenings" in the news in our own state are a scandal to the rest of the country -- if not the world. The back biting, the "sand kicking," as one member of the state school board called it, as engaged in by both parties, has now escalated into violence.

What happened to the "values" of both of these groups? And indeed what are they? When last I looked, it was my understanding that at least one group was to practice good will to all others, to clothe the naked, to feed the hungry, to offer help to widows and orphans, to visit those in prison and treat others as they would wish to be treated.

It seems so simple, and yet we choose sides and quarrel over matters that seem to disappear in the simplicity of these words. Is it the human condition that forces us to intellectualize rather than to live these words?

I would bet that if you were to ask all involved in these squabbles what is most important to them, they would agree that these simple truths should be the basis of our behavior to each other as a believer or a non-believer. As people of good will, we should also allow each other to find our own beliefs and to practice them or not practice them in any way we choose. Isn't that what all peoples of every creed or "non creed" desire?

As we go about our business in this time before we as Christians celebrate the birth of Christ, let us be open to these words and try to see the needs of those around us. We, as humans, seek the same for ourselves and our children. Speaking of that, can you imagine a better way to teach the children than to call upon the old axiom, "to practice what you preach?"

So together now let us sing "Oh come, Oh come Emmanuel -- or Buddha, or Mohammed or Messiah, or Intelligent Design -- or whatever fills your heart and reaches out in good will to all during this special time, so that we push back the darkness together for the coming of the light.