I love Advent. I love the hopeful anticipation of the season, the expectant waiting for Immanuel, God-with-us, to finally arrive.

Faith, for me, has always been a bit of a struggle. My creed echoes the words of the man who brought his son to Jesus for healing: "I believe; help my unbelief!" (Mark 9:24).

Advent reminds me that struggle and darkness are integral in this journey of faith. Advent reminds me that we live in the painful in-between of God-with-us and God-yet-to-come ("thy kingdom come, thy will be done"). I find comfort in Advent, in the willingness of God's people to dwell in this place of in-between while still holding on to hope. I feel at home here.

What does Advent mean to you?

Last Friday morning, as I was leaving my dentist's office after a particularly painful cleaning, the receptionist stopped me with what she felt was breaking news.

"Have you heard?" she exclaimed. Before I could answer she added, "I heard on the radio this morning that WalMart is going to begin saying 'Merry Christmas'!"

Perplexed--both at why she felt it necessary to stop me with this news, as well as at the news itself--I answered, "I thought they were already saying Merry Christmas." I thought I had recalled seeing a commercial sometime in the previous couple of weeks in which the phrase "Merry Christmas" was communicated from WalMart either in print or through the commercial's voice-over.

"No," she corrected me. "But they must have gotten a lot of pressure, becuase they're going to use 'Merry Christmas' from here on out. Target says 'Seasons Greetings,' so I don't shop there. At least not at Christmas. "

Still not knowing quite what to say, I told her that that was interesting news, and I continued on out the door.

I do not understand why so many Christians care what our secular, capitalistic corporations say during the holidays. And that is what they are: holidays. Plural. There is more than one holiday that falls during the months of December and January, what it commonly known as the holiday season.

But even if there were only one holiday, and if that holiday were Christmas, why would we care if a retail corporation like Target or WalMart refused to say "Merry Christmas"? Isn't their use of the phrase a co-opting of the very holiday? Shouldn't we much rather be up in arms about that, that these human-rights abusing, greed-perpetuating companies use our celebration of the birth of our Savior as a means of selling us their products?

How did we get this so backward?