The Season of Advent has a variety of meanings. Because of where it falls in the year, its easy to associate with preparing for Christmas. As the season progresses the readings reflect this theme. But the beginning of Advent always deals with Christ's second coming. When this topic comes up I can't help but think about rapture, pre-millennial dispensationalism, post-millennialism, a-millenialism, and all sorts of understandings. All of these concepts are designed by human beings, trying to make sense of very cryptic passages in Scripture, like the one we have for Advent 1 this year. "Then they will see `the Son of Man coming in clouds' with great power and glory. Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven (Mark 13:26-27 NRSV)." When I was a teenager many of my friends would speculate on the rapture, believing that at some point Jesus would return, and that all of the Christians w...