Our church calendar teaches us how to let go and grow.  Our services of the hours prepares us for daily rest.  Our days of abstinence on Wednesday and Friday make space for weekly Sabbath.  The great fasts of our church, Advent and Easter, remind us that we are not machines, to live most fully, we must regularly surrender control to our Creator.  Today we come to the end of the great fast of Advent. Not coincidentally, Advent begins in mid-November and ends today, when the hours of daylight wane shortest and the hours of night grow longest.  Advent also ends as the old year ends.  Our sacred calendar, echoing the rhythms of God’s creation, reminds us that all good beginnings come from good endings.  To be ready for the new day, for the new year, and one day for a new life, requires that we surrender the last one to God in the stillness of Sabbath rest. Nature produces its fruits all year, and ends in Winter darkness and rest.  We produce the fruits of our labor all year, and now it is time for our surrender to God in Sabbath rest.  To thank God for all that was, to surrender all that wasn’t, and make room for God’s surprising grace in the new year ahead.