Absence makes the heart grow fonder

Today I went to Advent vespers. That is, an evening service, in the season of Advent, which marks a period of waiting, both recalling the time before Christ, and marking the current age before the Second Coming. It's the "God is coming!" time of the liturgical calendar.

Given the occasion, the selection of the first scripture reading was interesting. It began:

"So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 3:5)

And if this is part of the Advent message, then it turns out that recent stories like this and this are very seasonal; and if we had any sense at all then maybe we (comfortable Christians in America) should probably be spending this season praying for Him to stay the hell away.