Christmas 1965, Rochester NY, I attended the Presbyterian Church around the corner. It was a brownstone building, end of the underground railroad, nerger of the missional Scotch and mystical Waldensian Presbyterians. Rev. B ooher was paassionate about  church relevance in those changing times reand its response in the parish and world. Bob White, newly married, and I joined and got involved. Cindy, Jodie, Rob, Russ, and Randy will always hold this revolutionary bond of common memory. The one remnant  ritual of life in Christ Presbyterian Church is Advent.Following a model created by East Harlem Parish, we decorated trees with purple stars, keys, crowns and cribs. Recovered the powerful ritual of the Advent Wreath and heldd the promise of the birth of the Prince of Peace with a Bible verse with each candle lit. Today, I continue this seasonal ritual - 1st week light a candle anticipating Peace on Earth, 2nd wk Desiring Peace on Earth, 3rd wk Promising Peace by my actions, 4th wk watering seeds of Peace and finally Welcoming Peace, accepting challenge to make it happen! This journey is the path all of the congregation lived as our church rebuilt  literally from the ground up, using the brownstone and church members gifts in the creation. All that is gone now. Everything has continued in a transformed form, unrecognizable save the great spirit movement of our time and great passion for true human community in response to these radical times when a vision of peace is manifesting everywhere , even in the most desperate places., where only questions of outrageous "Why"  resound.