How, when the aged are reverently, passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must be
Children who did not specially want it to happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood

I am sitting in a pew in an Episcopal Church in Hamden, CT, having just sung a few versus of "O Come O Come Emmanuel". For Anglican's, this is the period of Advent, a period of reverently, passionately waiting for the miraculous birth. It is a solemn time of reflection, it is not the skating on a pond at the edge of the wood, or crowds at the shopping malls listening to over produced Christmas Carols.

Recently, my mind wandered to science fiction meeting pop culture. As my Anglican friends await the celebration of the miraculous birth, others are awaiting the apocalypse. For some, it is the Zombie apocalypse. For others, it is the Mayan apocalypse, or perhaps a dyslexic Mayan apocalypse on 12-12-12.

While we all know that the end of the Mayan calendar simply means it is time to get a new calendar, just as the end of the various yearly calendars that we buy at the mall mean its time to go shopping and buy a new calendar, there are others awaiting an apocalypse.

There are always people awaiting an apocalypse. They await the end of the world, or perhaps more accurately, the end of the human race. More likely, each one of us will meet our personal apocalypses at the appropriate time.

It also is interesting to note that those looking towards an apocalypse usually look at it in terms of some external event. The planet or astroid crashing into our own, a cataclysmic earthquake or volcano. The closest anyone ever comes to an apocalypse generated by humans is some sort of nuclear war, nuclear melt down, or a storm caused by climate change, yet it seems as if these human generated apocalypses are more likely.

So, on 12-21-2012, the longest night of the year, an evening where some churches will go singing carols and others will hold memorial services for homeless people that have died over the past year, some people await the end.

One popular theory is that it will be from some planet passing close enough to earth either crash into the earth, or at least disrupt the orbit enough to destroy mankind. That planet is sometimes called Planet X and other times called Niribu. The problem with this theory is that one would expect Niribu to be visible already from its approach. As I thought about this planet, my mind wandered to other planets. Could Niribu simply be the Zetan name for the planet Kolob, as found in the Book of Abraham as translated for Mormon believers by Joseph Smith? Is there some great Mayan-Mormon conspiracy, perhaps related to the failure of Mitt Romney to get elected and the lack of a solid immigration policy by the Republicans for Mayans wishing come to the United States.

As my mind continued to wander, I wondered how a planet could sudden appear. Perhaps it has some sort of cloaking device, or folks at NASA are conspiring to hide its approach. Yet as I thought about it, it seemed more reasonable that Niribu-Kolob is actually a death star sent by the galactic empire now that Leia Organa has been captured and turned into a Disney Princess.

It seems like too often, this is the outcome of my attempts at solemn reflection. Yet perhaps, that also indicates why I need to spend more time in solemn reflection. I might come up with some other good stories.