It's been 45 years since President John Kennedy was assassinated. I am amazed at the continuing power of his legacy.

This morning, Caroline Kennedy's interest in the soon-to-be-vacant Senate seat from New York was top-of-the-front-page news in both the Richmond Times-Dispatch and The New York Times. (Lemme tell you: it's a rare day when those two newspapers think the same story is top of the page news!)

This is not just the Kennedy name. This is the direct lineage from the one some still think of as the martyred young president.

Why is this so captivating? I am guessing it's because those old enough look back at those Kennedy-"Camelot" years as years of hope and promise. There are historians who speculate that, had President Kennedy lived, his recklessness in foreign policy and in his personal life (exhibited in the Bay of Pigs debacle and his habit of taking breaks during White House working days for trysts with various sexual partners) would have done real damage to the country. As it is, though, there is nostalgia for those old enough to remember, "Ask not what your country can do for you..." There is a longing for a brightness and optimism which was lost with the assassinations and Vietnam and Watergate. People grasp at the thought: can Caroline Kennedy revive that sense of hope and promise?

Of course, hope and promise are key themes of this season of Advent. This goes far beyond any politician or political party or governmental initiative, or, indeed, any human endeavor.

We look with hope for God to fulfill God's promise of the kingdom to come -- when there will be no more tears, no more suffering, no more death, no more poverty or hunger or war.

Our yearning is our preparation for Christmas.