Why Wait?

“For centuries the Church has said you cannot celebrate Christmas rightly without doing Advent first.” This bold statement by an Anglican Dominican priest captures the spirit of the Church’s liturgical year, but may leave the ordinary Christian questioning its validity, not so much theologically, but practically speaking. After all, what is really missed if we skip Advent and jump right into the party of Christmas with the rest of our culture after Thanksgiving, after Halloween, around the beginning of November?

Can we not enjoy the festivities of Christmas straight away: the cheer, the hustle and bustle, the decorations, the music, and the rest? We can, but we’ll miss out on some things along the way. Think of Advent and Christmas as two parts of an epic film, with Advent telling the first part of the story and Christmas the rest. Without Advent, you’ll enjoy Christmas, but much of what is happening will go straight over your head or will be more confusing than comforting.

Think of the relationship between Advent and Christmas as being akin to the relationship between engagement and marriage. The period of engagement is a period of preparation before the big day, which leads to an even bigger deal: a new kind of life with new possibilities and new commitments. Advent is our engagement period before we celebrate the coming of the King. In fact, the entire Christian life on earth is a period of engagement, a holy preparation, getting us ready for that day when the King will return and the fullness of our relationship with God will be realized.

 
So if you’re in favor of hasty weddings, with little or no preparation, by all means jump right into Christmas. For my part, I’d rather prepare for the big day, and more importantly, for the bigger deal that follows.

Spirituality of Thanksgiving

Thank God is perhaps the most basic form of prayer in Western civilization. Even if we didn't grow up in a home that immersed itself in a rich tradition of spirituality (which I certainly didn’t) most people would be familiar with the idea of thanking God. In my work with families over the years I've always been amused by the "forced" thankfulness of some young people. If you're a parent or where once a child you probably know what I'm talking about. Here is how it works. A parent comes to pick up their kid from some activity: school, sports, church -- whatever. As they leave the parent inevitably says, "Did you say thank you?" to which the child replies with a monotone "thank you," as he/she goes to the car. In families where manners are valued the idea of please and thank you are drilled into children from infancy. I'm not complaining about this because it was drilled into me and I'm glad it was.

Yet I wonder how much of this robotic responsiveness to thankfulness continues to influence our understanding of gratitude as adults. Consider the fact that in general we tend to approach thankfulness as an obligation. We write thank you notes because we're supposed to and we say thank you to gifts, lunches, and compliments that are less than appealing because we want to be polite. When a crisis strikes a neighbor or a different part of the country we are often reminded of our blessings. We pause to consider that our life isn't so bad after all and we are very grateful, very thankful, that whatever tragedy has struck, hasn't struck in our own backyard.

Even this kind of thankfulness is incomplete. It is true thankfulness, but it's a thankfulness that says "I'm glad those other people got hurt, and not me." Closer to the Biblical notion of thankfulness is the mere acknowledgment of your heartbeat; a simple thanks for the air you breathe or an innate sense of gratitude when watching children playing. It's a thankfulness that has been placed deep in our hearts by the Spirit of God. It's a posture that we as followers of Jesus are to approach life with. Life may have its up and downs, but we won't change our posture – we won’t stop being thankful.

That’s one reason that Christians have historically celebrated the Eucharist weekly, because Eucharist in the Greek language means “thanksgiving.” The Eucharist reminds us to be thankful and strengthens us to be thankful despite the tough stuff of life. Christians are fundamentally called to be a thanksgiving people – we are in the business of saying thank you. Are you a thanksgiving person?

Are you Ready for Advent?

This Sunday marks the beginning of the historic season of Advent. Advent is the beginning of the Christian year, sometimes also referred to as the Liturgical year. Advent is intended to be a time of waiting, watching, and preparation. The preparation is in reference to the coming of Jesus Christ: first in His birth in Bethlehem and then again at the end of time when He will return to “judge the living and the dead.”

Advent, like the other seasons of the Christian year, is intended to do more than provide a color code for Sunday service vestments, but to shape the daily pattern of our lives. There are a variety of traditions related to the celebration of Advent for individuals, couples, and families. The most well known is the use of an Advent wreath and the lighting of that wreath, usually at the principal meal of the day, accompanied by a prayer (for more ways you or your family can observe Advent click here).

Traditionally, Advent is a time marked by silence, quiet reflection, as well as service to others in preparation for the great feast of Christmas. In our North American culture this time of year is marked by the exact opposite: noise, stress, and self-indulgence (if you’re sick of this dichotomy, join the Advent Conspiracy by clicking here). Observing Advent requires a willingness to be different than our co-workers, families, and friends. Observing Advent requires a willingness to say, “I’m not ready to celebrate Christmas yet, I have to prepare first.” Advent is not about squashing holiday fun, but about capturing the deeper joy, the deeper meaning, and the deeper power of Christmas.  In addition, Advent causes us not only to recall the events of Bethlehem, but to consider the future as it relates to the return of our King, and whether we are ready for Him to return or not.   

I want to leave you with the words of Father Tony Clavier, an Episcopal priest, who offers some good advice related to this time of year, and to the season of Advent: “We perhaps moan about a secularized Christmas that begins before Thanksgiving and ends abruptly on the day after Christmas. Rather than moaning we can meet the challenge it presents. We can be subversive by keeping Advent in holy preparation.”