Okay, I admit it. I’m not ready for Christmas yet. I’m not in the mood today. Thank God for four weeks of Advent.
I always get droopy when winter begins. The sun goes away, the wonderful autumn colors fade to gray, and the refreshing chill is taken over by biting cold. Everyone seems rushed and there’s pressure to spend money on everything imaginable. The weather, the economy, and the drabness all do little to provide hope for any of us. And the notion of unbridled shopping might provide some of us with a momentary thrill, but even the most materialistic among us know that the commercial excitement of the season is destined to fizzle quite quickly.
When I look around American society I often see few reasons for hope. We seem to have lost our ability to empathize with one another, simple civil behaviors, from saying thank you to stopping at red lights, seem to have gone by the wayside and people seem intently self-focused. We are as “me-centered” as we have ever been. I am struck by how often people become petty, worry about things that truly have no significance and spend their energy on meaninglessness. Recently I have met a number of people who are just angry, and are willing to take out their anger on anyone within reach. Such observations do not make for a merry Christmas.
That may be the blessing of Advent, a season dedicated not to instant celebration, but to looking ahead. The season begins with looking ahead to Jesus’ final reappearance, when the reign and rule of God become clear for all to see. No longer will we wonder, no longer will we have unanswered questions, for God will be revealed in a way that transcends our most vivid imaginations. The timing is hidden, the method is cryptic, but the promise is sure: we will see Jesus! There is hope (HOPE!) in that promise!
But Advent doesn’t stay in the realm of an otherworldly future. After the looking-ahead-kickoff, the season turns our attention to preparing for Christmas by immersing us in Scripture stories of John the Baptizer and the angel’s appearances to Joseph and Mary, all helping to prepare our way into the miraculous manger. Advent fights our consumer-crazed desire to rush headlong into that stable, knocking mother and child flying, all in search of peace on earth or presents for the tree. Advent slows us down, asks us to look ahead with patience, to seek an audience with the Christ child from the depths of our beings, to see past glitz, glam and glitter to kneel before an unlikely altar; a feeding trough in which lies the Son of God.
So, perhaps it’s okay that I’m not ready for Christmas just yet. Maybe you’re not, either, and that’s okay too. The beautiful blessing of Advent is that God takes on our frustrations, our chaos, and even our droopiness and pushes them aside so that you and I can anticipate the real reason for the Christmas season: Immanuel, God with us.
