An Advent Rant In 3 Verses

(posted for Gary Fitzgerald)

Verse 1 – Changing The Ordo Honors The Season

Christianity is one of the few viable, long-term groups that exist primarily for non-members. Back in the day, the early church fathers (and mothers, and administrators, and program people, etc.) were always looking for ways to connect the real life that they knew as followers of Jesus with the actual life being lived by those around them. That’s a long and interesting story; the relevant part is how and when we come to have Advent and Christmas.

In those olden days, seasons were much more important because they had a much more direct effect on everyone’s lives, so it was natural to try and connect what God had done with what people could see, touch and feel. Celebrating the coming of the Light into the world had real power when it happened during the physically darkest days of the year – it was easy for people to get it. And it was quite natural to establish a specific time of preparation – the birth of Jesus was (is) the signal event of all time, literally dividing history into “before” and “after;” just mentioning it on a single day couldn’t possibly be enough. So it was that the weeks leading up to the celebration of the arrival of the Light, on the darkest day of the year, became known as “Advent.”

That was then; this is now. The Word does not change, but almost everything else about living daily life as a Christian in community with others has evolved, often dramatically so, and for the most part we have embraced the changes that help us draw closer and make it easier to invite others to do the same. We could do that again. Were we to spend the four, or perhaps six, weeks prior to Thanksgiving in real preparation – physically, mentally, spiritually – for a Christmas season which built from the first Sunday after Thanksgiving right through December and ENDED – rather than started – on December 25, we could recapture much of value that gets lost, if not diminished, in the current competition with the culture.

Instead of quietly bemoaning the fact that the commercial world can’t move fast enough to change from Halloween to Christmas with a touch of Thanksgiving thrown in, we could legitimately talk about the preparations we’re making, how and why we do that, and what the value is of preparing our homes and our hearts for the celebration of the Light. Instead of trying desperately to carve out some quiet in the last and busiest month of the year when most of the “Christmas” celebrations happen well before the Day, we could be taking advantage of all the great resources for celebration that have to go unused because the current Ordo decrees that the season of Christmas is the shortest of all. And instead of looking nerdy and anti-social because we must wait for Christmas until it’s over for most others, we could be legitimately and powerfully counter-cultural, preparing for the Way while those around us are trying to find some way to prepare, and celebrating whole-heartedly while others try to create significance out of trinkets and make do with the appearance of happiness when deeply-rooted joy is waiting. Even in these benighted times, we could make Advent a season of real preparation, and Christmas the real celebration it’s meant to be.

Embracing Advent when preparation is going on all around us, giving ourselves time to really celebrate Christmas – what would that be like?

Next week – Changing The Ordo Honors People