Re-Thinking Advent

This year, because of where our family is at, in terms of our individual Christian walks, Grace and Jack's ages and several other factors, I am re-thinking our traditions and activities around this time of year.

In years past, we've taken on so much, such as:
organising music and children's activities for church, developing our own traditions and favourite activities, a sincere desire to use this time of year as a learning opportunity for the children and so on.

All while still trying to bake everything from scratch, carry on homeschooling, reach out to neighbours and MORE! And I wonder why I have got increasingly stressed during the weeks before Christmas! Now that I've spent a couple of weeks thinking about this issue, I'm ready for a change.

This year, I've been trying to split apart two enmeshed subjects. ADVENT and CHRISTMAS. 'What's the difference?' you might be thinking. 'Advent is just the period leading up to Christmas and is more or less the same thing.' Yes, Christmas has been extended recently from the 12 Days of the past, (Christmas Day to Epiphany) back into Advent. So people decorate their homes earlier and earlier, Christmas music is played in the shops even from before Advent, the 'party season' now starts in November. Advent is just the handy term people have latched onto in recent years to describe the Countdown to Christmas. HOWEVER, Advent is not, and never was for the Church, a countdown to Christmas!

Ask anyone, believer or non-believer what Advent is (and I have), and they will tell you, 'It's the time of preparing for Christmas.' Non-believers use this time for physical preparations for the secular holiday, the gift-buying, the feast preparations, the arrangements to visit relatives, the office party. Believers will say that they use the Advent season for spiritual preparations for Christmas, but often, this is simply adding on to all the secular preparations some sort of devotional or Bible study. Which is fine! It's what we did for years and if people feel fulfilled by that approach, then there's no reason to stop.

But I am beginning to feel we've all been getting this wrong, somehow. Advent isn't a time of preparation for Christmas. Or at least that's not what is has been over the centuries.

Latin adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, commonly used in reference to the Second Coming of Jesus. The church has, over many centuries, used the season of Advent as a dual reminder of the original waiting that was done by the Jews for the birth of their Messiah, as well as the waiting that Christians today endure as they await the second coming of Christ. Lectionary readings for Advent traditionally reflect those twin themes.

Advent was NOT a time of preparations for Christmas, for spiritual OR secular preparations. It was the time of reflection on the past: God's People waiting for Jesus to come the first time, and the future: God's People waiting for Jesus to come the second time. 'Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.' 1 Thess 4:17

Advent happened to co-incide with the time people were preparing for Christmas, though in the past those preparations were exceedingly simple: fattening up an animal for the feast, making a few simple gifts and so on. As those Christmas preparations have exploded, the word Advent has been conveniently attached to them, making us feel that somehow every little bit of business we do in December (or, Heaven Forfend, in November!) has, of necessity or by right, some sort of spiritual significance.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love Christmas. My whole family was saved at Christmas and we have many resons to be thankful for it. I will never stop being grateful for it and love celebrating it. As a mother in a family, I also need to prepare for the celebration and want to continue some of our treasured secular traditions and continue to make precious memories for my children and, in the future, God willing, grandchildren.

But I also want to love Advent itself, on its own terms, as a time of true spiritual preparation, focusing on those twin, time-honoured features of the Church's Advent: The Past - waiting for Jesus and the Future - waiting for Jesus' Second Coming. This stripped-down Advent, this purer and holier, Advent of my imaginings and longings is one I am looking forward to developing more next year.

The only way it will work for us is by making the preparations for the secular aspects of Christmas (family, food, gifts, parties, travel, etc) little by little throughout the year. Unfortunately, this year, I have left too much to the last minute to be able to make the spiritual preparations I crave, because there is no time left. But we've made a start. We are celebrating Advent this year only on each Sunday. We are devoting the whole day to God, going to church in the morning, having a special tea on Sunday with prayers and singing and a sneak preview of the Christmas food by having something special to eat at tea-time! Then, it's back to church in the evening. I am so thankful that Jamie approves and Grace and Jack, at their ages, are still so willing to come along on this journey with us.

Long Live Advent!
Long Live Christmas!
Vive La Difference!