The season of Advent has begun, which means the church year has started all over again. We’re back to the beginning of the story of Jesus, preparing to celebrate his birth, just like we did last year at this time, and many years before that, on our way to Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost.
This does not mean, however, that we are simply going over the same ground again and again. Though the church year is cyclical, it is not a two-dimensional circle. Think of it as a three-dimensional upward spiral. When you come back around to any point on the circle, you are in a different place than you were a year ago, because you have lived that much longer. You have gained another year of experience. To be attentive to the gospel story is to discern how that same story speaks anew to you at each stage of your life. How is God present to you now? What new word is God speaking to you through the old story?
The purpose of reliving the gospel story every year is not to go backward but forward, reinterpreting its meaning as our own personal stories continue to unfold. The accounts of Jesus’ birth should not mean the same thing to us when we are 50 or 60 as they did when we were five or 15.
And yet, Christmas, because it is so hugely important to our culture (quite apart from any religious significance) is a very difficult season to experience this way. Christmas, it seems, always draws us backward. It drips with nostalgia, which is a powerful narcotic against hearing the word of God. Immersed in cultural sentimentality, we define Christmas in flat two-dimensional terms. We want it to adhere to the picture we have of it in our minds. We do not want it ever to change. Or, if we do, we want to go back to the way it was at some happier time in our lives.
How, then, do we experience the Christmas season as a way forward instead of backward? This is the whole purpose of Advent, which the secular culture not only ignores but also runs over with a commercial bulldozer. Advent is all about looking forward. It’s about preparing for Christ to come to us in new ways that we do not expect. It’s about God’s word breaking into our lives with surprising news.
Admittedly, it takes a lot of discipline to keep Advent. It is so much easier just to observe the postcard Christmas and play along with the culture. Does this mean we must shun the world in order to keep Advent? I don’t believe that is ever our calling, for if we extricate ourselves from the world entirely, we cannot be the salt and light Christ wants us to be. But even as we shop for gifts, attend parties, and rush our children to extra rehearsals, we can also make time to reflect, listen, and wait patiently for God. We can give ourselves permission to let go of traditions that no longer serve positive ends – or at least try new ways of observing them. We can make the choice not be enslaved to impossible expectations and to be open to whatever new thing God is preparing to do in our lives.
I readily admit that observing Advent in a meaningful way continues to be a challenge for me, even after decades of leading Advent worship. To some extent, how to balance the familiar seasonal activity with the call to more prayer and reflection remains a mystery to me. But it is an alluring mystery. I fondly remember Christmases past, both as an expectant child and as a parent of expectant children. Sometimes, I ache to feel the magic that used to cause my heart to leap in December. But then, I turn in the other direction, standing in the quiet darkness of the approaching solstice, and I sense the promise of new light revealing truths I could not possibly apprehend until now. Even though I feel “busy” (how could I not as pastor of an active, vibrant church congregation?), I don’t feel as anxious or restless as I did when I was younger. My deepening desire is to watch, wait, and wonder.
Of course, that desire is still at war with the demands of keeping the cultural Christmas. I can’t confidently say that my reflective nature is winning the battle, but at least I am in the struggle, and for that I am grateful. Every year when I circle back around to Advent, I know I’m not in the same place as before. By God’s grace, life is continually made new.
Much of what we see, hear, taste, smell, and touch in church during this time of year is very familiar. But even as we retrace the same steps, we are further along the path. Another year has passed, and we’re all a little different (not just older). We are all capable of hearing something from God’s word we couldn’t hear before; of understanding a truth hidden until now. So in the words of the angel, “do not be afraid” of whatever God is ready to share with you.
©2013 by J. Mark Lawson
Powerful! The last sentence brought tears to my eyes, just the thought of God wanting to share something with each one of us is overwhelming! Thank you, Mark.
Posted by: Elaine | 12/06/2013 at 11:08 AM