There is no question about it. Advent is my favorite season of the church year. Certainly the other seasons each hold within them the wonder of the gospel as well. Epiphany reminds us that Christ came into the world for all people, not just for a select few. The season of Lent places us at the foot of the cross where we stand in awe of the forgiveness that is found in Jesus’ sacrifice for us. And the 50 days of Easter celebrate the resurrection, which is the very core of our faith as Christians. But I look forward to the season of Advent most of all because of the sharp contrasts that are presented to us in these few short weeks.
In the coming month Christians have two opportunities to celebrate a new year. On January 1 everyone will celebrate the beginning of the calendar year with food, friends, family and football.
But there is also the new year that we will celebrate this Sunday, as many Christians transition from the Gospel of Mark to the Gospel of Luke in our worship services. The new church year marks the beginning of our shared journey to the empty tomb of Easter, with stops along the way at the manger in Bethlehem, the Jordan River, the court of Pilate, and the cross on Golgotha. These are two very different kinds of new year’s celebrations.
We live in a consumer based culture of our own making that seeks to pull us away from the purpose of Advent. The very word … Advent … has almost disappeared from our vocabulary. Television, newspaper and Internet advertising all declare that these weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the “Christmas Season.” I have yet to see a Target or Best Buy advertisement promoting an “Advent Sale” on cameras or computer games. And the reason is painfully obvious. Advent doesn’t sell.
The very idea of Advent centers on waiting patiently and quietly for God to come to us. We pause to reflect on the darkness that surrounds us, both in the physical world and in the spiritual realm. This is a time to prepare in our hearts for the child to enter in. The marketing gurus at Walmart are unlikely to spend their advertising dollars inviting us to look inward to re-examine our relationship with God and with one another before purchasing a new coffee maker or an argyle sweater vest.
Each year at this time a certain cable news network decrees that there is a “war on Christmas!” The narrative is that non-Christians are stealing our holiday away from us. The pundits express their indignation that employees at shopping malls don’t say “Merry Christmas” anymore as we rush helter-skelter through the aisles on the day after Thanksgiving looking for bargains on DVD players and I-Phones.
Even worse, some department stores have the audacity to refer to the white plastic pine trees that they put up weeks before Halloween as “holiday trees.” How dare they?
Nothing has been stolen away from us. Sadly, we instead often simply turn away from the wonder and the anticipation of the manger. As long as we choose to worship the god of consumer spending rather than the God who came to live among us, we will continue to wander in a wilderness of our own making. If there is a war on Christmas, it is a civil war. This one is on us, and not on those who do not believe.
What I deeply love about Advent is that within it lies a silent promise that fills us with joy. No matter how far we wander, and no matter how deep we fall, God always reaches down into our lives and welcomes us back with open arms! God waits patiently for us to turn away from our desire to center ourselves on the things of this world, and to instead center ourselves on the gospel story.
The season of Advent calls us to turn toward God, knowing that God has already come to us as Jesus, our Emmanuel!
No one can steal the power of this season away from us as long as we hunger for the child in the manger. The joyful anticipation of the Christ child is the true gift of Advent. It is a gift that can’t be found at the jewelry counter at Kohl’s or in the concourses of the Mall of America because it is free, and it is shared with each one of us without condition.
I invite you to worship at any one of the many churches in our community this Advent season, where people of faith will gather to sing beautiful hymns that remind us of our longing for God and to hear the Word that proclaims the coming of Jesus into our world. There you will find a new meaning to these precious weeks leading up to the birth of our savior.
Merry Advent Everyone!
Each week a member of the Cook County Ministerium will offer Spiritual Reflections. This week’s contributor is Pastor Tom Murray of Lutsen and Zion Lutheran Churches.
Leave a Reply