A few things about this bother me. First, I love the holiday season as much as the next person, but it's not even Thanksgiving. On top of that, there is no nativity anywhere in that yard. Just elves and polar bears and reindeer (oh my!). Now, I'm not one to go all evangelical but the saying "Let's put the Christ back in Christmas" rings a bell. Also, Advent, the season that is about to start in the church, is a time of preparation and waiting, so why rush the one time of year that we theologically don't have to. And this is the theme of today's blog.
With the holiday rush, we tend to lose sight of what Advent is all about. We get caught up in baking cookies, thinking about turkey, digging through the garage to find decorations and the "Big Toy Book" and forget to prepare. That is what Advent season is all about. Preparing our hearts and minds for the birth of Christ. The symbolic rebirth of our faith comes with all the tinsel and holly and sparkle so it tends to get lost in the shuffle. With all the loud sights and sounds comes a quiet peep. A small cry in the wilderness. A babe comes to bring us closer to God. The wise men understood this. That's why they traveled for who knows how long to see this child. A child who on the outside seemed completely normal, but on the inside was something much more.
My family is big on tradition. When we were younger, my siblings and I would wait on pins and needles to go get our Christmas tree. We would watch as our friends' families would put their trees up and hang their stockings and drive our parents crazy with "can we go to the Christmas tree lot NOW?" As we've gotten older, we've come to understand that the reason we wait until the week before Christmas to get our tree and decorate it has less to do with our busy schedule and more to do with intention. Preparing the tree is my family's way of being intentional about preparing for Jesus' birth. As we heat apple cider and tell stories about our family heirlooms around the tree, we are preparing our spirits for something magical. Not Santa, although we do still receive presents from him every year, even though we are all in our twenties. We are preparing ourselves for the most spectacular gift ever offered to human kind-- the gift of love in human form, Jesus Christ.
Advent Sunday is the Sunday after Thanksgiving this year. After your family gathers in the Great Hall to decorate wreaths, eat cookies and make Christmas crafts, spend some time being intentional with your children about what Advent really means. Take time out of the hustle and bustle to prepare your homes and your hearts for Christ. Make room for new holiday traditions that stress the importance of being intentional. Don't rush through things. Whether it's explaining to your child why baby Jesus is not in the nativity yet or what each candle on the Advent wreath means, slow down and take in what is truly important about the holiday season.
Family. Intention. Love.
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