Season of Hope

Photo by Britt-Marie Sohlstrom // CC
Photo by Britt-Marie Sohlstrom // CC
Photo by Britt-Marie Sohlstrom // CC

I’ve spent my life celebrating Christmas. The holiday and all the December days leading up to it have always been packed with tradition and activity. Decorating a tree, baking cookies, stringing lights, shopping, watching holiday movies, and attending candlelit church services where everything is hushed, mysterious, and beautiful. I heard the word “Advent” growing up but never understood what it was. I assumed it was a fussy religious ritual that my denomination no longer recognized. It also seemed to have something to do with paper calendars that dispensed daily chocolates, but what did I know?

In recent years, my understanding of Advent has deepened. The word finds its origins in the Latin word adventus which means “coming” and refers both to the birth of Jesus and his future (second) coming. The season is about expectation and preparation. Not preparation as in checking off items on your holiday to-do list, but spiritual preparation. For a lot of us who celebrate the birth of Jesus, however, the Advent season isn’t like this elevated ideal. Advent readings, contemplation, and candle lighting often take their places wedged between all our other relentless activities.

A few years ago, my church changed the way it approached the Advent season. They joined an annual movement called Advent Conspiracy that was started by a handful of American churches. It’s not what you’d think. The movement has nothing to do with finger-wagging, “saving Christmas,” or writing a defiant “Merry Christmas!” on red Starbucks’ cups. It’s about encouraging followers of Jesus to reconsider how they celebrate while focusing on four themes: Worship fully. Spend less. Give more. Love all. As a part of this, each church takes a special offering for a few local and international nonprofits. Last year, my church raised nearly $500,000 for causes such as clean drinking water, assistance for newly arrived refugees, literacy and mentoring programs, and support for teenage mothers and their children. The idea behind the offering is that people spend less money on extraneous gifts and instead give money and time to help others. Nothing against eggnog and white elephant gift exchanges, I’ve just been learning that a better way to honor Jesus and celebrate his birth is to love and serve as he did. If you observe Advent, or you’re simply curious about it, here are some Advent-themed links this week.

A soundtrack for Advent: Relevant magazine releases a free downloadable Christmas album each year. This year they released two—one more joyful and upbeat, the other more somber and reflective. Find them here.

How to observe Advent when you’re not “feeling it”: This time of year, it’s easy to think that we’re supposed to feel a certain way, especially in the midst of religious activity. Becca Stevens talks about that here and offers some encouragement.
 
Daily readings and meditations: One Advent tradition of mine is reading daily reflections on the season. This is the book I use. But you can find other daily readings here and here and here.
 
The end of winter: One of my favorite Christmas songs is “In the Bleak Midwinter.” Romantic poet Christina Rossetti first wrote the lyrics in the late 19th century and it was later set to music. I know that it’s likely that Jesus’s birth didn’t occur in late December (the way we observe it now) but I like to think of the winter imagery in this song as metaphor, the winter of humanity. Perhaps it’s my high school choir memories, but this version by the Robert Shaw Chorale is my favorite.

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