I LOVE Advent. This is difficult because the majority of people in Baptist churches (even lefty-leaning, theologically questionable, touchy-feeling American Baptist Churches like ours) respond to this statement with "What's an Advent?"
Advent is the period of time that begins four Sundays before Christmas (NOT on December 1, unless that happens to be the fourth Sunday before Christmas) and goes through Christmas Eve. Advent is very old in liturgical traditions - hence unknown to, and suspected by, the majority of Baptists. I had never even heard of it until I was in college, and in many congregations it is something "new" that the current pastor, or the one just past, introduced. The practice of lighting an Advent wreath is pretty generally accepted because it's pretty and it gives us the chance to work the children into the service in another way. But try to practice Advent as a penitential season; try to avoid singing Christmas carols throughout the month or refuse to put out the pointsettias until December 24, and you will have some mighty unhappy Baptists on your hands.
I have fought this battle nearly every year of my ministry. I love Advent because for me it is the perfect counterpoint to the craziness of the cultural Christmas. It is an empty, quiet, restful place in a world of overloaded calendars, bright lights, and chicken fights over the last parking space at the mall. I love the hymns set to plainsong and sung in minor keys in contrast to chipmunks and fifty-seven versions of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree"... Okay... I love the chipmunk song. But not in church.
But most of my congregation want Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Joy to the World all month long. I try to convince them that Advent will help us prepare for Christmas and that Christmas is a season and not a day and we WILL sing ALL of the Christmas songs in the hymnal in CHRISTMAS...but most of them won't be there for the Sundays of Christmas. They will take off the Sunday between Christmas and New Year because, after all they were already in church twice this week, and there's company coming (or they're traveling) and the week after New Year's we may already be celebrating Epiphany. So they do miss singing those songs.
I saw an opinion piece in a professional magazine a while back that argued that pastors should just forget about Advent. If people are not regular church goers, they're coming to church for Christmas this time of year. If we don't give them Christmas they'll be disappointed and won't return. They'll go to the mall or a restaurant where they know they will find it (at least they'll find the Christmas they think they want). For pastors there's always a fine balancing line between giving people what they want and what you believe God wants they to hear.
This past Sunday the gospel quoted a passage from Isaiah 40, a passage that we often see in its original setting and in the gospels in reference to John the Baptizer:
A voice is crying out:
"Clear the Lord's way in the desert!
Make a level highway in the wilderness for our God!
Every valley will be raised up,
and every mountain and hill will be flattened.
Uneven ground will become level, and rough terrain a valley plain.
The Lord's glory will appear, and all humanity will see it together;
the Lord's mouth has commanded it." (Isaiah 40:3-5, Common English Bible)
It occurs to me that this passage has a powerful message. It is not "just" in the Incarnation (that's theological talk for "Christmas") that God's glory is revealed, but in our preparations that the glory of the Lord is revealed to all humanity, to all flesh.
Yet I wonder, how much of our Christmas celebration (even in the Church) is about festivities rather than faith? How much of it is about glitz rather than joy? I'm always a little confused by those home decorating shows that talk about deciding what your Christmas "theme" will be. The theme is Christmas: what more do you want? The really important question is how do your preparations make room for the glory of the Lord? How do they invite ALL flesh to experience it, to see it?
It's not so much that "They" are trying to steal "Our" Christmas (don't get me started on that little bit of hysterical paranoia) as much as it is that we have decided we can hand over the mystery of Incarnation to merchants and party planners without losing or at least diminishing the extraordinary scandal of God-with-us, God-as-one-of-us.
It is a grave mistake to confuse any of the pagan practices we've adopted (lights, trees) or European traditions that developed (carols) or were "re-purposed" (in most of Christian history gifts were given on Epiphany in imitation of the Magi or on the feast of the generous St. Nicholas, NOT at Christmas) with the celebration of the Incarnation. And quite honestly, I personally don't have a problem with letting our winter holiday carry all the trappings of a "traditional", i.e., 200 year old, Christmas celebration even if the people celebrating haven't got a clue about what sparked the party. Most Christians don't really think about that either.
It's about the Baby and more. It's about the flesh. It's about Word made flesh, and how we treat the flesh of others around us, flesh made holy by the One who is Holy. It's about God's refusal to overpower us but to come to us in our own greatest vulnerability. How does insisting strangers wish me "Merry Christmas" reflect that truth?
For me, Advent helps me remember that perspective, helps me think about the real reason that Christmas is worth celebrating. And this year Advent has helped me understand that I don't always need to get my own way. So this year we are singing Christmas songs all through Advent, though I'm choosing them carefully and framing them in a particular context. We are using them transitionally and prayerfully, and I'm trying to pick those that reflect the whole story of Incarnation (and maybe even a hint of penitence), like one of my favorites from childhood:
Thou didst leave Thy throne and Thy kingly crown
When Thou camest to earth for me,
But in Bethlehem's home there was found no room, for thy holy nativity.
O Come to my heart, Lord Jesus: There is room in my heart for Thee.
Thou camest, O Lord, with the living word That should set Thy people free,
But with mocking scorn and with crown of thorn They bore Thee to Calvary.
O come to my heart, Lord Jesus: There is room in my heart for Thee!
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