I wait for the LORD, my soul waits,
and in his word I hope;
my soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen for the morning,
more than watchmen for the morning.
Psalm 130:5-6
I look fondly back over the years as I remember all the beautiful traditions we've built around Christmas. One year, when my sons were little, I sewed a Christmas advent calendar, stockings, and tree skirt in my usual seasonal burst of energy. Plus, I learned to make German cookies and Stollen! (Phew, just the thought of all that doing makes me tired). My husband bought a little Playmobil nativity set, and each morning, my boys would take a Playmobil piece from the advent calendar (along with some treat or promise) and add it to the nativity scene. Read-alouds, Christmas cookies (baking and eating), gift-making, and carols filled our days as we built memories. We loved it!
Eventually, a time came when I felt like I was 'doing, doing, doing', and the thought of all that 'doing' was overwhelming. I now longed to simplify the season. Stores start taking out their Christmas stuff earlier and earlier each year, beckoning us to join them in increasingly flagrant consumerism. They present us with the perfect Christmas, filled with stuff and more doing. And with that comes an insurmountable pressure to perform. I can't complain: in the Philippines, I had to get used to Christmas beginning in September, the first of the 'ber months! Imagine four months of Jingle Bells, Last Christmas, and Feliz Navidad blasting everywhere! It is a fight not to let the busyness that saturates the season seep into our home. I believe Christmas busyness has become a 'form of violence on the soul' (a phrase stolen from John Mark Comer's The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry).
In the last decade, my family's traditions have shifted a little as we no longer have little children in the house. Nevertheless, the Playmobil set and Advent Calendar still come out, the Christmas tree goes up, and we still make Snowflakes out of coffee filters (once upon a time, I bought a massive bag of them!). My daughter would never have it any other way. The big difference is that now we focus a little more on waiting (fasting) and less on feasting during the time before Christmas day. Cindy Rollins writes in Hallelujah (Cultivating Advent Tradition With Handel's Messiah): "It came as a surprise to me when I grew up and found out that what I had called the Christmas season was really a season of celebrating 'the wait', the expectation of the coming of Christ. Advent is a whole season of waiting followed by the joy of the consummation of Christmas."
It is a season of waiting, repentance and preparation, a time to practice the presence of God, clear away the old year's debris, and make space in our lives for Christ to join us. Yes, we wait for the celebration of our Saviour's birth, but we also wait for the return of our Risen Christ. We light candles on our advent wreath and listen to portions of Handel's Messiah as we read alongside Cindy's Hallelujah book, which contains hymns, poetry, and scripture. In my private devotional time, I have enjoyed the Biola Advent Project. When the twelve days of Christmas arrive (more on that in another newsletter), we are finally ready to jump into the feasting and festivities!
Do you observe Advent* in your home? The book The Circle of Seasons: Meeting God in the Church Year by Kimberlee Conway Ireton has been instrumental in my understanding of the Church Calendar. I would love to hear from you.
*[Advent starts on the 3rd of December this year]
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