We find ourselves in the midst of the adventure of war. It began as soon as the turkey carcass was picked clean and turned into broth many turned away from the Thanksgiving table and towards the bright lights of Christmas. Water dripped from the plates now resting in the drying rack as many found themselves on ladders desperately battling in the annual tradition of untangling and hanging Christmas lights on gutters and in shrubs. With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, it was off to the races as Christmas peaked over the horizon. The battle is on.
I am fairly certain those closest to me are tiring of hearing my daily (hourly?) reminders that we are not yet in the season of Christmas. The bright lights of Christmas seem to drown out the season of Advent. Rev. Fleming Rutledge rightly states that the season of Advent begins in the dark but year after year Christians set aside the darkness of Advent in exchange for the bright lights of Christmas.
Don’t get me wrong, this is not a self-righteous critique. It is a much easier sell to invite friends or co-workers to a festive Christmas party than an Advent party in the dark (minus the lights on a tree or cheerful egg nog serving dish). Can you imagine Clark Griswald serving egg nog to cousin Eddie in the dark?
While immersing ourselves into the season of Christmas we have bypassed, overlooked, and neglected the season of preparation. Like Lent is to Easter, Advent prepares us for the coming of Christ. Responding to John cry in the wilderness, we are preparing the Lord’s way – both in our own lives but also in the places we find ourselves engaged in life (ie. Our neighborhoods and churches).
This is probably coming off as a rant on the war on Advent but what I want to point out is not that there is a war on Advent, but instead that we have forgotten about Advent altogether. While waging battle against the rush towards Christmas, the siege has not been laid against Advent. While many Christians rail on the secularization of Christmas, I wonder if the collective Christian shrug of the shoulders and apathy towards the season of preparation is more problematic than stores like Target or Macy’s offering free two-day shipping.
“Christians look different from other people’s lives.” – Stanley Hauerwas
The Church during Christmas looks no different from the secularization of the holiday we often hear has a war waged against it.
If we are going to look and behave differently, that sounds like a new kind of holiday law Christians are to follow.
Rather than a new list of rules to follow, living a life that looks different from the rest of the world is an invitation to step out of the bright lights of Christmas and into the grace extended to us during Advent.
This is where we turn from Advent being the season warming us to the bright lights of Christmas and instead view Advent as a season similar to Lent. A season where we take seriously the ways in which we as Christians are guilty of not taking seriously our vocation to point away from ourselves and to Jesus Christ in all things.
There is a reason the season of Advent begins with a call to repentance from John the Baptist. John’s entire life had a singular focus – to proclaim the coming of the Messiah. That was it. In an effort to fulfill this singular focus John lived differently. The Gospel writers tell us John lived in the wilderness, outside the protections of the city. Today we might refer to this location as the frontier, well beyond the comforts of “civilized living.”
Echoing the words of the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist called those who would listen to “repent” and “Prepare the way for the Lord.” Just as is the case in Lent, during Advent we have the opportunity to turn away from the sin we have committed and to turn towards the Lord. We have the opportunity during Advent to put aside the ways in which we have aligned ourselves with the empire and to step into the frontier, beyond the safety of the city gates.
Stanley is right – “Christians should look different from other people’s lives.” Advent is our opportunity to not only look different by singing hymns and lighting candles but also by setting aside the secularized diminishment of Advent and embracing this season as an opportunity to prepare the way of the Lord.
Prayer:
Almighty God, you emptied yourself for our sake. During this season of preparation, by the power given to us by your Spirit, may we step out of the trappings of bright lights and inflatables and into the wilderness around us. Reveal your coming to us in the places we least expect so that we might look different than those around us. In looking different may we point to you in all we say and do this season of Advent and in all seasons. Amen.
