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Christmas-for devout Christians, nominal Christians, and non-Christians alike-is a huge commercial holiday in this country. Right now we are in the midst of the Christmas shopping season. The Christmas shopping season is long and getting longer all the time. Traditionally, the Christmas shopping season has started the Friday after Thanksgiving. That's not true anymore. Now the Christmas shopping season starts the day after Halloween.
By contrast, the commercial holiday of Christmas itself is very short. It lasts one day-December 25-and then it's over.
The Christmas shopping season is a frenzy of activity in preparation for the big day on December 25. The season of waiting comes later…during the season of gift exchange, when long lines form at the customer service counters of stores all over the country.
It's easy to get caught up in this cycle. But the church calendar offers us a completely different understanding of the Christmas season.
According to the church calendar, Christmas begins on December 25, but it lasts twelve days…until January 6. Christmas is not intended to begin in glitter and wrapping paper and end a few hours later in an elaborate meal. Ordinary birthdays last one day, but this was no ordinary birthday. The church calendar suggests that one day is not enough to celebrate the coming of the living God into our very midst as one of us. The church calendar suggests that we should not be so quick to return to business as usual.
One day is not enough for us to be reminded of the implications of such an amazing truth. Such an amazing truth demands from us more than one day of family harmony and focused celebration. Such an amazing truth demands from us a completely re-ordered existence.
One day is also not enough for us to be reminded of the hope offered by such an amazing truth. Our daily routine and the conventional wisdom of our society lull us into thinking that everything depends on us. The coming of the living God into our midst as one of us startles us with the life-giving hope that everything depends, not on us, but on God.
The church calendar encourages us to linger over Christmas and not let it rush by before the amazing truth of Christmas has done its work of filling us with hope that comes from outside ourselves and re-ordering our lives in response to that hope.
The church calendar does something completely counter-cultural with the season leading up to December 25 too.
The church calendar calls the four weeks leading up to December 25…Advent. One of the key spiritual disciplines of the season of Advent is waiting. In other words, at the same time that our commercial calendar is goading us to frenzied activity, the church calendar declares that the season before Christmas is a season for waiting. The church calendar suggests that the best way to prepare for Christmas is not by frantically preparing for a one-day extravaganza, but to brush up on our skills for waiting.
The word 'advent' means 'coming'. The season of Advent marks the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. Actually, the season of Advent marks the two comings of Jesus into the world-the birth of Jesus (that we remember at Christmas) and the return of Jesus (that we still await).
Neither one of those advents occurs because we make it happen. Both of those advents occur at the initiative of God and according to the timing of God. We can't make them happen. They don't depend on us. Both advents are gifts of a gracious God who loves us too much to leave us to our own devices.
It's worth noting that the church year begins with a season of waiting.
Generally speaking, waiting is not a very popular activity.
Waiting can be frustrating. We live in a culture that does not prepare most of us very well for delay. We have drive-through restaurants and drive-through banks. We have instant pudding and microwave dinners. Infomercials tout all sorts of products that will help us lose weight fast, or get big muscles fast, or make money fast. Even when the speed limit is 70 mph, we buy cars that will go 120 mph. Too many of us risk our lives and the lives of others by running red lights, all because we hate to wait. We want to go when we want to go. Waiting can be frustrating.
Waiting can also raise anxiety. Waiting often means uncertainty. We may have to wait for test scores. Did I pass freshman physics or not? We may have to wait for the doctor's diagnosis. Is the lump malignant or benign? We may have to wait for a relationship to develop. Are they going to like me or reject me? It can be tempting to avoid situations that lead to uncertainty…don't study, then at least the outcome of the test can be predicted; don't go to the doctor, maybe the lump will go away by itself; don't risk opening yourself up to another, better to reject than to be rejected. Waiting can raise anxiety.
Waiting can also be lonely. When a man outlives his wife by 10 years, waiting for reunification can be lonely. When a mother sends her youngest child off to college in another state, waiting for reunification can be lonely. When a single person wants to be married, but the right person doesn't come along, waiting can be lonely.
Waiting can also be disappointing. When you write to Santa every year asking for a puppy and a new bike, and every year you get underwear and an educational toy, waiting can be disappointing. When you are sure that when you are 10, life will make sense and everything will be ok…and then you turn 10 and you are sure that when you are 16, life will make sense and everything will be ok…and then you turn 16 and you are sure that when you are 21, life will make sense and everything will be ok…and then you turn 21 and you are sure that when you turn 50, life will make sense and everything will be ok…and then you turn 50 and you are still waiting…waiting can be disappointing.
Waiting can also be disheartening. As long as a certain daughter can remember, her mother has been drinking. As long as she can remember, she has come home for Christmas longing for things to be different this time. As long as she can remember, she has watched her mother pass out on the couch before the turkey has finished cooking. Waiting for her mother to change is breaking her heart.
Waiting can also erode dignity. Have you ever stood in a group of school children waiting to be picked for a team? Have you ever sat huddled in a blanket on a sidewalk downtown waiting for coins to drop in the cup beside you? Have you ever lain in bed in a hospital, unable to speak or move, waiting for someone to bathe you? Waiting can erode dignity.
General speaking, waiting is not a very popular activity.
It's worth noting that the church year begins with a season of waiting.
The waiting of Advent is not waiting for our own wishes, but waiting for the promise of God to be fulfilled. The waiting of Advent is not drained until only disappointment is left, but the waiting of Advent is nourished to overflowing by the hope of Jesus' coming.
The waiting of Advent is not waiting in emptiness, but waiting in the fullness of God's faithfulness, anticipating a gift beyond anything we can imagine.
The waiting of Advent teaches patience. Patience means being willing to stay where we are and live in the moment. Patience means being open to the presence of God in the here and now. Patience means not having to be frustrated that I am not someplace else.
The waiting of Advent offers peace of mind-the peace of mind that comes from knowing that the future is, in fact, not uncertain. God's plan will come to pass. God's purposes will be fulfilled. The waiting of Advent is a reminder that our prayers have been heard, and we need not be afraid.
The waiting of Advent means that brothers and sisters in Christ need never be alone, especially when they are lonely. Christ is coming. We wait for him together. We remind each other that we have something worth waiting for.
The waiting of Advent encourages us to laugh at disappointment, for God's grace is sufficient for us always.
The waiting of Advent nudges us to open our hearts to the healing of God. Though we cannot change the loved ones we so much want to change, God can change us.
The waiting of Advent is not about inactivity. The waiting of Advent is about activity that points to the amazing truth that there is a God who loves us to much to leave us to our own devices…activity that reaches out in love and hope and humility, recognizing that we all together wait on the God who does for us what we cannot do for ourselves.
The waiting of Advent turns our eyes to God-the One who creates us, the One who redeems us, the One who sustains us. In him we find the source of our dignity, and in his love the shame of this world falls away.
Advent has something to teach us about the true nature of waiting-waiting which is full of faith, not full of self-waiting that looks forward, not just to remembering the birth of Christ, but to his return.
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