EAST MONTPELIER – In recent years, how many of us have found ourselves shaking our heads and bemoaning how Christmas appears to be in retrograde motion, creeping backwards ever closer to Thanksgiving?
More recently, I find my head not just shaking, but spinning, as I try to wrap it around the idea that now, apparently, Christmas begins the day after Halloween. Stores put out their Christmas wares. Advertising entices us with visions of how delighted our families and friends will be when we give them “just what they wanted.” All around us, we are barraged with enticements to shop ’til we drop, party hearty, eat and be merry and turn up the lights.
It’s no wonder many of us arrive at Christmas exhausted and ready for the whole thing to be over.
Perhaps part of the reason for the hustle and bustle, the frenetic shopping, the merrymaking, the many opportunities for excessive eating and drinking, and the lights., especially all the lights, is that we are trying desperately to push back against the darkness of this time of year.
It’s hard when it’s dark by 4:30 in the afternoon, and it’s still dark when we get up in the morning. The dark, cold December days can dampen the spirits of even the most cheerful of us. Add to that the darkness so many of us are feeling about the state of our country and our world, and you can understand why we might go looking for the distractions offered by the holiday season.
Yet in the midst of all this busyness and distraction, the Christian year offers us another way to journey through these lead-up-to-Christmas days.
We call this the season of Advent. The word “advent” means arrival, appearance, beginning.
During the Advent season we prepare to celebrate the arrival of the Christ Child in Bethlehem, and all that his birth meant to the world. But we also consider how the Holy continues to show up in our lives and in the world today. We are encouraged to stay awake, keep watch, because, just as the birth of a baby was a very unexpected way for God to appear, God continues to show up at unexpected times and in unexpected ways.
And, if we’re not paying attention, we might miss them.
In the midst of this busy season, Advent invites us to hold a space: a quiet, contemplative space against all the pressure to do Christmas right now.
Advent calls us to wait, watch, stay awake, prepare, make ourselves ready for this wonderful thing God is about to do.
Here, with Mary, we anticipate with great joy the birth of the child that is growing in her womb.
Each week we consider one of the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy and love, asking ourselves what these mean to us, and where we find them, or would like to find them, in our lives.
Observing Advent doesn’t mean you need to give up the festivities of the holiday season. Advent can be like a counterpoint to all the busyness, a stream flowing beneath the surface that you can dip into to replenish your spirit when you are weary or feeling blue.
If you feel drawn to the idea of Advent, ask yourself what you might do to awaken your soul to the possibility of encountering the Holy.
Can you make some time for prayer or meditation?
Could you create a journal in which to reflect each week upon the Advent themes of hope, peace, joy and love?
Might you read a book that speaks to your spirit?
Could you light a candle as daylight fades and thank the darkness for being a place where, like a womb, new growth and development can occur?
Can you take a walk in the winter woods, letting go of all your mental noise and simply appreciate the beauty all around you?
Trust that your innermost being knows what you need to prepare for the birth of the Christ child, and may you have a blessed Advent.
Rev. Rona Kinsley is Pastor Emerita at The Old Meeting House in East Montpelier Center. Previously she was the interim pastor at the Greensboro United Church of Christ.
