Sunday, December 1, 2013

The Beginning of Advent 2013

I’m probably one of the most enthusiastic Christmas fans you’ll meet. My parents suffered from my obnoxious pleas to please, please put up the tree and lights already; I’ve often begun listening to Christmas music (secretly, of course) shortly before Halloween (and then very publicly beginning on November 1st); much time and thought goes into the Christmas gifts I buy for others; I love caroling, snow, and cider. In terms of celebrating Christmas, I have spent the past twenty years following society’s prescription quite closely.

And even if we were to make it more “Christian” (I mean, it is Christmas after all), I’m not half-bad at celebrating. I love helping churches and charities stuff shoeboxes for under-privileged children; I donate time and resources to organizations that help others at Christmas; I help out with nativity plays and holiday-inspired dramas about good cheer and loving one another; as a child, I used to watch an animated version of the Nativity Story that I’ve almost certainly broken, from watching it so much.

This year, though, I’m excited to finally celebrate Christmas. Looking back on my last twenty years of Christmas celebrations, I’m not ashamed of the way I’ve celebrated. Indeed, at times I’ve been really blessed by it. But I think in many ways it missed the point.

Let me explain—and before I do, let me add that I felt the same way about celebrating Easter this year. I hadn’t fully celebrated Easter until I’d observed Lent. The experience was so transformative—both immediately and long-term, thus far—that now I cannot really imagine one without the other.

Like Lent, Advent is an intentional period of time, set aside before the celebration of Christmas (in this case). Advent refers to a period of waiting; an anticipation of Christ’s coming into the world. Advent is actually the first season of the Christian calendar—the “seasons” of the Christian year are as follows:

Advent (always begins in either November or December) – the 4 Sundays and the days leading up to Christmas day
Christmas (this is actually a season—we’ll talk about that later) – 12 day season, beginning with the Nativity of Our Lord on December 25th.

Epiphany – up to 6 weeks, but always begins on January 6th*
Pre-Lent – 17 days (consists of the three Sundays before Ash Wednesday)
Lent – 40 days (not including Sundays), begins on Ash Wednesday, concludes with Holy Week – the week before Easter, including Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday)
Easter – 39 days (including Sundays)
Ascension – 10 days, beginning on Ascension Day, always falls on Thursday
Whitsuntide – 1 week, begins on Whitsunday (also known as Pentecost), which is 50 days after Easter Sunday
Trinity (referred to by a variety of names: “the time after Pentecost,” “ordinary time,” “Kingdomtide,” to name a few) – up to 28 weeks, begins on Trinity Sunday, the week after Whitsunday*
*the length of these seasons depends upon the date of Easter, since it varies every year

Living according to these seasons is interesting, to say the least. I hadn’t ever considered living according to seasons (not even seasons related to weather, since I’m from Arizona). It frames the experiences in your year, to say the least. If you live according to these seasons in conjunction with the church lectionary, you read Scripture and passages from apocryphal books in order to immerse more prayerfully into these seasons. Living according to the Christian seasons is intended to be a communal experience, involving the whole Church.

Why would I live in Christian seasons? Why, especially, would I choose to live in the Christian season of Advent, since it sounds like it will involve things like halting my celebrations and participating in a fast? To answer the second question:

To help put this season into perspective, remember that Christmas is the celebration of Christ coming into the world as an infant, born the way we were (which is profound, actually, when you think about it). Christ is the Messiah the Jews had been awaiting—and the Savior whom every one of us needs. Christmas, then, was preceded by a very, very long period of waiting.

Advent is one of the two penitential seasons in the Christian year (solemn, preparatory, involving denial to self). For me, that really puts it in perspective to realize that the only other time we are to be solemn like this is during Lent; you might also note that both penitential seasons precede the “coming of Christ” in some way—when He actually entered the world (Christmas) and when he went into it to teach, guide, and ultimately save us through His sacrifice and give us hope in the world to come (Easter).

To connect this back to my last twenty years of Christmas celebration: I’ve realized, through very real personal experience, that jumping headlong into celebration, without preparing for it, is less worthwhile. I can honestly say that, despite the vigor with which I used to celebrate Easter, I had never experienced it so fully as when it was preceded by Lent. On one hand, this might sound embarrassingly obvious: of course it meant more, Jessica. You’re obviously thirsty when you’ve been withholding water, and this is the same thing. Actually, though, it’s not entirely the same thing. Lent and Advent are not mere contrivances to make me appreciate Easter and Christmas more. They are not meant to be manipulative like that. They are intentional preparatory seasons, which place a person in the proper mindset in which to experience and celebrate Easter and Christmas. In the context of Christianity’s history, these fasts did precede these feasts. It’s kind of weird to reverse them—let alone do away with them altogether.
Advent is underappreciated, but you ought not to observe it out of pity. It is underappreciated because it is difficult, because society has taken us on quite a different path. I ask you to observe Advent with me, not because I need an Advent buddy (although I’ll happily take one), nor because it’s hipster or enlightened or something. I don’t claim to have come up with anything new here; on the contrary, I’m presenting the view of traditional Christians throughout history, and I am indebted to them and their articulations of these things.

The following posts will (in varying lengths, I’m sure) offer a few ways to observe Advent. To reiterate, Advent begins today and spans all the way up until Christmas day. Oh—and Christmas? In the Christian calendar, it’s a twelve-day season (the song makes much more sense now), full of joyous celebration and deep thankfulness for what Christ did for us—all of which began, really, with his coming to us in our human form.


A few ways to observe Advent…
Get your hands on a lectionary. I use the one in the Book of Common Prayer (U.S. 1928) (the BCP for short), which is in print, but you can also easily find it online: [instructions].
Whether or not you pray the daily offices from the BCP, the lectionary is a good place to start. The readings really help place us in the mindset of people who are awaiting the Christ to come.

More to come!

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