Thursday, 29 November 2007
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Christmas Rush
Well, Christmas season is in full swing according to the malls and shopping centers. This year it seemed to start well before Black Friday, but now that Thanksgiving is over, we are full steam ahead.
It’s that season of Christmas carols and craziness, when we run ourselves ragged trying to accomplish all the extras. It’s time to hit the malls and do some big-spending shopping, sit our kids on Santa’s knee, and listen to all the “I wants.” It’s time to crank up the oven and turn out the baked goods, dust off the decorations, run our families to twenty different Christmas parties, stay out too late, and run like wild to fit everything in to our already busy lives. It’s Christmas time!
Psalm 46:10 ~ “Be still, and know that I am God!”
Well NO…actually it isn’t Christmas time yet, at least not in the church. Here, it is Advent, and there is plenty of space to simply breath in Advent. It is a time of waiting, a time of anticipation, a time to get ready for the coming of Jesus.
I have several friends who are expecting babies this winter, and I have been reminded recently of all the preparation and planning that goes into getting ready for a baby. You don’t wait until after the baby is born to get things like a crib, blankets, clothes, bottles, and diapers. You get all that before, in anticipation of it being needed. You clean out your old things and bring in new. You child proof everything you keep. You make certain that this baby is provided for and safe before you ever know anything about them as a person.
Advent is that time of preparation for us in the church. It is a time to get ready, to make room in our hearts and in our lives for a very special baby, the baby Jesus. It is the time before the joy and fulfillment of the actual birth. It is the time before. It is a time of hoping and dreaming and planning and waiting.
Advent is also the beginning of a new year in the church calendar. So, just like we do on December 31st when we make new year’s resolutions, Advent is a time to look back, to see where we have been and what we have done, and then to look forward. It is a time to review our shortcomings and then to look ahead, to remember our hopes and dreams, and look for the coming of the one who is the source of that hope.
Despite what the world tells us, Advent is a time of anticipation, of waiting with baited breath for the miracle of Christ’s birth to dazzle us on Christmas day. It is a time of preparation and of hope, a time of stillness and reflection. May you find those opportunities, and take that time, throughout this Advent season.
Lord help me to be still this season. Amen.
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