The journey towards Christmas begins next week. Thank God! I think everyone is looking for a little Peace on Earth!
I didn’t really grow up practicing Advent. It sounds so Catholic, and clinical. We didn’t have the barn doors that opened on the Christmas calendar, or the daily scripture reading. We didn’t light the Christmas candles or sing any family carols. If it counts--we did watch Home Alone. But somehow that doesn’t seem to fit into the religious theme does it?
We did have the ambient Christmas anticipation; the accumulation of papered presents under the fir tree; the foot-stomping cold while we waited for the bus; the holly wreaths and hot choco; and the indoor youth nights where we sang carols and ate ice cream out of a feeding trough. Now that I think about that one, it was kind of gross wasn’t it.
As my wife and I have settled into our own family traditions of decorating the tree, stuffing stockings, watching the movie White Christmas with our children, and reading a smattering of devotionals through the month, I think of how difficult it is to maintain traditions in today’s world. We live in the age of utility, and skepticism, and disintegration. It’s hard enough to keep families together, let alone maintain the garments of tradition they wear.
Even moreso, here in our church, we often talk about the evils of religious tradition and how it mostly gets in the way of a dynamic relationship with a living Jesus. We rarely talk about the benefits and blessings of religious tradition that rightly move us in the direction of encountering Jesus.
But you cannot deny that there is something powerful in cultivating a spirit of anticipation--towards anything for that matter. Think pre-game nerves; pre-wedding elation; pre-speech concentration; pre-vacation euphoria. The ecstatic twenty five day dash to Christmas is both bewildering and enchanting.
I’m growing to believe that healthy religious traditions can help us control the pace and build a delicious attentiveness in our spirits to the Holy. There is, after all, something supremely important about possessing an appetite for His coming. Peter said, “we look forward to the day of God and speed His coming” (2 Peter 3:12). Jesus is both ‘here already’ (through his Holy Spirit), and not yet fully. We celebrate his first arrival and crave his second.
But how are we doing with that? Are we so busy with the cares of this life we haven’t taken the time to savor the savior. His friendship has to be attended to in order to be realized and enjoyed. How can we have an appetite for the fullness of his coming if we haven’t fed ourselves with the bread of his presence? Then we become like the people of Bethlehem who had no room in their inns. The people who lived in the House-of-Bread (Beth-le-hem) had no room for the Bread of Life.
Advent (“coming”) can indeed become a very holy procession into the wondrous presence of God if we practice the habits that make it so. Daily scripture readings are not the goal of course. The goal is to meet with Jesus. Lighting the candles isn't the goal of course. The goal is to look towards the light of his joy and truth. Singing a few traditional songs before the kids start bouncing off the walls isn’t the goal of course--though that would be a mighty accomplishment. The goal is to build a culture of worship where the King comes to meet with his kids. Each of these are a practice--like sabbath keeping, or meditating. We get better at them the more we work those muscles. The more we practice His presence the more we appreciate His presence. And that’s the point of religious tradition, to take mundane life and steep it in the Holy!
Petra’s hope during this season is to practice the ancient rhythm of Advent in order to build worshipful elation and exquisite appreciation for the Greatest Gift that we’ve ever been given. We want to practice enjoying that gift of joy no man can steal, and practice yearning for that gift of fulfillment no man can provide.
I encourage you to take the enchantment of this Christmas season one level deeper. Guard your heart from cynicism. We can build habits that preserve a sanctuary against the tidal wave of outrage and anxiety. Wearing the Advent clothes may feel awkward at first. But after you break them in, they start to feel comfortable and perfectly fitted to you. Our prayer is that you design time to meet with Jesus this holiday season and that your family is filled with the good fruit of his perfect peace in your life.
Tags: christmas, advent, joy, tradition, spiritual habits
