Audacious Advent, To All

Back in the 1980’s we hosted an exchange student from Germany.  We vividly remember how offended he was by the American pre-Christmas antics.  As secular as he was, he protested, “This isn’t Christmas, it is Advent!”  I must concur with Oliver and say, “Ja, wohl!”  It is Advent.

I could expound on the commercialization of the season but who doesn’t do that already?  Advent might be difficult to get our head around.  In a season that is just four weeks, or really, just four Sundays long, there are a number of themes that assail our wassail through this journey.  It begins with the theme of hope when Christ shall come again and the kingdom will be fulfilled.  Then, we have a theme of John the Baptist’s call for repentance and straightening our pathways.  The third Sunday tells of the Coming One who is our cause of rejoicing.  Finally, the fourth week is a dialectic between the cradle and the cross; we can’t have one without the other.  Holy Evergreen Boughs, Batman, that’s a lot!

In the face of all the cultural hoopla, how can we make this wondrous faith journey of Advent practical and personal?  Other than candles being lit catch-as-catch-can as the family snarfs down food, what other rituals might there be?  Wearing sackcloth and ashes during the Second Week of Advent may not be too practical and could get chilly in Wisconsin.

Here’s the point:  Maybe Advent is on the agenda of December’s darkness but really it should become integrated into our faith and life.  As Christians we embody the values and principles of Advent.  We don’t tick off the particular tenets on some sort of To-Do list, but rather we learn how to wait, we learn how to repent, we learn how to rejoice and we learn how to stand in the presence of holiness.  Here’s the really Good News—you don’t have to get it all done this week.

Have an Audacious Advent

The Interim Geezer

Postscript:  Personally, Interim Pastors hold John the Baptist as our unofficial Patron Saint who first fielded the question asked of every Interim, “Are you the One or shall we look for another?”