Waiting for....

Advent is a time of waiting. For many children in our society, they're waiting for...presents. Or waiting for time off from school. Or maybe they can't quite name it, but they experience this pervasive sense of anticipation. They're waiting for...something. For many children, whatever it is they're anticipating quickly fades when Christmas passes. The fulfillment proves to be short-lived.

For parents, a different sense of anticipation might be felt. Maybe some wait for what gift they'll receive from their significant other, or from their children. Maybe parents anticipate how their children will react to the celebrations and to Christmas Eve and morning rituals. But for parents there also is a sense of anticipation, of getting things ready for Christmas gatherings, anticipation of travel, and of spending time with relatives and others. Sometimes this sense of anticipation turns in to anxiety.


Isn't Christmas supposed to be something other than eager anticipation of short-lived happiness or anxiety-filled busy-ness crammed with more things to do?

Isn't the welcoming of the presence of God among us supposed to be an experience of peace, relief, and rejoicing at what should not be a short-lived experience?

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to you...

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In our homes, do we take time to celebrate what has happened? Or are we overwhelmed and overburdened by the things that enslave us? Do our homes reflect anxiety and frustration, or joy and peace at the celebration of the good news of God? I'm reminded of the Galatian Christians to whom Paul wrote his letter.

The Galatians had experienced the good news and the freedom of Christ. It did, for a moment, break down walls and restored life as they trusted in the truth that they were reconciled to God. But they let cultural and religious expectations drown out the freedom of God in Christ. It stole their joy. It turned their lives into lives of anxiety and expectation, and they imposed this on others in the community. They felt the burdens of expectation of the world around them, and these expectations clouded the new reality of God and how they thought of and treated others.

You've got to follow these expectations...you've got to do this...you've got to do it this way...

Paul wrote a pretty fiery letter to them. Some might think Paul should have let the letter breathe a few days before sending it. Maybe change how he put some things. It's that full of emotion. Here's what he says to them in Galatians 4:8-11:

Now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elements? How is it that you choose to be enslaved by them again? You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years. I am afraid that my work for you may have been wasted.

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Our culture sells "Christmas" pretty well. And it sets up all manner of expectations -- weak and beggarly elements that, frankly, enslave many of us. Maybe it might be good to let Paul's words echo today, during this time -- as "Christmas" threatens to drown out the celebration of the Incarnation.

Do the anxieties and expectations of the cultural celebration -- the seasons and the days -- overwhelm us? Does it all affect our demeanor? Our attitude? Does it diminish the lasting joy of Christ with a surfacy "joy" that comes and goes with the lights, songs, and colors of the season?

In our homes, how can we restore to Christmas a celebration of rejoicing, of joy, of God's good news that never ends? Can we actually diminish the anxiety of the season with the life of the Spirit of Christ and not "Christmas"?

A couple ideas, if I may.

• Take time a couple nights a week to do the three Rs: Read, Reflect, Rest. Either on your own, or better, as a family (faith practices are really not best done individually, we've just told ourselves that they are), read a passage of Scripture. Ideally an Advent-ish passage. Selections of Mary's words in Luke 1 or Zechariah's in Luke are great. Then take time to reflect on how what you read collides with what you've been thinking and experiencing that day or week. Then rest for five to ten minutes. Really. Close you eyes. Meditate on the passage. Think of Jesus' presence in your life, and in your family's life. Finally, have a brief time to pray together. Try it for Advent...couple nights a week...see if it restores the center to your celebrations, reduces the anxiety, puts Jesus, not busy-ness at the focus.
• The joy of the season is around us. Some people get caught up in it, others do not (sometimes for good reason). As you go about your day, or as you encounter others around you, consider how you might be a witness to something greater and more meaningful than the joy of the masses that is in the air. This is a great time of year to ride the tide of "Christmas" joy and help point to the greater, lasting joy that far outlasts the fleeting celebrations of the season. 
• Maybe find those for whom "Christmas" is not a happy time. Can you or your family welcome them and lift them up as Jesus did when he walked among the heartbroken? Can you bring Christ to people this Christmas through your life, your home, your family? 

May the Spirit of Christ be among you this time of year.