It won’t be long…as a matter of fact, it probably already is happening. The Christmas tunes are being put in the CD players, the decorations are being put on the shelves and the “unbeatable” Christmas sales are already being printed. For the world around us, Christmas begins somewhere after Halloween and ends on December 26.
We can easily get drawn into the hustle and bustle of the “holiday season” and burn ourselves out before the celebration of Christ’s coming among us ever arrives. Though this is certainly not the only reason or even the primary reason for us to slow down and not celebrate to soon, it is a good one.
As you have observed by being in church, there are a couple times a year that the color purple makes is presence known in our sanctuary. Both times are seasons of penitential preparation before a major season of festive celebration.
Divine feasts are so important that we must be made ready for them by observing a season of patient waiting, penitence, and searching. This just happens to be what the season of Advent is all about. The Scripture readings call us to wait upon the Lord…to keep watch for the coming of the Lord…to be alert…to be ready. In Advent the church is called to ready herself for the coming of the Lord in Glorious majesty. The purpose of Advent is revealed in the opening prayer for the season:
“Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in His glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.”
I invite you to join me in a fast from pre-mature celebration and truly enter into this season of penitential and hopeful waiting upon the coming of our Lord. You have permission to wait until the twelve days of Christmas to be festive. You don’t have to join in the hustle and bustle.
The feasting will come and it will continue even after the secular world has stopped making a profit. For now let us prepare our lives and hearts for the coming of God.
