Preparation for Advent - Don't forget about Thanksgiving!
Though Advent bears the dawn of a new liturgical season every year, most of us dismiss it as a period of celebrating Christmas before Christmas arrives. We adorn our homes with Christmas lights, decorated trees, tinsel and holly, festive tunes, and the like. All the while, the intent of Advent – a season of waiting, of silent but joyful expectation – falls by the wayside or perhaps into the din of our premature festivities.
We can’t really experience or understand Christmas unless we first conform our hearts to the longing of Advent. Advent calls us all to refocus our lives on God’s promise of deliverance and the flesh-and-blood reality of Jesus Christ, our Deliverer – who came to us first in Bethlehem, comes to us today in the Eucharist, and will come again at the end of time.
Likewise, we can’t give truly good gifts with love, without first thanking God for the gifts he has given us. It’s always good to recognize and reflect on what we are thankful for.
It is fitting that Thanksgiving falls directly before the Advent season. For what could we be more thankful than the God of all creation leaving Heaven’s splendor to come to earth and live among his people? What’s worth celebrating more than Jesus entering his own creation with the purpose of bearing the sins of humanity, so that we might have a restored relationship with God? That is most definitely something worth being thankful for, thankful in a way words can’t even express.
And yet, despite the focus of the season our eyes can easily be taken off the King and placed elsewhere. This is why it’s incredibly important for us to set aside time regularly throughout this season to ponder the glorious birth of Christ. Starting Sunday, LIM will be turning off our regularly scheduled Monday morning devotions, and instead, send out daily Advent devotions.
In Latin, Advent means “coming.” We don’t like waiting. We know that it is a period of four weeks, during which we prepare for the Christmas season, but we don’t necessarily consider how Jesus might be born in us, in our hearts. Here are some ways we can make Advent a sacred time of expectant faith, so that we may welcome Christmas Day with overabundant joy.
Make Advent similar to Lent.
Advent is really supposed to be a lot like Lent. In other words, we are supposed to increase our sacrifices, giving, and prayer life - a time to return to a place of spiritual growth rather than hasty celebration.
Advent provides us with the opportunity to give more of ourselves. While Lent conjures images of ashes and dust, Advent reminds us that sacrificial giving can be done in a spirit of light and hope.
Find new ways to give.
We are all familiar with the red buckets and Salvation Army bell ringers, and we may be inclined to put some pocket change in the bucket as we exit our favorite retailer. But why not get creative? Giving might mean donating our time to help out the homebound by running some errands for them – or even helping them decorate or make their favorite cookies. It might mean spending some time serving food at the local soup kitchen or food pantry. Pray about it. Discuss it as a family. The Holy Spirit will inspire you to know what will draw you nearer to Jesus and increase your sense of selfless generosity.
Reconsider the purpose of winter.
For some of us, Advent occurs during the darkest, coldest time of the year. This can be a true challenge when we are holed up inside a cramped house for days, or even weeks, without fresh air amidst nature. Winter is a season of latency, dormancy. We might be inclined to equate it with a period of nothingness – no growth, no new life, no signs of beauty. In the northern states, we might go outside for a brisk winter’s walk and not hear a songbird or even the rustle of common neighborhood animals, such as squirrels or rabbits. Silence and darkness enshroud us. It can be a cause of despondency or despair.
But that’s why Advent reminds us that waiting is purposeful if we do so actively, rather than passively. Winter has its purpose of encasing the tiniest seeds under the womb of earth, nestled in the warmth of the snow blanket. We cannot see the growth, but if we hasten spring, the seed will not germinate and sprout. The same is true for our souls. We should not hasten Christmas, merely because the world does in its secular way. We must be patient and allow God to work on us through the times of spiritual aridity and periods of desert waiting.