Since late September retail shops and department stores have
been fahlalalalahing towards Christmas. The Christmas trees, the lights, the
ornaments seemed to appear much earlier than usual this year. Even the city I live
in, Brighton MI, has already put up their holiday décor along the highways and
byways of the city. So ready or not here comes Christmas!
But I would make a case why we as people of faith should
wait; why we should put the brakes on the mad dash towards Christmas. Yes I
know this is not exactly the most popular of ideas, and I know it’s not going
to catch on too soon, but I am an avid believer in keeping Advent the season of
light, hope but more of all anticipation.
So here is my case for waiting for Christmas…
1. Anticipation is a good thing. Do you remember what it was
like to be a child waiting for a birthday or family visit of Christmas? Your
heart pounding, you palms sweating, bouncing off the walls waiting for the
right moment. There was something exciting in being a child waiting to see what
would come. For Christmas to have any real meaning in our lives we need a good
dose of that excitement. The birth of Jesus for us should be a looked-for thing
not a mad dash of shopping and busy-making. In Jesus’ birth we see the anticipation
of Mary, the angels, the shepherds. We are called to join them in the longing
and waiting.
2. In an era of instant everything being able to wait is a
blessing. We live in an instant society; instant messaging, texting, fast food,
and coffee just to name a few. We loathe having to wait on anything, we want it
and we want it now! But the birth of any child involves waiting (ask any mom if
you doubt me). No matter how anticipated, needed or wanted the Christ Child was
Mary still had to be patient throughout the nine months leading up to his birth.
Can we in our modern instant culture learn a lesson from first century peasant
girl about the value of waiting…if only for a few weeks?
3. We lose something in jumping to quickly into Christmas. Scarcely
had the candy been put away from Halloween before “Forsty the snow man” took up
residence in department stores this year (actually his eyes of coal and carrot
nose were showing up well before Halloween but who am I to judge). I think we
lose something in jumping to quickly to Christmas because we tarnish the luster
of the season if we run to it too soon. The lights aren’t as sparkly and the
tinsel not as tinselly if we put them up in early September. Don’t get me wrong
I LOVE Christmas music and the spirit that the season brings but if we point
too much and too quickly to that season by the time Christmas rolls around most
of us will be Bahumbuging rather than Merry Christmas-ing.
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