Some of us are a little perturbed and annoyed at the sparse Christmas lights and decorations we’re already seeing on our neighbor’s homes and in the stores. I have seen now, as I’ve grown closer to Christmas spiritually as I have closer to The Christ, that I grow farther and nearer to it simultaneously. I love the signs of trees and lights and snow in that it signals The Incarnation; Emmanuel; the cosmic, awesome, all-powerful, all-sufficient-all-by-himself, God of the Bible coming down here and stepping into time and space, despite having made it himself. He didn’t look at our failures and our sinfulness and our rebellion and turn his nose up. It was disgusting to Him, so He came, and subjected Himself to His own justice in the person of His Son, taking the Hell-sentence we deserved.

All that being said, as I approach this Christmas season I'm prepared for the family, the television, the helping my grandmother put up her tree and decorations and putting up our own shortly after and then relaxing by a fire. For seeing my brother, my uncle from Virginia, all my cousins, and so on and so forth. I'm also ready, determinedly so, for the real reason behind Christmas. We’ve all heard it, especially here in southern West Virginia; “Keep Christ in Christmas.” “He’s the reason for the season.” One that I particularly enjoy was one that I heard a Texas pastor espouse. When wished “Happy Holidays,” he says, agree and reciprocate while reminding people warmly and excitedly that Christmas time is indeed the holiest time of the year, with a reference to the Middle English origins of the word. All these things come to mind and I almost warmly anticipate the debates and conversations that spring up around this social issue (oh, and how Christmas is entirely pagan and sinful). Up until now, however, one could very fairly ask me, “do you really believe that?” That this next month or so is not simply a commercial year-saver, a secular praise of materialism, but rather truly about the incarnation of Christ? The holiday of Christmas has definitely been flanked by rampant consumerism and debauchery (before it was about presents and things it was almost totally associated with drinking and eating copiously, and maybe some lip-service to Jesus) for almost it’s entire life since it was instituted as being on one particular day.

But Christmas is still the advent of Jesus Christ. And the easiest thing to do in this season is not to entirely forget about Christ between Thanksgiving and December 25 (that is pretty easy, don’t get me wrong), but rather it is to trivialize or to only nominally pay homage to Jesus in this season. I’ve done it. The pressure and anxiety of being surrounded by unbelieving or somewhere in between family members and the seemingly irrepressible feeling of needing to get the evangelistic burden off your chest can be real and soul-draining. The awkwardness of actively avoiding talking about anything controversial and sticking rather to news about who and whom is where and why and what they’re doing there and what so and so has been doing since they got married/joined the military/their wife died is numbing. All of this while sheepishly answering “how’s school going” with a “Fine” that is only metaphorically true at best. At best y’all. In reality this semester has been repeatedly slamming you in the face with a ball peen hammer as you struggle against your own laziness and the sense of overwhelmingness that is not knowing how to start a paper on a topic about which you could care less... But, I digress.

But, through said digression, can we not see what this season has become? Fast fast fast. Work work work. Buy buy buy. Worry worry worry. Going to church, saying the grace over the meal, (mentioning salvation by Christ alone can be especially gratifying), and maybe hearing our grandfather read Luke chapter 2 becomes an easy, conscience smoothing observance, even a notably beautiful one amidst all the distractions. Maybe these things will never go away. Maybe they're the very best some of us can do. Maybe they're not all that bad. Maybe they are. Maybe I’ll find myself in the midst of them one day. Maybe I’ll have to fight like a dog to keep myself afloat amidst all of the aforementioned. But one thing is for sure; I shouldn’t consign myself to drowning in the American Dream without a fight. But up until now a more comprehensive way hasn’t shown up, other than being verbal and vocal about what this season means to me, to history, and to the world. While I hope to continue to do this continually, I’ve found perhaps a better way of doing this personally and internally. A better way to actually celebrate during Christmas and not just celebrate Christmas.

Advent.

And no, I don’t mean a calendar with a treat in it every day leading up to Christmas. I’m grown. I’ll eat 25 Hershey’s kisses in one sitting if I feel like it, thank you very much. By Advent I mean the observance of the Advent holiday as traditionally done in many churches, but that has fallen away in the last 100 years among Protestant Fundamentalists. While still largely a Fundamentalist myself, and definitely still a protestant through and through, and while I can understand the desire of the church in years past to get away from things seen as rigid, liturgical, foreign, or unnecessary, I find that the shunning of Advent in particular is doing us no favors. Had I heard about Advent just 2 years ago, I too would have shunned it as being “religious and obligatory, legalistic” even. Since then I’ve come to find that we as human beings are really great at creating laws and dictums out of all kinds of fringe ethics and issues that were never meant to be as central as they are in some circles. I’ve also found that planning something and doing it on purpose is a world away from doing something just because you always have and your wife and kids drug you to church. I also know that a heart that desires and loves God will plan things in order to foster genuine and growing devotion to God, while the religious heart may do the exact same outward practice, but out of a sense of self-righteousness on one end of the spectrum, slavish fear on the other, or somewhere in between. So the observance of something like Advent isn't necessarily wrong or harmful in and of itself. But is it helpful?

Advent literally means “arrival,” or “coming.” Advent has been added to a lot by various denominations and backgrounds and has slight variations across multiple backgrounds. Essentially, beginning this year on the 27th of November, and continuing on every day until Christmas day, Christians reenact the feelings and thoughts of the people of Israel as they waited for the Messiah to come the first time, culminating in His birth at Christmas. They also, as the day approaches, remember the promise to The Church of Christ’s second coming; we wait for him now to come again the way they waited in the past for Him to come the first time. All of this is encapsulated and demonstrated in and by several passages of scripture which are read every day leading up to the day, and is accentuated by five candles (three purple, one pink, and one white) which represent hope, love, peace, joy, and Christ, respectively. On each Sunday of the Advent calendar, a candle is lit and a time of prayer is observed. There are prayers made up already for you to use that are relevant to the days of the advent, or you can pray along the lines of the day's scripture reading. I would strongly prefer the latter. However, feel free to enjoy the time you spend devoting in any healthy way. Some of the oldest Christmas carols we have in English (the most famous being "O come, O come Emanuel") were directly associated with Advent, being sung on the different days.

The immersive experience of tying all of biblical history and God’s plan of salvation for us, His people, together in one month and in the miracle of Christ’s birth is an exercise that we desperately need in this modern, X-mas-celebrating, hustle-and-bustle season. Simply look up ways that certain churches or individuals have done it and the reading plans they have used. Just so long as you are plunged into Word of God and the historical flow of the feelings of Israel as the faithful waited through many years of sin, defilement, and corruption for The Messiah. The planning and the liturgy of it may seem imposing or even legalistic to some, and I totally understand that feeling. But legalism is the attempt by anyone to add anything to the gospel that would make faith in Jesus Christ insufficient to bring one into relationship with God and secure for them salvation. Commanding that people stop eating shrimp or they can't be Christians would be legalism because the New Testament frees us from such outward observances. Also, I'll be keeping it myself, in my own home. While I’m not opposed to churches doing it (I think they should), I think the personal, private way of doing it will be a great way to personalize this celebration, and keeping it as a commitment on your part will hopefully give it a more deliberate nature and avoid some of the going-through-the-motions attitudes we often get into about other things.

A trusted and beloved minister in my life once told me, upon my fearing that planning a certain time and place to pray was legalistic, that it was Daniel who prayed three times a day, every day, at the same time. Did that “observance” make him dry and religious? Dry and religious people don’t stand by their faith at threat of death by lion-mauling despite knowing that even the slightest going back on their commitment would secure safety from a sympathetic and otherwise friendly king, which was the case for Daniel. And if they do, then they don’t naturally do so by faith in God but by faith in the superior virtue of their own holiness. However, Daniel is mentioned in Hebrews 11 as a champion of faith. Not faith in himself. Faith in the salvation of God. Riding this balance of humble strength, of entirely God inspired yet determined commitment, is ultimately and largely the gift of God. We are hopelessly broken without God opening our hearts and making us alive, showing us the truth. But God has made it our greatest joy, after he has awoken us and shined the light of Christ into our hearts, to join in with Himself in the life consuming, humble battle for glorifying His name in ardent devotion to Him, personal holiness, and sacrificial service for the salvation and benefit of others.

Join me as I document, here on The Odyssey, my experience with Advent and let’s put our faith in the salvation of God this Christmastide as we step aside from the hustle and bustle to feel with God’s people of the past the pain of waiting and waiting, of yearning without relief, and of the final exultation that God is now with us in this lowly poor child. Let us join with million upon millions of Christians who have gone on to heaven already who have celebrated Advent as a way of refreshing their desire and joy in the day when Christ will come again, as high king and final conqueror of Satan and rewarder of His people.

Happy Advent, and Merry Christmas.