What has happened to this season? It used to be that the month of December was one of anticipation. We lit a new candle on the wreath every Sunday as we counted down the days on the advent calendar, looking forward to the Christmas eve midnight mass, when the Big White Candle was lit. And then, and only then, was it Advent no longer, but Christmas. It came in with the tiny whisper of a wick taking light, flaming in the silence of a darkened church.
Then, the hymns! Joyful, raucous, celebratory, Christmas hymns!!!
Where did all of that go?
I am overwhelmed with plastic-y, glaring, ostentatious capitalist seasonal mayhem. There is no God anywhere in it. Here there is credit card debt; demanding, spoilt children; overindulgent parents; and short tempers. No God. Not even any Christmas Spirit.
Christmas Spirit is something I lump in with the religious aspects of the holidays. By which I mean, the true purpose of Christmas, which is to be a little kinder, more forgiving, more generous than you are the rest of the year. Help a lady with her parcels; buy a homeless man a sandwich and give him a hug; call that cantankerous relative you dread dealing with; smile at people you pass on the street.
For a short time, once a year, is it so difficult to put aside your anger and impatience, and just enjoy your fellow citizens? Quit your incessant harping and griping about what is wrong in your life. Shut up and listen to the birds in the trees, the whoosh of snow sliding from the roof.
See what you've missed?
Rejoice in the knowledge that you are alive, and surely there are those in the world worse off than you.
Be thankful.
Be kind.
Be quiet.
Enjoy your advent season.
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1 comment:
you put exactly the right words around something I feel acutely right now. it's like when I rejected what the people did in His name and walked away from the church, I lost all the joy. why? is it so ingrained in us from our earliest memories that no other way to feel it exists? do we have to go back to the dimly lit church, hold the little drippy candles and sing to feel happy at Christmas? I'm starting to believe that's true. one of these days, we can do that together, holding hands like children, looking for Him.
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