advent

Strangely enough, those who complain the loudest of the emptiness of their lives are usually people whose lives are overcrowded, filled with trivial details, plans, desires, ambitions, unsatisfied cravings for passing pleasures, doubts, anxieties and fears; and these sometimes are further overlaid with exhausting pleasures which are an attempt, and always a futile attempt, to forget how pointless such people's lives are. Those who complain in these circumstances of the emptiness of their lives are usually afraid to allow space or silence or pause in their lives. They dread space, for they want material things crowded together, so that there will always be something to lean on for support. They dread silence, because they do not want to hear their own pulses beating out the seconds of their life, and to know that each beat is another knock on the door of death. They have no sense of being related to any abiding beauty, to any indestructible life: they are afraid to be alone with their unrelated hearts. . .Advent is a season of silence and rest with God. But in silence we sometimes feel meaningless, like prophets who have seen nothing. But does God ever truly hide from us, or have we struck out on our own only to find ourselves ultimately misplaced, spending our time and energy chasing after shadows in the ruins? If we have lost a sense of beauty and wonder, has God ceased to be beautiful, or have we blazed paths of our own and gotten lost along the way- losing our connections to our community, our neighbor, and our God?
-Caryll Houselander and Thomas Hoffman

It's just about now when you start hearing the comments: 'I'm stressed out.' 'I hate the commercialism of Christmas.' 'I'm sick of the secularization of Christmas.' 'Christmas isn't the same anymore.' 'Why are they playing Christmas songs already?' and soon you'll start to hear these, 'Are you ready for Christmas (translation: have you gotten all your shopping done?' 'I have too much to do.' and then, to the kids, 'Is Santa coming to your house?' and so on. . .
A few years ago, in the midst of my whine fest, I had an epiphany. Christmas has NEVER changed. It is the same as it ever was. It is still glorious, amazing, beautiful, and quiet. It is still about Jesus. It still has nothing to do with Santa Claus. It is still quiet. Within the arms of the Church, nothing has changed. Christmas has not been commercialized, merchandized, secularized, or super-sized. It is the rest of the world that has created this noisy, chaotic, stress-inducing, completely obnoxious 'holiday'. It is the rest of the world that has created the stress, the hustle-bustle, the marketing, etc. It might be getting harder for us to tap into Christmas, but Christmas is there waiting for us. It was a few years after I had this ephiphany that I was introduced to Orthodoxy and the Nativity fast. The fast is the perfect way to experience Christmas for what it is and for what it always has been. Last year, after a discussion with my Godmother, it seemed right to stay away from stores during this time- it seems right to stay away from as many places as possible. What a HUGE difference that makes! You don't hear the annoying music, you aren't a part of the greed, the rush, the stress. Instead, you have slumped into your fast. You are focused in silence. There are several liturgies at Church that you can attend and be still. You can still decorate your home. There can still be a tree. There will still be the anticipation of presents. But there is something greater going on. Greater even still than Bing Crosby singing 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.'

Let us not decorate our porches, nor arrange dances, nor adorn the streets. Let us not feast with the eyes, nor enchant the ears with music, nor enervate the nostrils with perfume, not prostitute the taste, nor indulge the touch. These are the ways that lead to evil and are the entrances of sin. . .Let us leave all these things to the pagans. . .But let us who are worshippers of the Word of God, if we must in some way have luxury, let us seek it in God's Word and in the law and the scriptural stories, especially those which tell us of the present festival so that our pleasure may be like unto Him who has called us together today.
-part of a sermon given by Gregory the Theologian