Keeping Time

In his book, Everyday Matters, Dr. L. Gregory Jones wrote an essay titled, “HallowThanksMas.” It caught my attention today as we find ourselves right in the middle of “HallowThanksMas.” Dr. Jones writes, “HallowThanksMas is that season that starts the last week of October and extends until Christmas Day. Retailers have Christmas decorations up in mid-October, and then the materialistic press to buy more and more sets in. Throughout this season, adults become frenetic, anxious and – all too often – depressed.”

Well, in my family growing up, I remember enjoying this time of year. For Halloween we would make homemade costumes, usually coordinated with my sisters. We’d walk the neighborhood with my dad, collecting some candy and “trick or treat for UNICEF.” Leading up to Thanksgiving we would revisit the history of “The Pilgrims.” It always seemed pretty cool when the boats pulled up on the shores of Plymouth Rock the Native Americans (I knew them as Indians) were thrilled and shared a big meal together with these strange new people from another world. Seemed to me like the first “pot luck” dinner. Then around that time we would flip through the pages of the Sears Roebuck “Wish Book.” It was full of awesome toys, and my sisters and I would make our lists of wishes for Christmas.

Into the middle of this time of year I would hear another story. It was a story told by my church and it included an evergreen wreath with five candles. I learned at that it was called an Advent Wreath. The best I recall, this Advent Wreath was like a countdown to Jesus birthday. I could not wait until we lit the big white candle in the middle so I could finally open my Christmas presents! Jesus’ birthday was awesome because I got toys.

I liked “HallowThanksMas” as a kid. But as I grew older I began to feel less thrilled with this season. For some reason I’d get through it and feel more hollow than holy, more tense than thankful, and I started to wonder if Jesus was really pleased with His own birthday.

Over the years, I have responded to this discontentment with “HallowThanksMas” by choosing to keep time using the Advent Wreath. As I’ve become more serious about observing Advent I was surprised to learn that it is far more than a countdown to Jesus’ birthday. Advent is a helpful practice for resisting all the things I don’t like about “HallowThanksMas.” Advent teaches us patience, the gift of waiting. It morphs self-gratification into self-giving. It opens up new hope for the world’s future by pondering the past. It invites us to marvel at the wisdom of a God who would choose to restore the world through a child. Advent surprises us with the joy of knowing that our ways are not God’s ways, and the grace to know that God’s way will prevail.

The gift of keeping time with Advent has the capacity to transform “HallowThanksMas.” I don’t suspect it will return us to the way we thought about it as children (if those happen to be good memories for you). I do believe it will make us more holy, thankful and full of wonder. If that sounds like something you’d like, then I encourage you to use Advent to keep time starting the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Attend worship during this season if you don’t already and try using an Advent Devotional book during the week. We are using this one produced by Zoe Ministry in my church.

Blessed Advent!