The Liturgical season of Advent will soon be upon us and once again we will be called on to come to the quiet and “be still and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) The season of Advent is supposed help us to prepare for the celebration of Christmas.  Once again we might find ourselves struggling to keep everything in perspective, to keep the focus on the spiritual/theological meaning and not the corporate world of gift giving.  Along with that, you might struggle with the same question that our household goes through as we prepare for Christmas, especially with the decorations, how should we set up the Nativity set?  Should we leave the baby Jesus out of the manger or put him in?

Advent as defined means “a coming into place, view, being, or arrival.  From a liturgical perspective we are focused on the Nativity, the night that Jesus (God) was incarnated into the world.  We begin to hear the homilies from the pulpit admonishing us to not put up our Christmas decorations too early.  Slow down and spend more time in silence, to try and bring ourselves to a more quiet and peaceful place while meditating on the incarnation of Christ, all very sound and good advice in and of itself.  However, not to long after I tried to bring myself to a quiet, meditative place, I began to lose focus and I was left with the question-what is it that I should really be focusing on?

Because Christmas dinner is at your home and you have all of the family, plus some very close friends, coming over to share Christmas day with you and there are only so many days and so much spare time to get ready.  Or, you might be hosting the business or neighborhood party two weeks before Christmas.  Waiting until Christmas Eve to begin decorating isn’t one of the options.

As Christians, part of the decorations is the Nativity set which reminds us of what Christmas is really about.  You want to put the baby Jesus in the crèche to complete the scene but then you feel guilty for jumping ahead of the Liturgical season, where we are to be waiting in anticipation, longing for the coming of the Messiah, the Christ Child, preparing us for the celebration of the birth of Jesus on Christmas day.

We are to be focused on the theological and spiritual meaning of Christmas and not turn it into just another boon for corporate Christmas sales. It can be a difficult task for each of us as we hear and see the advertisements from cooperate America trying to tell us all the things that we can’t live without, the bigger and better everything.  Even our symbols of Christmas are getting lost in the push to make Christmas about what gifts we give (and get) and how much money did we spend and do I have enough lights to light up the whole neighborhood.

The Christmas tree is a symbol of perpetual life as the evergreen tree never dies or goes dormant.  The lights (which in earlier days were candles) represent the light of Christ and the gifts of the Magi; gold, frankincense and myrrh all point toward who this Christ child is and was to become, the Messiah, our Lord and heavenly King.

When I prepare to celebrate the birthday of my children or grandchildren, I don’t take down all of their pictures and put all the images of them away, as if they never existed so that I could wait in anticipation for their birthday.  I use the images and pictures that are hanging around to help me to prepare for the day that we celebrate with them the day of their birth, again and again.

So I too struggle with all the images that are there for us in this time of Advent, preparing and leading us to that glorious Christmas day.  As I said above, while meditating and reflecting on all of this, a thought came to me, He has already been born, lived and sacrificed his life on the Cross for the salvation of all of us.  I can’t undo his birth and life and pretend that He hasn’t been born yet by not putting the baby Jesus in the manger.  We are not waiting in anticipation for the birth of Jesus; we are waiting in fact for Jesus to come again, “For the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father’s glory, and then he will repay everyone according to his conduct.” (MT 16:27) We need to prepare ourselves for the time when our lives here on earth are over and we stand naked before Jesus, “So too, you also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.” (MT 24:44)

Again, with all the noise and Christmas information overload, how should we prepare?  I believe that we can find the answer in Scripture: First with the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42.  While Martha was busy preparing and getting ready to serve the meal for all who were in her home that day, Mary would be sitting at the feet of Jesus looking apparently as if to be doing nothing, at least in the eyes of Martha.  When Martha complains to Jesus about Mary not helping, the Lords response to her was “Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken away from her. LK 10:42  What did Mary choose, what was she actually doing?  Nothing, that is right, she was doing nothing except sitting quietly in the presence of the Lord.  She wanted nothing, desired nothing.  Everything that she needed and desired was already in her presence in the person of Jesus Christ.

Another example can also be found in the Gospel according to Luke.  In Chapter 2 of Luke we read about the message that came to the shepherds who were in the fields keeping watch over their flock at night.  An angel told them of the miracle birth of Jesus Christ and the shepherds went to see this baby child, Jesus Christ.  The shepherds had nothing to give, nothing that is but themselves.  They too came before the Lord wanting nothing and asking for nothing, other than to just be in the presence of the God-child, Jesus Christ.

To celebrate Advent, while looking on in anticipation toward the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, all we need to do is to bring ourselves before the Christ child, Jesus who is Lord above all.  We are to want nothing; we are to ask for nothing.  We simply and humbly desire just to be in the presence of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ.

I pray that you will have a very blessed, quiet and peaceful Advent