Advent - Thoughts On the Season - Hope, Joy and Peace
" And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people." Luke 2:10 - King James Version (KJV
Looking forward to Christmas Day with it's promises of gifts and spending time with the family, shopping for presents, writing cards, opening the doors of an Advent calendar each day, awaiting the arrival of "Santa", decorating our homes - inside and out - are all ways in which most of us spend the first twenty four days in December.
I have done all of these things and more over the years, but have to admit that as each year goes by, increasingly I tend to leave the things which constitute this build up to the day,to my children and grandchildren. I do decorate the living room in my house though this is increasingly by adding more candles than are already there and putting lights around the "trees" and plants which already occupy the indoor space.
A small pine tree, which is an off shoot of a larger one in my garden, has been growing steadily in a pot for a number of years and gets brought in to be decorated around the 20th of December. I fear it's days of coming in from the cold, overheated for a week or so and then returned to the garden, are coming to an end, though. I shall have a word with it to see if it would prefer to be planted in the ground this year next to it's parent plant, so that it can feel more rooted and secure all year round. I have a feeling it would.
The older decorations in my house diminish each year - through old age and general wear and tear, though my family take pains to tell me that either I have not looked after them properly or one of my dogs has destroyed them. This is a bit rich coming from them actually as they are the ones who laugh at my "careful" opening of presents so as not to tear the paper, some of which I save to be reused along with the ribbons, bows, bells and tags. As well as these I also keep my place name from the Christmas Day dinner table, the jokes and toys from the crackers, the sparkly, glittery sprinkles and the twirled streamers from party poppers. I have been know to still have the paper hat on when it's bedtime, so naturally this goes in the box "for next year".
Each year, another couple of decorations from the 1970s have to be thrown away, as they are disintegrating - the last of the little imitation 'presents', which were 1 inch square cubes of polystyrene wrapped in gold coloured foil ( originally a set of twelve differently coloured), a string of silver bells which have more string than bells left, a gold star which,until this year, took pride of place on top of the tree, but now is bent and rather tired looking. A bit like me. All of these decorations are special as they bring back many memories of Christmases past.
So I add to those that have been with me for many years Usually an ornament or bauble from a visit to a Christmas market or garden centre we have been to as part of the run up to the big day. This year I have bought two baubles from a garden centre where my grandaughter is working for a few weeks, and a small pot reindeer standing on two legs as if it's a human wearing a jumper and a checked scarf. Remembering and reminiscing over when and where we bought them will become part of our future Advents.
In the Christian Church calendar, Advent - from the Latin adventus -“coming”, is the period of preparing for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and Christmas. It is also of preparation for the Second Coming of Christ.
In Western churches, Advent begins on the Sunday nearest to November 30 (St Andrew's Day,the beginning of the liturgical public worshipping year. In many Eastern churches, the Nativity Fast is a similar period of penance and preparation that occurs during the 40 days before Christmas. The date when the season was first observed is uncertain, but it is known that Bishop Perpetus of Tours, France (461–490) established a fast before Christmas which began on November 11 (St Martin's Day), and the Council of Tours (567) mentioned an Advent
According to the Methodist Church In The UK ...
"It is a time to prepare for and anticipate the coming of Christ; to remember the longing of Jews for a Messiah and our own longing for and need of forgiveness, salvation and a new beginning."
A wreath and candles during Advent is a longstanding tradition originally adopted by Christians in the Middle Ages as part of their spiritual preparation for Christmas.The wreath itself, made from various evergreens, signifies continuous life and the circle of the wreath, which has no beginning or end, symbolises the eternity of God, the immortality of the soul, and the everlasting life which can be found in Christ.
The individual evergreens making up the wreath have their own meanings. Laurel for victory over persecution and suffering; pine, holly and yew, immortality and cedar, strength and healing. Pine cones symbolise life and resurrection and the wreath as a whole is meant to remind of both the immortality of our souls and God’s promise of everlasting life through Christ.
The candles also have their own special significance. The four candles represent the four weeks of Advent, and one candle is lit each Sunday. Three of the candles are purple because it is a liturgical color that signifies a time of prayer, penance, and sacrifice.
Celebrating Advent is a way to prepare minds and hearts for Christmas
After the last 18 months of Covid 19 with "lock downs" and all it's consequences and the multitude of other restrictions which have been placed on our daily lives, many have been - and still are - living in very difficult circumstances. Communities have become further disconnected and individuals isolated. What appears to be our governments total disregard for the "rules" they themselves make, regarding Covid or any other situation - social,educational, environmental and financial has worn people down to the point of near despair. For some, tragically, beyond despair, and most of us know of someone or their family in this situation.
Around the world people are living in danger with threats from war to exploitation, wildfires and floods as well as their own Covid and government related situations
To celebrate an Advent of Hope, Joy and Peace is not an easy task.
Perhaps those with a specific faith find it easier to accept the (Methodist) Church's conviction that .....
"The message of Jesus’ birth at Christmas continues to be one of hope ...... God’s love is stronger than our fears and as we aim to be an increasingly inclusive, evangelistic and justice-seeking Church, this is, importantly, a joyful message “for all the people”.
I can't disagree with "Hope". Without that there's not much left. "Joy" for me is knowing that my loved ones are well, safe and content in their lives, and "Peace" speaks for itself.
So as I return to my "preparation" for Christmas (and as I have found a further hoard of decorations and my Christmas piano music ) I will play my yearly repertoire of Carols and wish Hope, Joy and Peace to all in this last two weeks of Advent and throughout the coming Christmas season and New Year.
"Advent is a season of expectation and preparation, as the Church prepar t celebrate the coming (adventus) of Christ in his incarnation, and also loo
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