Christmas Too Much This Year? Give Advent A Try.

Despite what the movies, and commercials, and stories tell us, Christmastime can actually be really difficult. Some of us have lost loved ones, and the season only serves to further remind us of their absence. Some of us are struggling in some way that makes getting into the “Christmas Spirit” really difficult. Some of us have been ill at Christmastime, and the calls for joy and merriness seem out of place with the deep pain we’re experiencing.

I didn’t really start celebrating Advent until coming to seminary. I grew up watching the candles on a wreath being lit each week in church leading up to Christmas Day, but it wasn’t until recently that I understood Advent as a distinct season.

Last year I was asked to write a series of poems for my school’s Advent program. For a couple of the pieces, I was asked to write about darkness…the darkness that the world must have felt leading up to Christ’s birth, and the darkness we feel now as we wait for Christ’s return. As I thought and wrote, I was amazed to realize that in the midst of the noise and chaos of December, there is a season for someone like me, and it is called Advent.

As we ponder what it means to wait, both for the celebration of Christ’s birth, and for the time when he returns, we are given the space to acknowledge that things are not as they should be. Advent even has a lamenting quality to it, as we cry out, “how long, oh Lord?” Advent doesn’t pressure me to be merry and happy and loud. Advent doesn’t pressure me to pretend that the holidays are always warm and happy and joyful. Advent certainly reminds me that there is still light, and we have hope that the dawn of this light will soon turn into full day. But I don’t have to pretend that everything is perfect in the meantime.

Advent gives me the space to say, “Uffda, things are hard. But still there’s hope.”