Advent 4.6 - The Meaning of Christmas

Chartres Cathedral Nativity Relief

". . . including yourselves who are called to belong to Jesus Christ . . ."

Romans 1:6

Last week someone mentioned to me that he and his partner might visit one of her daughters, the mother of two small children, for Christmas, and then made that remark so often heard this time of year. "The kids are at an age when Christmas is still a big deal."

He meant, of course, the Christmas of Santa and freshly-baked cookies and gifts hidden away and excitement mounting to the point where, as I've described in a couple of posts about my own family, no one really sleeps on Christmas Eve.

I'm entirely in favor of Christmases filled with that kind of laughter and anticipation and freshness. We had a lot of fun around here for many, many years, and perhaps such times will come to us again as grandparents.

But as we approach a third Christmas in which the longing for someone who is not here is a physical ache in my heart, I found myself saddened by the reduction of "Christmas as a big deal" to the kind where little children spin like tops around lighted trees and heavily-laden tables.

Perhaps we know a small bit more about what a big deal it really is when we begin to understand it as the launching of God's great project, that new heaven and new earth in which every tear shall be wiped away.

If we are called to belong to the one born in a small cave in which animals shuffled around in the dark, then Christmas is still a big deal.

Advent 2.3 - Hope and Music

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."

Romans 15:13

On a dark (in more ways than one) winter day, I received a card from a friend. He had placed one word on the card. I suppose he thought that with my vast knowledge of Hebrew I would get it immediately, but I had to ask for help.

I put the card on the door to the room where I stayed a few nights a week at seminary. At that time, hope was not in my vocabulary in either language. But it was in my friend's, and it must have been in others', for I stayed put.

There are times when we need others to do the hoping for us. If you are reading this, then I am hoping for you. My own capacity for hope is erratic, but perhaps we all fill in the gaps for one another. If your gap is huge, that's ok. There are people who know that, and it seems that the Holy Spirit works through them to lift that heavy word up for you.

Advent 1.3 - Armor

"Let us then lay aside the works of darkness and put on the armor of light."

Romans 13:12

For me, a 21st century American woman, Paul's references to armor are a bit bizarre. They are a little more meaningful than the numerous Biblical references to bread must be to folks whose carbohydrate intake revolves around rice, but not much. The images that generally come to mind for me are paintings of Joan of Arc, not someone with whom I feel a great affinity, and memories of the Art Museum's Armor court, always a favorite for kids.

Musing about this topic, I googled the word armor. The wikipedia definition begins as follows: "protective covering used to prevent damage from being inflicted." I suppose that that could be refined to "prevent more damage."

When Paul talks about armor, he always sounds so, well . . . energetic. Like someone preparing for a great battle, convinced of the superiority and ultimate triumph of the One he follows.

I imagine putting on armour a bit differently. I imagine an exhausted and beaten warrior, looking at the heavy and battered chunks of metal strewn across her table and bed, and hoisting the first piece with a sigh.

Perhaps it's time, during this season of preparation, to imagine the scene a bit differently. Perhaps it's time to put aside the mental images of metal, mail, and bronze, and imagine armor of light.

Light ~ Does it weigh anything? Is it impervious to damage? I know nothing about the physics or properties of light, but I have a friend or two who perhaps will weigh in.

I honestly have no idea how to visualize armor of light. Perhaps because it is delivered in the form of vulnerability and poverty, arriving in a cramped cave far from home. Perhaps because I have not yet grasped how that kind of armor is the only real defense against the darkness. Perhaps because I have never really absorbed an understanding of the full weight and density of the light of Advent.