Christmas is one day. We, in the western part of human civilization, celebrate this day on December the 25th. We call the time period from Thanksgiving (for us Americans) until December the 25th, theChristmas season. If we’re really generous we’ll include the week following Christmas but we’ll call it something different – like the Holiday Season. In fact that’s generally what we call this entire month or so from Thanksgiving through New Years – the Holiday Season. I personally don’t have a problem with that – as ridiculously commercialized as it has become, I have no problem referring to it as something fairly generic.
However, there is another calendar that could help to reinterpret the whole “holiday season” that we’ve adopted. Four sundays prior to Christmas Sunday, the Church calendar flips to a new year. We in the church call this sunday the first sunday Advent. Advent comes from the latin word adventus which means coming. It’s a period of time set a part for preparation. In the first 400 years, the Church didn’t really celebrate the birth of Christ. Some early church father’s thought it frivolous to celebrate the birth of the gods, including the birth of God-incarnate. I think part of this was due to the early church’s concern to focus on the saving action of the life, death and resurrection of the Christ. Yet over time and with the influx of new believers who were retaining old pagan customs, the Church began to see a correlation between celebrating Jesus birth and overtaking pagan holy-days.
It’s hard to imagine that Jesus was actually born in late December, though there is some ancient sources that lead to this idea. More than likely he was born in the Spring when shepherds and their herds would actually be out in the fields. While many pagans religions held some kind of mid-winter celebration, the early church had nothing to call it’s own. So, rather than scrapping popular celebrations, the early church infused the feasting with celebrating the birth of the unconquered SON. This celebration became known during the middle ages as the Christ Mass – a holy and yet celebratory time to remember Jesus’ birth.
Some of those early pagan celebrations included 12 days of feasting with yule logs and other forms of fun. During these 12 days, we sing and make merry and in the liturgical calendar we call these days Christmastide. At the end of this short christian season, the celebration ofepiphany is celebrated (we’ll talk about that later).
So that’s how we got to Christmas, but what about leading up to it? What’s Advent all about? Because Christmas was a pagan hold-over, a lot of unsavory practices were continued. Advent became a time of preparation. Advent in the early church was a time of penitence and repentance in preparation for the celebration of the Nativity at the Christ Mass. Centuries later, the celebration of Advent took on a more celebratory mindset but still retained the sense of waiting and preparation. Even today, many churches will not put the child in the manger scene until Christmas Eve. Nor will many churches sing popular carols like Joy to the World until Christmas morning. In fact songs like O Come O Come Emmanuel become more of a musical theme of waiting for the church during Advent.
I always find it so interesting that in looking at Advent and Christmastide I find that many of my Christmas traditions aren’t that old and they aren’t that bound in my actual faith. In fact many of traditions – especially the exorbitant giving of gifts is really new. Chestnuts, EggNog, Trees, Carols, wrapping gifts, feasting and even worship itself are all pieces of pagan rituals “repackaged” to tell a different story – a more full story. I love all these traditions and I’m going to continue to embrace them, however I find that this background helps me to bring some focusto my celebration of this season.
Three years ago, my family started participating in the Advent Conspiracy. A movement that encourages followers of Jesus to celebrate all of what Advent, Christmastide and, eventually, Epiphany can bring to us. The Advent Conspiracy challenges followers to Spend Less, Give More, Worship Fully and Love All. They suggest that we use this time to prepare for Jesuscoming by spreading His life and message to our neighbors. Spend less on garbage gifts and give of ourselves. Take time to extend the kingdom into those who have NOTHING or are in deep need this year. To not run through the season but to take compartments out of each day to worship the one who came as a babe in a manger long ago.
I would invite you to join me on this journey. What could you, based on a little Christmas His-Story, do to conspire to make Advent mean something radically different in your life this year? Have fun and enjoy – once you start conspiring it’s hard to stop! Merry Advent to you all!
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Wow, I learned so much from this post Jim. I think it's pretty funny how most christians shun Holloween because of its pagan roots, and yet embrace every Christmas tradition. lolBut, in a way, I think turning a pagan holiday into a christian one is very early-church like, aka challenging how the world has always known something. Such as the early churches use of "evangelism" and all the slogans connected with Cesar Agustus. My mom is getting her Wesley group involved with Advent conspiracy, I hope it becomes a church staple in the future.Wishing you guys all the best!
I enjoyed this. I will pitch in my two cents, too.Background: I enjoy William Faulkner's writing style…..you were warned; here goes:It is refreshing to hear such a frank discussion about our celebrations at Christmas. I agree that the spirit (little s) of the message is what should resonate. I see no problem in 'updating' our practices as christians. We have all done it—look at something as simple as our clothes. Does the fact that we do not wear the same style of clothes as people did 2,000 years ago make a difference in our worship? There are obvious extremes one could go in to here, but, my point is that we accept change. Oh, and thankfully I did not have to learn Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic to understand (the little I do) of the Bible! Thank God for that change. To some, it might be shocking to learn that the Bible never mentions a Gregorian calendar-derived date for the birth of Jesus—but, historically-speaking why would it have? Does knowing the precise date of birth on a Bethlehemian(?) 'birth certificate' change what Jesus did and who He was? If someone were to celebrate my birthday in a different month from my actual birthday, it in no way changes who I am or what I have done. What remains true is that we were blessed by God with Jesus and now have both the enjoyment and the responsibility of the Spirit. If we, as followers of Jesus, were to be inflexible in adapting our practices to those who have not experienced the Church (e.g. the Pagans centuries ago), wouldn't we be missing the point of it all? Sure, traditions are great but it is nice to incorporate some new practices…..yet, the spirit of what we are doing (and the Spirit) remains unchanged by whatever "window dressing" we add to what we do. I guess that would be like bringing an evergreen tree inside a house during the beginning of winter. Oh, by the way, mine is artificial. Change. I wonder what that makes me….-Steve
Wow, great thoughts!! Leigh, if we didn't steal from pagans, we'd have very little in terms of liturgy or ritual! That's the part that cracks me up! Steve, a plastic tree! Isn't that blasphemous! I mean even Joseph brought in a tree and put lights on it in the stable! 🙂