Our culture loves Christmas and definitely still likes the word “Advent.” We just define it a little strangely. Walk through just about any store this season and you’ll find Advent calendars. Usually these contain little gifts, one to open each day for either 12 or 24 days.
During an ill-advised trip to the mall last weekend, I saw Advent calendars featuring Star Wars. Lego. Lego Star Wars. Dinosaurs. Disney Princesses. Pokémon. For grown-ups: booze, makeup, hot sauce, tea and coffee. There was even a Taylor Swift Advent calendar containing … well, who really cares?
Intrigued, I googled “Advent calendars.” Bingo. A Good Housekeeping article called “50 Best Advent Calendars for Kids and Adults.” Oh, is this a list. It starts with the Whiskey Advent Calendar (a dram every day), winds its way through the Gel Nail Polish Advent Calendar, The Office 12 Days of Socks and the Dog Cookie Advent Calendar. Then … the ultimate gift: The 12 Days of ChapStick. A dozen wintery flavors. I use ChapStick every day and I don’t think I have gone through a dozen in my lifetime. The one currently in my coat pocket expired in 2018.
Buried at No. 49 of these 50 treasures is The Nativity: A Christmas Advent Calendar Coloring Book. Hey! Someone remembered! But then the list quickly comes to its senses and ends with the LOL Surprise Outfit of the Day Advent Calendar.
As Charlie Brown complained nearly 60 years ago: “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”
Yes, actually.
An opportunity
There are a couple of ways we as Christians could respond to Advent—the season set aside to anticipate Christ’s coming—being turned into another way to sell clutter. One is to complain: Heathens! Just the latest way they’re taking Christ out of Christmas. This would be our natural tendency. Close the drapes a little tighter and circle the wagons.
A second, and I think better, way is this: In a world of whiskey and Star Wars Advent calendars, be Linus. In the beloved Charlie Brown Christmas special, Linus doesn’t condemn glitzy, commercial Christmas. He simply and humbly engages his friend’s question, and points to something much better.
We all have an opportunity to do that next Saturday (Dec. 9) with Christmas Traditions. Whether you’re volunteering or attending with loved ones, it’s a chance to celebrate the anticipation of Advent (the real one) with hundreds of neighbors from our community. For many, it will be the first time they’ve been inside First Free. For our church, it’s an easy chance to be Linus. To borrow a quote attributed to many: We can curse the darkness, or light a candle.
Just not the Voluspa 12-Day Candle Advent Calendar, available for $158 including “exclusive wick trimmer.”
Next week: A preview of Christmas Traditions.
This is so good, as well appropriate to discuss. It’s easy to go the Linus route, but as you said,
Linus did better, in that he pointed out a better way.