Advent: I've been meaning to post something about Advent for a couple of weeks, but procrastinated, even with the stimulus I received from Lunario's blog. There he spoke of Christmas holidays beginning a couple of days before Christmas, and that inspired me to comment that here in the good old U.S. of A. lots of people seem to think that Advent is Christmastide, and they're busy celebrating Christmas now instead of preparing for it. Concomitantly, there is the idea that on December 26, Christmas is over. Maybe they've never heard of the twelve days of Christmas, or maybe they don't know that the twelve days are December 25 through January 5, with Twelfth Night being the evening of January 5.
So anyway, Advent is the period which begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. Since Christmas moves through the week, Advent can last anywhere from 22 to 28 days. This year, with Christmas on a Saturday, it is 27 days.
As I indicated, it is a time of preparation for Christmas. More broadly, the Christian Church has seen it as a time to look forward to the coming of the Lord, and in the early part of the season, the focus is on the coming of the Lord in glory at the end of time. For the last week or so, attention is on his first coming: his birth in Bethlehem.
Since both comings are good for us, the season is one of longing and hope, colored by joy. This represents something of a clarification. In the Middle Ages, the Final Judgment of humanity was looked forward to with some anxiety, and the hymn "Dies Iræ," which has become a central part of the Requiem, was originally written for the first Sunday of Advent. In the Catholic Church, Advent vestments are purple, as in Lent, which led people to associate it with the penitential character of Lent. But over my lifetime, the idea of the season as one of hopeful longing for the Lord's return, leading into expectation of the celebration of his birth has largely displaced the idea of doing penance.
But it's still supposed to be preparation. It's not Christmas yet. Ideally, there should be a spirit of calm. Hard to achieve if we've got to dash about buying lots of presents and attend premature Christmas parties.
Maybe we can take a moment each day to be still and to invite God to come to us more fully than we have received him heretofore. Christians can express it in the ancient words, "Come, Lord Jesus."
Welcome: I have a new follower Bror, with a blog of the same name. He describes himself as "gay married mormon," and he's been blogging since 2008, but infrequently. As of now he has made 43 posts. They are worth reading as he tells of his family situation. He is out to his wife, who has a blog of her own and occasionally comments on his blog, but at her request he has stayed not come out to their children. His latest post informs us that his oldest son has told him that he (the son) is gay and has a boyfriend. Anyway, I think you'll find the blog interesting reading.
Welcome, Bror.
My total count of followers has remained at 80, however, because Catholic Boy, at Victory of Faith has basically gone inactive with his blog and stopped following. He does, however have a blog, also titled Victory of Faith, on tumblr. He says this about it. "It's really just a photo-blog, though I dare say I might post a thought or two about this and that from time to time. It's an easier blogging format though, and less time-consuming, and I hope it will also be more inspirational for me (or at any rate less depressing) than blogging here. Please feel free to follow. I hope any guys (and potentially girls) out there who like the same things as I do will enjoy it as well." Personally, I'm a bit disappointed, not because I have one less follower — the count really doesn't matter — but because I really enjoyed reading his old blog as well as some of the items he used to link to and visiting some of the sites he had in his blogroll when an interestingly titled post appeared in the sidebar. Oh well, it's his blog. Why not check out the new one?
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3 comments:
Hi there! Sorry about killing my old blog, but I have been finding it difficult. My big problem actually is blogging anonymously (or "pseudonymously", I suppose) - having to be careful about what I write all the time, always worrying that I've gone too far, but always wanting to go further as well.
I've learned something new. I did not know that the twelve days run into January. Honestly, I just don't remember Advent being a huge focus in the Presbyterian church, but then again, maybe I wasn't paying attention!
Rick
Now you have still managed your Advent post, as expected it's a good one and explains very well the meaning of Advent. Hope you could find some time for yourself.
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