Christmas is the most difficult time to prepare for. And yet as you reflect on this statement, it is difficult in different ways for different persons. It is marked by lavishness, loudness, lewdness and even lawlessness. Contrasted with simplicity, silence, softness and surprise. Yet advent is the time we usually use to prepare for Christmas.
Advent is about the coming of Christ. Since Christ came already the church remembers his first coming with celebration and rejoicing, with thanksgiving and joy. It is also a time of anticipation as we look forward to Christ’s second coming in glory to consummate his eternal kingdom. What a glorious day that will be.
So you see how difficult it is to prepare for Christmas. How do you prepare to celebrate a birthday and at the same time prepare for the return of Christ? We do not know when and we do not know how but we do know according to scripture that he is coming back again. How then do we really prepare?
I want to borrow a theme from Walter Brueggemann who sees the material preparations we make for Christmas as the ‘illusions of abundance disguising the feelings of emptiness in our souls”. On the other hand, the coming of the Messiah is by contrast, “true abundance disguised by the impression of scarcity”.
Two contrasting thoughts are present, abundance and scarcity. As we gather things for our homes, for the closets, and the dressers, and the cars; as we gather food of all types and variety, filled with calories and synthetic products, we will feel full, and yet we could feel very empty in our souls; as when this is all over, what next? The emptiness may come because we are lonely and feel isolated and excluded. The emptiness may come because we feel drained by the violence which keeps choking our communities, leaving our children, homeless, fatherless and motherless. We do not have to staythere but we can pray for those who are empty that they will be filled with “good things”. We can pray that they will leave space in their hearts to be filled with Christ’s presence.
We pray too that God will help us as Brueggemann reflects, “through the rough stable, the adolescent mother, and the anxious escape to Egypt, we can see in that poverty and powerlessness, the wonder of God's abundant life and grace coming down to dwell among us.”
Could I say make Christmas simple, so that we can see the abundance of God’s grace, God’s favour in the ordinary. Do not let the abundance blind you to what God want you to focus on this Christmas. Use advent as a time for reflection, focus and preparation of the heart to see and receive God’s abundance. To aid this process I have attached the lectionary readings for Advent.
Monday, December 2, 2019: Psalm 124; Genesis 8:1-19; Romans 6:1-11
Tuesday, December 3, 2019: Psalm 124; Genesis 9:1-17; Hebrews 11:32-40
Wednesday, December 4, 2019: Psalm 124; Isaiah 54:1-10; Matthew 24:23-35
Thursday, December 5, 2019: Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Isaiah 4:2-6; Acts 1:12-17, 21-26
Friday, December 6, 2019: Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Isaiah 30:19-26; Acts 13:16-25
Saturday, December 7, 2019: Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Isaiah 40:1-11; John 1:19-28
Monday, December 9, 2019: Psalm 21; Isaiah 24:1-16a; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-12
Tuesday, December 10, 2019: Psalm 21; Isaiah 41:14-20; Romans 15:14-21
Wednesday, December 11, 2019: Psalm 21; Genesis 15:1-18; Matthew 12:33-37
Thursday, December 12, 2019: Psalm 146:5-10; Ruth 1:6-18; 2 Peter 3:1-10
Friday, December 13, 2019: Psalm 146:5-10; Ruth 4:13-17; 2 Peter 3:11-18
Saturday, December 14, 2019: Psalm 146:5-10; 1 Samuel 2:1-8; Luke 3:1-18
Monday, December 16, 2019: Psalm 42; Isaiah 29:17-24; Acts 5:12-16
Tuesday, December 17, 2019: Psalm 42; Ezekiel 47:1-12; Jude 1:17-25
Wednesday, December 18, 2019: Psalm 42; Zechariah 8:1-17; Matthew 8:14-17, 28-34
Thursday, December 19, 2019: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; 2 Samuel 7:1-17; Galatians 3:23-29
Friday, December 20, 2019: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; 2 Samuel 7:18-22; Galatians 4:1-7
Saturday, December 21, 2019: Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19; 2 Samuel 7:23-29; John 3:31-36
Monday, December 23, 2019: Luke 1:46b-55; 2 Samuel 7:18, 23-29; Galatians 3:6-14
Shalom