In Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church Laurence
Hull Stookey writes:
If you were taught (that) Advent is
primarily about the past expectation of the coming of the Messiah, consider
instead this -- Advent is primarily about the future, with implications for the
present.
It is one of the most difficult undertakings in the church: to
break the stranglehold that our recent approach to Advent has on Christmas and
to bring about the realization that Advent is a kettle that can stand on its
own bottom.
Not only is it a free-standing observance, but it is a
dedicated time of embracing that toward which the entirety of our faith
points. A lot of people treat the “holiday”
of Christmas much the same as they approach New Year’s or Independence Day or
Groundhog Day. It is a time of some
season-specific merrymaking and then it is past. For the church it is a portion of the
calendar in which we embrace a future in which Christ reigns in fullness. The Return of Christ is the last chapter in
the life of every Christian believer. It
is not directly related to anything that happens on December 25 of any given
year. And, when you look at the various
customs and traditions of churches all over the world related to Christmas, you
find that often they bear little resemblance to what is simultaneously taking
place in other portions of the globe.
So, our trees and lights and carols do not directly relate to our
end-time hope at all.
Don’t get me wrong: I’m going to sing the carols and eat the
baked goods and all the rest. When it is
time.
Laurence Hull Stookey, Calendar: Christ’s Time for the Church. Nashville: Abingdon, 196, p. 158.
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