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Advent as Preparation

 

            When I was a youth, I had no clue how provincial I was.  The good news is I would not even have known what that word meant!  So it did not matter that I was provincial.  Basically, to be provincial means you are a citizen of the province.  In my case my province was rural Indiana and an identity as a Quaker.  Rural Indiana is not unlike other rural areas in this country.  It meant hard work, independence and a limited outlook.  That was my little world.

            Paradoxically, there were quite a few Quakers in the little world in which I lived, so I figured the world was full of Quakers.  This illusion was perpetuated because I know there were “a bunch of Quakers” in Kenya, so I figure all of Africa must be crawling with Quakers.  All of this turned out not to be true.  Education did some wonderful things to me.

            I learned much more about a much bigger world.  College in the South in a modest-sized city began my growth beyond a rural mentality.  The good news is that I did not have to give up what it is like to grow up on a farm.  But I needed more different experience to have a sense for what the world is really like.  Graduate school on the East coast in a metropolitan city expanded me even more.  And then traveling and, even, living abroad significantly extended my horizons.  In many ways I have never looked back, even though I can always go back to the farm perspective and appreciate all it still means to me.

            My growth has been equally significant when it comes to learning and appreciating other religious traditions.  One of the dearest facets of that experience has been my journey with the Roman Catholic world.  Some of this has come through reading.  Reading the history of Christianity has been wonderfully enlightening.  And I have supplemented that with exposure to and friendship with many folks who claim Catholicism as their home turf.  I have become good friends with monks, priests and lay folk.  They have taught me ways of the Christian world that have broadened and deepened my own Quaker spirituality.

            One of the neat ways this has happened is learning about liturgy and the liturgical calendar.  I don’t recall ever hearing the word, liturgy, until I was in college.  Essentially, liturgy means “worship.”  Literally, I know it is a Greek word meaning “work of the people.”  I learned among Catholics the “liturgy” usually means the Mass.  When I first started attending a Mass, I was exposed to a very structured approach to worship.  Historically, Quakers use silence as a way of preparing our hearts for God’s presence to come into our midst.  Or we probably should say that silence is used to quiet our hearts enough to begin to realize we have been in the presence of God all along. 

            I appreciate the chance to think about God’s presence and how we come to be aware of it.  Theologically, I believe God is present everywhere all the time.  However, most of the time we probably are not aware of that presence.  And we probably are not aware that we exist within the safety of that presence.  Quite simply, the liturgy---the work of the people---is our way of becoming aware.  And I learned, liturgy is also available seasonally.  The Church talks about the “liturgical calendar.” 

            For Christians this calendar is divided into two unequal parts.  The shorter part is Advent to Easter.  And the big part is from Easter to Advent.  Again growing up Quaker meant I never heard of Advent.  I learned Advent is the four Sundays before Christmas.  Advent is the time of preparation.  And of course, Christmas celebrates the actual physical coming-to-be of God in this world.  Christmas is incarnation---God become human.  And we know him as Jesus.  Advent prepares us to recognize and celebrate this presence of God in the world.

            Advent is part of the liturgical calendar.  It comes around every year.  That is fortunate because humans forget.  We forget the presence of God is with us all the time.  We forget that we are not radically independent creatures making our way through a hostile world.  We are the children of a loving presence---called God by me.  We are the apple of God’s eye.  Any of us who have been parents or grandparents know what this feels like and what it means.

            I am ok with Advent preparing me for Christmas.  But I also am still Quaker enough to know Advent should not just be limited to late November-December.  For those of us who are aware, God is present every day.  Oddly enough, that means we can proclaim any day to be Christmas---the day in my awareness God came into humans---again and again. 

            I appreciate the role of Advent.  It helps me avoid the commercial proclamation that Christmas is coming.  Commercially, Santa comes, not God as human.  Santa brings us gifts; God is the gift.  This is not a subtle difference.  We can play around with words and say that Christmas offers presents---most of which I don’t need.  And Advent delivers God’s presence---which we all need for life and flourishing. 

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