Happy New Year everyone! Today, 2 December 2012, is the start of
the new Christian year. The Christian year begins with Advent. And just like a
calendar year, it lasts 12 months although it marks time in a different
way.
Advent covers the
four weeks before Christmas. Generally, it is a time of year dominated by
bright lights, loud music, and a great rush, at home and at work, as everyone
prepares for Christmas. In some ways, Advent is almost like a "lesser
storm" before the whirlwind that is modern Christmas.
Most of us don't
even really know what Advent is all about anymore. Advent is almost like an
ancient milestone by the roadside; it gives us information about how much
further we have to go before we get to the "real" destination,
Christmas. Perhaps, when we were younger, our families engaged in activities
that allowed us, as children, to count the days before Christmas.
But what is
Advent? If it were such a "minor" festival, why is it a festival at
all? And why does it take all of four weeks to prepare? Advent comes from two
Latin words" ad meaning "to, toward" in
relation to space or time; "with regard to, in relation to," and venire meaning “to come”.
Hence Advent may be understood also to mean “toward coming” or “with regard to
coming”. Awkward as this may seem in our common day language, these definitions
so to speak care with them additional perspectives on the meaning of Advent.
Not only does it speak of a coming per se
but it speaks of way of looking at his coming. Let us consider the rather
awkward definition above of “toward coming”.
One may ask why I opted for this definition as opposed to say, “to come”.
This is because “to come” would translate only as venire and not carry the ad-
prefix. Obviously there is a reason to have the prefix ad-. I also like the sound of “toward coming” as it carries with an
active element. There must be more to Advent then simply “preparation” as the
word itself seems to reflect a process, a becoming.
What is the becoming? The obvious
answer is Christmas. Then the next question is what is Christmas? I will
discuss that in another instalment. Thus, when we remove the obvious answer, we
are left with a question that has a less obvious reply: what is becoming?
If we look at Advent as the time to
prepare to become, or to move toward coming, this opens us different
possibilities for us all. Advent is important. It is important for the
completion of our being. It is important that we understand our process of becoming,
of becoming human, of becoming that which is truly human. It is a period where
we prepare to meet something, someone that is streaming towards from the future.
It is about a coming, an event which has yet to occur, that we move forward to
meet. Hence Advent is not a static preparation, awaiting a great event; Advent
is an active preparation so that we, as human beings, may step out and meet the
event to come.
Advent is a thorough preparation
across four weeks. In the first week, the physical world is ready. Children’s
stories of preparation across this first week are stories of how minerals “step
out into the world” facing the future to come. If this was our homes, our first
step would be to clean our homes.
In the second week, the plant world
is ready. The plants have “stepped out into the world” to face the future to
come. In our homes, after tidying the house, we spruce up or buy the special
plants for the season.
In the third week, the animal world
is ready. The animals have “stepped out into the world” to face the future to
come. In our homes, after tidying the house, sprucing up the plants, we prepare
our pets. We bathe them, groom them and make them ready.
The fourth week of Advent is about
the human being. We prepare ourselves. Are we ready to “step out into the world”
to face the future to come?
Advent is not just about waiting for
Christ to enter our homes. It is just as much about us stepping out of the
doors of our homes, gazing down the path of the future, ready, not just to
welcome, but to recognise and invite Christ into our homes.
