Monday of the First Week of Advent
The 2022 version of Ebenezer Scrooge loves Christmas. As owner of the mega-discount chain Ebenezer-Mart, he can’t get enough of it.
Ebenezer-Marts pipe in Christmas carols right after back-to-school sales. Santa’s elves, worshiping at the manger, adorn the store windows long before the leaves change color. A tooting toy electric train circles the Baby Jesus. Huey, Dewey, and Louie present the gifts of the magi to the Christ Child.
Scrooge’s head of accounting, Bob Cratchit, hates the frantic holidays and is relieved when December 24 rolls around so the 10 weeks of Christmas will mercifully end.
This reformulated version of Scrooge doesn’t really love Christmas. Like the kings and people who are lackluster towards Isaiah, our modern Scrooge misses the mark.
As we begin Advent we are reminded that the preparation season is counter-cultural in our go-go-go society. Daily readings challenge us the next four weeks to prepare in prayer and stillness—a time to slow down when waiting for anything is considered pointless anymore.
Can you hear the 2022 version of Scrooge bellow out, “what a waste of time!”
Too many of us race about this time of year, spending money we don’t have, and trying to make everything “picture-perfect.” (Remember that the first Christmas was imperfect, to say the least.)
What is the purpose of Christmas if we ignore the period of preparation that gives the holy season its meaning?
Throughout the next 27 days (the 4th week is seven full days this year) Isaiah and other prophets call upon Judah to be still so as to allow the Lord to inform and instruct them. This requires centering and focus.
Slowing down seems a nuisance, almost unAmerican. But taking it to heart calms us and allows us to reassess and see what really matters and what really doesn’t. Why not reject the compulsion and stress? Like Bob Cratchit of 2022, many are sick of the Days of Christmas when they finally arrive. That might explain the rush to put live Christmas trees out on the curb on December 26.
Keeping Christmas, from sundown December 24 to the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord (January 9 this year), is truly countercultural. We don’t have to fall victim to pressure packed Decembers. We are free to choose, but the push to race into Christmas can be relentless, so be prepared. Yet the payoff is sanity, focus, balance, and wholeness (holiness). Isn’t it worth a try?
Then we can wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ.
-Timothy J. Cronin