Preparing for Advent

 We are about to begin the season of the church year which seems to be overwhelmed by secularism i.e. the Secular Christmas.  That would be the season of Advent which is a time to prepare for the coming of the Christ Child.  Christmas seems to be in full swing now with Christmas carols playing in the stores and Santa Claus parades in every corner of the land. 

I am proposing something which is probably way out in left field (to use a secular metaphor).  I am proposing that we spend a bit of time preparing for Advent.  In case you are wondering, Advent begins this coming Sunday.  We will be lighting the first candle in the Advent Wreath.  I also hope we will be singing some Advent carols – yes there are actually Advent carols such as O Come O Come Emanuel; or, Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming.   

So, what does it mean to prepare for the season of preparation?  The first thing is to understand, as best we can, what Christmas is actually about.   For me this is best summed up by the carol, Love Came Down at Christmas by Christina Rossetti.  Here are the lyrics:

1. Love came down at Christmas,
   Love all lovely, Love divine;
   Love was born at Christmas,
   Star and angels gave the sign.
2. Worship we the Godhead,
   Love incarnate, Love divine;
   Worship we our Jesus:
   But wherewith for sacred sign?
3. Love shall be our token,
   Love be yours and love be mine,
   Love to God and all men,
   Love for plea and gift and sign.

Here is the link for a beautiful reedition of the carol, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1UodfFV3A3M

You may be protesting that I am doing just what I object to – jumping over Advent directly to Christmas with this carol.  However, what I am trying to show is that the essence of Christmas is love.  To get ready to prepare for Christmas we must prepare to welcome love within us.  We cannot be ready to receive the love that is born in a stable in Bethlehem unless we begin to truly love ourselves.  That is easier said than done. 

How do we, then, begin to do that?  I received a missive from Kathleen Wiley, a wise person who spoke about the qualities of love proposed by Erich Fromm in The Art of Loving. According to Wiley, Fromm states these are giving, care, responsibility, respect, and knowledge.  When I read this, I had not planned to connect this to Advent but that seems to be where the spirit has taken me this morning. 

What I would like to do is to explore each of these themes during Advent to see what they mean when applied to loving ourselves.  At this point, I am not sure what this idea will reveal as I have not tried to do this before.  So, I am very interested to see what this will reveal as I journey through Advent.  So, with this, I am preparing for the Advent season.  I hope you will join me.

Blessings