The Spirit of Christmas is all about the waiting and waiting increases our wonder if we do it in a child-like spirit!
Monday, December 5, 2022
Today we have a throw back Advent reflection coming right before the exciting thing that happens tomorrow: The Feast of St. Nicholas!
Why should we wait to open those presents (or buy them for that matter) till we are through with Advent? Because if we don’t, we miss so much of what Christmas is about and we miss the thing we have been trying to cultivate in our lives again – that same child-like wonder and excitement that makes it all such a miracle again like the Kingdom that is coming! The old song says: “We need a little Christmas. Right this very minute!” But God is telling us that we need a little trust and patience. Child-like trust and the paradox of adult patience.
Jesus invited a little child to stand among them. “Truly I tell you,” He said, “unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:3
Today we are going to feature a piece called simply “Christmas“. Chesterton wrote this piece in 1908 when the small shops with their quaint ways and personal relationships with their customers were starting to give way to the Big Shops (The Outline of Sanity, 1926) and Capitalism ( Utopia of Usurers, 1917). Selling and advertising had then became the focus rather than providing a personable service to the townsfolk.
Part of that was selling Christmas before the day in order to ramp up sales and profit, a practice we take for granted in our day with all of the Christmasy merchandise and the push to sell the idea that we must buy lots of gifts which make the stores lots of money. Indeed, in the beginning and as late of the early 60s there was some vestige of the old spirit in the decorations many looked forward to seeing and the Christmas carols that would play. Now, though, most of the decorations are kept to limited venues and the carols only played on certain stations. The outside of malls and now online sales look the same as they do throughout the year.
But in Chesterton’s day, this push to commercialize Christmas was just becoming a practice. The problem with that as Chesterton mentions in the quote below was that it intruded on the anticipation for what God meant our anticipation of Christmas to be- this glorious good news that:
The people that walked in darkness, have seen a great light: to them that dwelt in the region of the shadow of death, light is risen. Thou hast multiplied the nation, and hast not increased the joy. They shall rejoice before thee, as they that rejoice in the harvest, as conquerors rejoice after taking a prey, when they divide the spoils.
Isaiah 9:2-3
Instead of anticipating the magic of a Christmas miracle, the stores want us to salivate over their Christmas sales. The Spirit or Christmas is experienced by guarding the “quite clear black line” of Advent time that Chesterton says protects this wonderful moment that wasn’t there before and then suddenly and magnificently bursts upon us out of the darkness of the world with joy and lights!
“But I say that whatever the day is that is to you festive or symbolic, it is essential that there should be a quite clear black line between it and the time going before. And all the old wholesome customs in connection with Christmas were to the effect that one should not touch or see or know or speak of something before the actual coming of Christmas Day. Thus, for instance, children were never given their presents until the actual coming of the appointed hour. The presents were kept tied up in brown-paper parcels, out of which an arm of a doll or the leg of a donkey sometimes accidentally stuck. I wish this principle were adopted in respect of modern Christmas ceremonies and publications. Especially it ought to be observed in connection with what are called the Christmas numbers of magazines. The editors of the magazines bring out their Christmas numbers so long before the time that the reader is more likely to be still lamenting for the turkey of last year than to have seriously settled down to a solid anticipation of the turkey which is to come. Christmas numbers of magazines ought to be tied up in brown paper and kept for Christmas Day. On consideration, I should favour the editors being tied up in brown paper. Whether the leg or arm of an editor should ever be allowed to protrude I leave to individual choice.” – G. K. Chesterton, Christmas, All Things Considered,1908
Our Advent Prayer
Loving Heavenly Father, help me I pray, to be still in Your presence and to wait patiently for You to act in my life, rather than fervently praying that You will sort out my problems in my time and expecting You to act in my way. When I am beset with evil doers or when situations in my life cause me to become frustrated and impatient, or when trials and sufferings knock at my door, help me to wait for You to act in Your own time and in Your unique way. I know Lord, that suffering in this life produces perseverance, endurance and patience – and patience develops the strength of character that You desire in each of Your children. And character helps us to build up a loving, trusting faith and confidence in You. Keep me lowly before Your throne of grace, and when difficulties arise in my life, enable me to persevere, by Your grace, so that I may grow in the patience that so honours Your name. Thank You, Lord, for the lessons that You are teaching me. May I develop a teachable spirit, to Your praise and glory. Amen. St. Monica Ora Pro Nobis.
Beloved, there is something that we are waiting for beyond even Christmas…and it is so worth waiting for!
Reforming the Line 