Preparing for Christmas

A friend stopped by the house yesterday.  On the table, he saw rolls of Christmas wrapping paper.  “Did you finish your Christmas shopping?” he asked.  The truth is that I haven’t even started. I just bought the paper.  Then he paused before saying, “I’m surprised you don’t have a tree or other decorations.”  I explained that I really haven’t had time.  Maybe over the weekend, I’ll get some decorations out.  His final comment was meant to be encouraging:  “I think the best part of Christmas is the preparation.”  On that, I have to agree! But probably not as he meant it.  You see, there’s something special about the preparation for Christmas, the Advent season.  I look forward to the weeks before Christmas focused on keeping watch, waiting, and preparation much more than Christmas Day itself.

Advent is marked by the four Sundays preceding Christmas.  Its meaning is largely lost to most people today.  These weeks are a time of quiet anticipation and waiting for God’s coming in our midst.  The traditional Advent carol, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, has a mournful quality that captures the sense of waiting for fulfillment.  It’s a prayer for God’s presence to dawn in ways that bring healing, hope, and wholeness to the world.

John the Baptist is the preeminent figure of Advent.  Those who read the Gospel stories about John are likely to be uncomfortable.  He’s something like those street preachers we sometimes encounter yelling at people to repent.  Unlike the street preachers of our day, John is very specific on what needs to be done to prepare for God’s coming into our lives.  Street preachers want people to repent and have a personal experience of God, but for John, preparing for God’s requires changing your behavior.

Religious and spiritual folks often think that preparing to encounter God is primarily about being prayerful or even confessing one’s deepest sins.  Private spirituality isn’t of much value to the Baptist.  He insists (no, he doesn’t suggest, rather he is very directive!) that people change their behavior.  The person with two coats should give one to a person without a coat.  Tax collectors, known for stealing from taxpayers, are told to only collect what’s actually due.  Stop defrauding people.  Do the right thing!  John is clear:  our lives are ready for encountering God when we treat others well.

John is about real change.  For John, preparing for God requires leveling mountains, filling in valleys, and making rough roads smooth.  John is real, practical, and tangible. In these images, John is talking about a systematic leveling of the playing field so that all people will have equal footing in society.

It’s not a bad thing to pray, reflect, and spend time in meditation to prepare for Christmas.  But John the Baptist challenges us to do the hard thing:  to change both ourselves and society.  The change the Baptist insists on include correcting injustice and inequity around us.

The message of John the Baptist isn’t an easy one.  No wonder he was killed much like the prophets before him.  Also, like the great prophets from the Hebrew scriptures, John challenged people to do what is right by caring for the most vulnerable in society.  That’s the Biblical foundation of Advent — the time of preparation for Christmas.  Yes, it’s much easier to hang tinsel and garland to make everything look pretty and sparkly.  But the coming of God in our day is about making the world a better place where justice reigns and the needs of the poor are met.  This Christmas, perhaps we can prepare by tending to the words of the Baptist even though they make us very uncomfortable.

Yes, preparing for Christmas:  it is the best part.  It’s when we’re challenged to change ourselves so that the world will change.  That’s how we’ll know the presence of God is in our midst.

Photo credit:  Pexels.com/Manuel Joseph