Dec 1 already?! ACK!

Most Advent calendars start today.  I've considered writing a blog a day from now until Christmas as my Advent gift to all 7 or 8 people who read this blog, however... I'm pretty lazy, so don't hold your breath.

I've noticed that the Advent Calendar seems to be in vogue this year.  Many people seem to be getting into Christmas mode with their own variation.  Chocolate calendars, of course - at one time or another, haven't we all been excited about opening that little cardboard flap everyday to eat the tasteless, made in China waxy excuse for chocolate found inside?  I had one once or twice as a child.  I had no idea what it had to do with Christmas, but it was the most exciting 30 seconds of my day!  (Topped only by looking at the toy section of the Sears Wishbook for hours on end.)

But if waxy chocolate isn't really your thing, well, I saw a Christmas-cookie-recipe-a-day calendar on the Toronto Star website.  Oh, and the Hubble space telescope calendar for all those star gazers out there.  And a really cute baby zoo animal calendar...  And of course, if you've got a million dollars you don't know what to do with, you could buy one of the 5 advent calendars made by Porsche.  Apparently it's filled with kitchen renovations, and gold watches, and yachts and things.

To me, Lent is a much easier season to celebrate than Advent.  Preparing for the impending death of our Saviour on Good Friday is all about sacrifice and going without, being a little uncomfortable - things that good Christians are generally really good at!  "I'm a good Christian because I'm suffering and I'm giving out of my suffering."  It's easy to find Christian identity in that.  Unfortunately, carving a Christian identity out of suffering makes the whole 'secularized', joyous, materialistic, gift receiving, Santa Claus and snowmen part of Christmas a little too much to handle sometimes.  Where's the suffering in receiving gifts or singing 'Deck the Halls' for the 150th time??  How can I be a good Christian if I'm not suffering?!


It has given me cause to take a closer look this year and to realize, perhaps for the first time, that there isn't supposed to be suffering in Advent, and that's ok.  Sometimes it really is ok to be Christian without suffering!  Advent, after all, is the liturgical season of preparing for the coming of the Christ Child, the Messiah, our Saviour.  How can we even think about suffering and sacrifice when God's ultimate game plan is about to begin?  He's about to deliver to us this tiny little baby that will eventually grow up to repair the damaged relationship between God and His people.  We need to prepare for that, we need to get ready for that, we need to be damn happy about that!!  If not for Christ's coming at Christmas, we wouldn't be able to have any sort of personal relationship with God.  By all rights it should be a festive celebration of joy and giving!  So get your Advent Calendar, eat your waxy chocolate, bake those cookies, decorate the tree, buy those gifts, sing the songs!  And if buying a $1,000,000 Porsche Advent Calendar is how you celebrate it, well, can I at least have a ride on your yacht?

Hallelujah!