There are Christmas parties everywhere this time of year. Everywhere we turn there are sweets, treats, and chocolate. We walk around with full stomachs, filled with sugar.
In the Eastern Church this time leading up to Christmas is a time of fasting and preparation for the Christmas feast (similar to Lent, but slightly less intense). For them, Advent truly is a time of contemplation on the meaning and significance of Christmas as well as preparation for the celebration of Christ's coming. I want some of that.
I find it difficult with the way our society has set up the Advent season to contemplate and prepare. It seems the closer we get to December 25, the busier things get and the more treats are scattered about. Somehow I would like to learn how to greet Christmas with an empty stomach and hunger. I desire a Christmas in which I have a heart prepared to kneel at the manger with awe, to listen to the angels sing of God's glory, and to celebrate to arrival of salvation incarnate. All the sweets laying around are not bad, but they do seem to steal from the Christmas celebration. I hear people talking about how they are planning on not eating much on Christmas since they've already had so much and must 'watch the waistline'. I think we have it backwards. This is the feast of the Nativity - we ought to celebrate.
Celebrating properly takes time and preparation. Not merely preparation of the turkey, presents, and beer, but also preparation of the heart and soul. I think it is because all these things are so connected that we must learn how to live Advent in order to celebrate Christmas.
I plan to celebrate.
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
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