From “Black Friday” to “Advent”
Friends for the past couple of years I have been practicing a new American tradition called “Black Friday”, which of course is the big shopping day after Thanksgiving. Legend has it that the name derives from “Black” being the day stores are finally out of the red and “Friday” being the day it falls on. This year was no different, except for the fact that I took my Brother and the kids along for the adventure. But somehow this year I wasn’t really satisfied with my experience. Don’t get me wrong I had a great time with my Bro and the kids; it was a time to bond and do something crazy! But there was something missing and I couldn’t figure it out.
But then it hit me. The following Sunday evening we had a group from Nashville performing a Christmas musical at our Church and telling stories of the excitement leading up to the birth of Jesus. That’s it! Jesus was missing. We stayed up for 36 hours, went to over 20 stores and didn’t see Jesus anywhere! Well maybe at the Life Way store, but you get my drift here. After all he is the reason for the season. But somehow he got put on the back burner. Somehow he didn’t get put out with all the Christmas displays and sale posters. But, he was in his house on Sunday night. And that’s when I realized that I had fallen for the pagan aspect of Christmas. The Santa and the toys part of the story.
So the question for me was how do I celebrate the birth of our Lord and play down the rest of the Christmas hype? And then while reading a blog from the Internet Monk I got my answer “Advent”. Now I am sure a lot of people haven’t heard of this tradition so I will post a couple of links and give a brief description at the end of the blog. The funny thing is my wife who happens to be German and had been raised in the Lutheran Church had practiced this tradition for years. I just thought it was a German thing and didn’t really understand what it was all about. But now that I have learned more about it I am ready to bring back this old tradition and celebrate the birth of our King in a new way. How will you celebrate the birth of Jesus this year? Do you feel like slowly but surely “Christ” is being taken out of Christmas? I do….take care my friends…Chris
Friends for the past couple of years I have been practicing a new American tradition called “Black Friday”, which of course is the big shopping day after Thanksgiving. Legend has it that the name derives from “Black” being the day stores are finally out of the red and “Friday” being the day it falls on. This year was no different, except for the fact that I took my Brother and the kids along for the adventure. But somehow this year I wasn’t really satisfied with my experience. Don’t get me wrong I had a great time with my Bro and the kids; it was a time to bond and do something crazy! But there was something missing and I couldn’t figure it out.
But then it hit me. The following Sunday evening we had a group from Nashville performing a Christmas musical at our Church and telling stories of the excitement leading up to the birth of Jesus. That’s it! Jesus was missing. We stayed up for 36 hours, went to over 20 stores and didn’t see Jesus anywhere! Well maybe at the Life Way store, but you get my drift here. After all he is the reason for the season. But somehow he got put on the back burner. Somehow he didn’t get put out with all the Christmas displays and sale posters. But, he was in his house on Sunday night. And that’s when I realized that I had fallen for the pagan aspect of Christmas. The Santa and the toys part of the story.
So the question for me was how do I celebrate the birth of our Lord and play down the rest of the Christmas hype? And then while reading a blog from the Internet Monk I got my answer “Advent”. Now I am sure a lot of people haven’t heard of this tradition so I will post a couple of links and give a brief description at the end of the blog. The funny thing is my wife who happens to be German and had been raised in the Lutheran Church had practiced this tradition for years. I just thought it was a German thing and didn’t really understand what it was all about. But now that I have learned more about it I am ready to bring back this old tradition and celebrate the birth of our King in a new way. How will you celebrate the birth of Jesus this year? Do you feel like slowly but surely “Christ” is being taken out of Christmas? I do….take care my friends…Chris
Advent (from Latin, adventus, meaning “coming towards”) is a four-week season of preparation for Christmas. The First Sunday of Advent (November 30) marks the beginning of the church’s year.
Advent and Christmas focus both on the past—the coming of Jesus as an infant born into poverty in Bethlehem, and the future—the coming of Christ in glory to fulfill God’s loving purposes for humanity. This past and future orientation is reflected in the readings appointed in the church for each Sunday of Advent.
Advent this year comes at a time of anxiety and hope. Many of us are struggling and are afraid for our future. It's not easy to hope when times are bad. Mary, as she waited for the birth of her child into an uncertain world, knew how to live with hope—to believe the promises of God. So Advent is a time when we wait, with Mary, for the birth of new life into a world living in shadows.
3 comments:
I love that we celebrate advent at WBC!
Chris,
Great post. Tony told me about your shop-a-thon, and it reminded me of doing my time in retail - I worked for Macy's (NY) for eight years and at Sam Ash Music the Christmas after that. Early in December people would come in looking for good gifts for their loved ones, fair enough, we give gifts to each other as a symbol of the gift God gave to us in his son Jesus. The catch was the last few days before Christmas there was a mad rush of people buying anything, for example slippers regardless of size or style, just so they would have something to wrap and put under the tree. They didn’t really care but would be embarrassed if they didn’t give something. BTW - I have gone to the other extreme and tend not to give anything, which is not good either. I heard a great suggestion a few years back, buy small gifts and give them to people who we don’t know, explaining that we are giving them this gift because Jesus gave us the best gift ever. In other words, it’s an excuse for sharing the Gospel.
Merry Christmas!
-jim
http://ke4juh.wordpress.com/
What a crazy day Black Friday '08 was. I was super happy to be hanging out with you but man those shoppers were intense. It mad me sad overall at what Christmas has become. I feel challenged to make sure I intentionally make Christmas about more than just stuff. Good thoughts on the advent. Great post my brother!
Tony
http://www.kingdombard.com
Post a Comment