Today’s Readings: Psalm 98; Isaiah 24:14-23; Mark 13:24-31; 2 Thessalonians 2:7-12; Psalm 125
This Black Friday marks the official (or should I say commercial) beginning to the Christmas shopping season. For many, it is a day of celebration as millions of Americans will spend time reveling in joy as they bask in the warmth of family, friends, and fun. In many ways the spirit of the day reminds me of the mood captured in the first three verses of today’s reading from Isaiah. But not everyone experiences the kick off to the Christmas season in quite the same way. Study after study shows the increase in the rates of both incidents of depression and suicide attempts during the holidays. This feeling was also captured in today’s passage from Isaiah as the prophet responded to the joyous opening words by saying, “That’s all well and good for somebody, but all I can see is doom, doom, and more doom” (Isaiah 24:16 from The Message). So how can we negotiate our way through the roller coaster that many of us know as the Christmas season? We can do that by acknowledging the role the season of Advent plays in our spiritual lives. You see Advent is the season leading up to Christmas that helps us prepare for the coming of the Christ-child on Christmas Day. It’s a time that creates room for us to acknowledge both the joyous times of anticipation as well as the darker times when we come to terms with the hard work that needs to be done in order to create room in our hearts for the coming Christ-child. In other words, Advent helps us see the ups-and-downs of the season not as a frivolous roller coaster of emotions, but rather as an essential process of house-cleaning that will make our experience of Christmas much more meaningful. This Advent season may we come to peace with the fullness of our emotional and spiritual responses and see those responses for what they are: necessarily parts of the process we go through in order to receive the Christ-child. Til next time…
This Black Friday marks the official (or should I say commercial) beginning to the Christmas shopping season. For many, it is a day of celebration as millions of Americans will spend time reveling in joy as they bask in the warmth of family, friends, and fun. In many ways the spirit of the day reminds me of the mood captured in the first three verses of today’s reading from Isaiah. But not everyone experiences the kick off to the Christmas season in quite the same way. Study after study shows the increase in the rates of both incidents of depression and suicide attempts during the holidays. This feeling was also captured in today’s passage from Isaiah as the prophet responded to the joyous opening words by saying, “That’s all well and good for somebody, but all I can see is doom, doom, and more doom” (Isaiah 24:16 from The Message). So how can we negotiate our way through the roller coaster that many of us know as the Christmas season? We can do that by acknowledging the role the season of Advent plays in our spiritual lives. You see Advent is the season leading up to Christmas that helps us prepare for the coming of the Christ-child on Christmas Day. It’s a time that creates room for us to acknowledge both the joyous times of anticipation as well as the darker times when we come to terms with the hard work that needs to be done in order to create room in our hearts for the coming Christ-child. In other words, Advent helps us see the ups-and-downs of the season not as a frivolous roller coaster of emotions, but rather as an essential process of house-cleaning that will make our experience of Christmas much more meaningful. This Advent season may we come to peace with the fullness of our emotional and spiritual responses and see those responses for what they are: necessarily parts of the process we go through in order to receive the Christ-child. Til next time…
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