FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2021 ANTICIPATION / ADVENT/ LOVE WINS

 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2021 ANTICIPATION / ADVENT/ LOVE WINS

According to Christian Traditions, the four weeks before Christmas is “Advent”.

For many Christians unfamiliar with the liturgical year, there may be some confusion surrounding the meaning of the Advent season. Some people may know that the Advent season focuses on expectation and think that it serves as an anticipation of Christ’s birth in the season leading up to Christmas. This is part of the story, but there’s more to Advent.

The word “Advent” is derived from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming,” which is a translation of the Greek word parousia. Scholars believe that during the 4th and 5th centuries in Spain and Gaul, Advent was a season of preparation for the baptism of new Christians at the January feast of Epiphany

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Carly Simon sang “Anticipation”

We can never know about the days to come

But we think about them anyway

And I wonder if I'm really with you now

Or just chasing after some finer day.

Anticipation, anticipation

Is making me late

Is keeping me waiting

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As a child, I learned to wait for Christmas.  In our family, we opened gifts on Christmas Day - and waiting until the 25th was sometimes difficult.

[Aside - one year, my Uncle George was visiting on Christmas eve, and he wanted us to open presents on Christmas eve - and persuaded my parents to do that.  That spoiled my Christmas season - it was just “wrong” to open presents on Christmas Evening!!!]

As an adult, I have gotten more into the concept of “It is better to give than receive”.  The best presents don’t come from the store but come from the heart.  As an adult - waiting seems more the norm.

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Love comes from the heart.

The familiar 1 Corinthians 13 (the Love Chapter) says:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.

I’m alone again on Christmas.  I will be spending the day with very special friends and others have invited me to come to enjoy the holidays with them.  I’ll work out a calendar and try to visit with lots of people for Christmas - even those who might not celebrate this season/event.  LOVE WINS.  Let’s celebrate the gift and the giver.  Let’s give of ourselves.  

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For the next few weeks, let’s try to remember those days of waiting.  I think it might be even more so for women as they wait for their baby to arrive.  The back pain from carrying a six-pound baby in their bodies for a long time.  

Women wait for military men to come home from overseas assignments and wars.  That anticipation can be very real.  

But, sometimes we spend too much time waiting - can we also celebrate the gift as well.  As a parent, I celebrated that joy from the long-awaited event. 

Some events use too much hype.  That two-week period after conference champions in professional football leading up to the Super Bowl can be too much hype.  I saw my first store Christmas tree in early September this year - as stores hyped the Christmas shopping season.  

What should be the balance between anticipation, expectation, of advent looking forward to the real event?  

As a professor, there was an anticipation of the first day of classes, as a performer, there was an anticipation of the curtain rising on the stage.  There have been times when the anticipation was more than the realization (like a blowout 45 to 3 Super Bowl game).

For this Holiday Season, let’s try to keep the balance between anticipation and the reality of Christmas - the gift!!!

The image for today's post is "Waiting for Christmas" to love others - but suggests that LOVING others doesn't need to wait!!!

LOVE WINS!!!

Karen