Advent 2019
/Advent season’s greetings to you as we launch this latest edition of “On Further Reflection with Norm Allen” in video, audio and written versions. I am going to offer some thoughts about Advent as we have these twenty-four days in December before Christmas Day. I’m going to be having some questions from a friend of mine who will remain anonymous, which will help the conversation.
I was struck the other day - I thought, “The Apocalypse must be upon us,” because I was going through a Costco magazine, it said that Tim Horton’s has an Advent Calendar, and you can get a whole bunch of Keurig pods - one each day for 24 days in various flavours, and I thought, “Well that is absolutely ridiculous!” And then I saw, if you can believe - for $112,000 U.S., you can enjoy a Tiffany Advent Calendar, and your dream of having the silver-plated harmonica as one of the twenty-four items - may cause your dreams to come true.
It is kind of an odd thing when we think about how much religion is being put outside the public square, that now, in the season of Advent we have every commercial enterprise possible (including $112,000 Advent Calendars from Tiffany’s) that is somehow connecting to this season. This season though, throughout history, has actually been a time of sober reflection, almost like Lent. And it’s a time when one can take time to do some reflecting about life, and God, and the darkness of the world around us.
When I think about Advent, I think about religion…and I think about a candle being lit each week. I’ve been a churchy guy for decades, but I still don’t get it. I just don’t get Advent.
And that’s a pretty common thing. Out of the tribe that I was raised in, Advent - or the church calendar - was not something that we observed. And so, in our circle of friends, there would be people who do some sort of Advent celebration; as you say - light a candle a week in an Advent wreath - have Advent Calendars for their kids, and they get a nice piece of chocolate every morning before they go to school… But I would say I have been on my own voyage of discovery of Advent partly as my participation in church, but more as a personal sort of exploration of my own prayer journey. And as I have become more aware of Advent - certainly the candle-thing with Love, Peace, Joy and Hope being the ingredients - there is also a side to which in my experience this year particularly, accumulating sorrow, and facing that with clarity and hope has been part of my Advent experience. Because this year we have lost friends - dear friends. We have lost friends of friends. We have seen suicides. We have seen all kinds of dark things happening - certainly around the world, there are all sorts of dark things happening politically, socially and economically. And so Advent is not a season where we sort of pretend that Jesus isn’t born yet, and so let’s all gin up some excitement and then we’ll all be surprised on Christmas Day that He arrives; it’s actually a process by which we engage three directions of vision: We look back at the miracle of the idea that God entered time and history in Jesus; we look around and inward, so we look at ourselves and we look around at the world, and we try to see signs of hope, signs of the presence of Jesus; but we also look inward and around to see the brokenness, to see the places in my life that I am not proud of, that need correction and forgiveness, and look around at the places of brokenness where I can be an agent of hope and healing, perhaps. And the third piece, before you ask the next question, is: looking forward to the Second Coming. ‘Advent’ means, essentially, waiting for the arrival of somebody significant. So, Jesus arrived at Bethlehem. He arrives in us in our communities, in our communities of faith, in our relationships, in our private prayer times, in the Word and in Sacrament - but at the same time, we live, believing - and this is where we become… we sort of sound like we are nuttier than a Christmas fruitcake - We believe that Jesus is coming again. And that a lot of the things that have pained us about lack of justice, tragedy - that’s the place that reconciliation of the world to God will ultimately be accomplished. And so, Advent becomes looking back, looking around, and looking forward.
Are there any definitive rules about Advent? You said Love, Peace, Joy and Hope. Do you have to go by the four-part guideline there, or can you substitute those words for Tim Horton’s?
The current practice is the Love, Joy, Peace, Hope candles. In the early church, they had Death - Sin - Judgement - that sort of focus. And so essentially, there has been an evolution of what Advent is about. And to a certain extent, Advent has become almost too - at least for me - it’s become too sunshine-y, when in fact, I believe Advent is a time to look with clarity at the pain and the darkness of the world, my own internal need for forgiveness and development; and so it becomes kind of taking the rose-coloured glasses off, and taking a clear look at the darkness of the world, and recognizing that Jesus entered at a time of darkness - a lot doesn’t seem to have happened in the two thousand years since He came, so we’re still hoping for the future, that somewhere along the line, what He accomplished in His life, death and resurrection will ultimately come to fruition in His Second Coming.
If I actually think that this Advent stuff is more than just what church people do - can you give some tips as to how to do Advent on my own? Or at home?
Well, one of the interesting things that we do each year is that we provide an Advent card - a prayer card. They’re going to go out by snail mail; they will be going out by email at the beginning of the month. And in it, I offer some suggestions for personal prayer practices as we look at Advent. So, for instance this year, I have a little introductory piece where I say: “What this season is about is watchful waiting. The twenty-four days before Christmas Day in many parts of the world are a time of deep reflection and focus on at least three things…” And so, the looking back, looking around, and looking forward ingredients I put there. I suggest we have twenty-four days from December 1 to 25, before the Christmas Day, that we take in some of those days, moments of quiet to reflect on our understanding of Jesus. And so within that I have some prayers and some Scriptures for meditation. Among them, partly to give us focus for the future, is the piece from Revelation where John the revelator has this amazing vision, which I think gives us hope for the future, where he says: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth…” which is what we are working towards and which we believe will happen when Jesus returns. “For the old heaven and the old earth have disappeared, and the sea was also gone, and I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the Throne, saying: ‘Look! God’s home is now among His people!’” And then he goes on to talk about the removal of sorrow and death; and all of the things that we hope for. I also add in this a reference to Paul’s letter to the Romans, where he talks about when we are groaning - and the whole of creation groans. When we understand the pain of the world, we have pain. The apostle Paul says - and it’s something for us to meditate on for us during Advent: “The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for, but the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.” It goes on to talk about the love of Christ… And that’s another way for us to connect, and say: “Okay. I’m going to sit just with my groanings, and know that God, somehow, is listening to me.”
But I also have a meditative piece in here, where, years ago, one of the most significant meditative experiences I had in the early days of Touchstone, a friend of ours John McLaughlin - we were out on a boat on Lake Joseph, and he was going to put us through a silent meditation. We were eight of us in this boat in the middle of Lake Joe, and he wanted us to sit for half an hour and just quietly in our minds, say the word, ‘Maranatha’ - “Come, Lord Jesus.” And so, we sat - guys who were all Type A, high drive, bankers, lawyers, judges - we sat in silence on the Lake, and drifted, and quietly said, ‘Maranatha,’ in our minds. (‘Come, Lord Jesus.’) And there isn’t a guy who was there 25 or 30 years ago, whenever it was, who still doesn’t remember that moment. The power of being able to just quietly say, ‘Maranatha - Come, Lord Jesus,’ - the idea of Advent, both in the past, in the present, and in the future, is part of it. And so I have a meditative outline using that phrase, where we say, “Into our memory of the year gone by and our hopes and dreams for the next - Come, Lord Jesus; to forgive, cleanse, and strengthen our lives - Maranatha; to help us love you with our whole heart, and mind, and soul, and strength - Come Lord Jesus…” And so, it goes on with that kind of - almost like a mantra - so that we sit quietly with it, and just sit with ‘Maranatha.’ But then there may be aspects of ‘As we look to the future, Jesus, when You come back…’ we can somehow just connect to the ongoing story of God’s work with humanity, and Jesus as He came in Bethlehem; as He continues to come to us, in Word, Sacrament, and relationship; and as we live in hope of His future return.
So - that’s the kind of thing that I’m encouraging people to have access to. I have other tools on our website that you can use for meditation, but these happen to be specifically focused on this ADVENT season.
If you are in the church thing…you get that it’s once a week on a Sunday. You show up…they light the candle, do the wreath, and they hit on whatever the topic is. But what are the rules? I want to know what the game is.
Well, I am not a big rules guy. And I have found that rules haven’t been terribly helpful. Because first of all, what we are talking about is trying to have a relationship and an ongoing conversation with God. And so, I happen to use (quite frequently) early mornings to do very specific meditation and journaling. And imagining myself within the story of Jesus’ life - and that sort of thing. But this morning (for whatever reason), I didn’t think it was what I wanted to do, so I am still in relationship with God, but I didn’t have a specific, journaled conversation with Him.
I think we have to first of all understand that what we’re trying to do is, create space for that conversation with God. It’s like conversations with friends: if we never talk to them, we lose touch. And sometimes we have very intense one-on-ones; sometimes, it’s more casual - we’re walking down the street; and I think with all due respect to people who are very rigid about the rules (I think the disciplines are helpful), but the first thing to do is say is that I don’t care about the rules; I care about the relationship with God. If once a week helps you in your ongoing conversation the rest of the week to do something very specific, then that is what you should do. If, as it is in my case, partly my job, I should be doing it more often. That’s part of my work. I’m kind of like a monk-at-large. If I’m not praying, then I am really not doing what I’m supposed to do. And I’m sometimes too large, as a monk.
But I have great prayer times if I’m walking (trying not to be a large monk), and it’s not always necessarily conscious. But as anybody knows, if you go and spend time where you are not occupied by a computer or a screen - and you may be in action, hammering nails, or going for a walk - that it allows the subconscious often, to be able to process things. It can sometimes turn to prayer. If you have done in fact, a little bit of ‘Maranatha’ - type meditating some morning before you go for a run - that can stay with you for the hour that you are running, or whatever you happen to be doing. And so there is – it’s trying to encourage us, not to think so much “Oh, I’ve got to do it every day” - and then when you fail on Day 3, you then are embarrassed, so you don’t go back and do Day 4, so you end up doing nothing. That’s sort of a waste of time. It’s kind of like: Okay, if I really believe in God, and I really believe that Jesus is coming again, I really believe He is present, then being watchful, and being aware of His presence and His action, is a pretty sensible thing to do. Jesus tells untold numbers of parables about people who were watchful.
In one case He says, there is a group of people who were out working in the fields, and they come back in, and the master, sort of the Downton Abbey kind of a guy, says, “Okay - you’ve done your work, now serve me dinner.” And then in another case, He talks about the same kind of Downton Abbey guy, and the staff at his house are watching and waiting for him to return, and they run out on to the cobblestone court way in front of the castle, and they welcome him home, and he all of a sudden says, “Here - why don’t you all sit down, and I am going to put on my apron, and I am going to serve you dinner.” In the first parable, Jesus says - don’t expect big applause for having done your duty: you are just useful servants. On the other hand, be aware that you serve a God who actually cares enough about you to see that you get nourished. All we are trying to do is to put ourselves into position, to be aware of God’s work in the world, and at the same time become nourished in Him so that we can in fact serve the brokenness of the world. What I am advocating for is in a sense: When the church is in its dispersal, we are in the world, doing what the church does wherever it is - whether it’s broadcasting or farming or banking or lawyering, or whatever it is we do - we are conscious of the presence of God in all of those settings. So doing things that nurture the awareness of God becomes a very important part of the process.
Everything I’ve heard would suggest that this is bit of a formula to help you stay present to your relationship with a potential Creator. If it’s one of the main points behind Advent - why are we doing it at the most insane time of the year, that actually has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus?
Well, I think in some ways, it does seem mad, when you can get an Advent Calendar that costs $112,000 U.S., to be trying to do something that reflects the Jesus who came in poverty, in anonymity, and in humility, and great vulnerability - the God who died on a cross, in humility, and weakness, and vulnerability - but the God who will return, one day (as Jesus says - one day it will be like lightening lights up the sky.) And something pretty dramatic is going to happen. I think that in a sense - there is never a perfect time. We don’t get to go to a monastery and be silent, so if the world is at a crazy time of the year, this is a perfect time to say, “Well, I think maybe for my own health and wellness, in the midst of the madness, I am just going to step back from this a few times a week for 15 minutes, and I am going to say, there is something bigger that this is all about, and even with the madness, there is some glimmer (as corrupted as it has become) - there is still some glimmer about…” Well, Advent Calendars - what’s the Advent? Well, somebody important arrived. Who was that? Oh, that was Jesus. Now - I find that all ridiculous, in a way, but there are still hints of the eternal in some of this madness. And so, somehow, getting ourselves to step back for a minute or two, turning off our screens, and saying “Maranatha,” for 10 minutes, quietly to ourselves, or saying, “Come, Lord Jesus,” or saying the eastern prayer, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me,” just reminds me that Jesus came, Jesus continues to be present, and Jesus will come again. So, it’s like the old mantra that we have in the Anglican church: “Christ has lived, Christ has died, Christ will come again.” There is that - “And great is the mystery of faith.” We need to keep staying with that mystery while we are in the madness.
Let’s say you were on the Advent Marketing Team: What’s the Number One Selling Point. For Advent - for you?
I would say at this point in my life, the number one selling point for Advent is that it is a clear way to look at pain. That when the gospel-writer John said that Jesus came into the world: the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And that Light was the light of men; but that darkness did not overcome it. With the accumulating sorrows that I’ve felt this year, and the pain of that - when I look at the world, there are a lot of reasons to be discouraged; I look at the world and there are a lot of reasons to be hopeful. When I look at Advent, it’s a place for me to say: I’m not pretending that the world is perfect. I am recognizing that the world is broken. The Advent of Jesus at His birth in Bethlehem, the ongoing Advent of His arrival in and through us in the world to serve the brokenness of the world, and then spending time in the hope of the Advent of Jesus in His Second Advent - the coming again. So for me, it’s a large way, with realism and honesty, of dealing with the season of light, where it can be so happy-clappy that it makes people want to off themselves. Depression, suicide, and all of that sort of stuff become a part of the season, where in fact the season is the reverse: it’s hope for those who feel like they have no hope. It’s the grace for those who are powerless. It’s the riches for those who have nothing. Yet, we impose, in our cultural practices and manner of celebrating that makes people feel that if they don’t live up to the expectations of this fancy picture, that they are losers. Or the classic picture of the poor kid on the street, looking in at the rich people inside the dining room, all eating and drinking in abundance, and he’s out there with no shoes and no food. I think this allows us to look clearly at the needs of the world, and our own needs, and then to be called in a sense, to continue to serve the humble Jesus who came to us in His humility, and in Bethlehem.
And I would just say as a final thing - I’ve got a brief piece in our little Prayer Guide that will be coming out, and it’s a lovely poem by a guy named Christopher Fry, where he says these two brief verses:
The darkest time of the year,
The poorest place in town,
Cold, and a taste of fear,
Man and woman alone
What can we hope for here?
More light than we can learn
More wealth than we can treasure
More love than we can earn
More peace than we can measure
Because one Child is born.
May the peace of that Child, who continues to dwell in us, and Who will return with power and majesty one day, be your peace, hope, love, and joy in this season of Advent.
Advent season’s greetings to you as we launch this latest edition of “On Further Reflection with Norm Allen” in video, audio and written versions. I am going to offer some thoughts about Advent as we have these twenty-four days in December before Christmas Day. I’m going to be having some questions from a friend of mine who will remain anonymous, which will help the conversation.
