Don’t rush into Christmas so that you miss Advent
Frederick Buechner said:
In the silence of a midwinter dusk, there is a sound so faint that for all you can tell it may be only the sound of the silence itself. You hold your breath to listen. You are aware of the beating of your heart. The extraordinary thing that is about to happen is matched only by the extraordinary moment just before it happens. Advent is the name of that moment.
This is the magical time of year when we go in, quietly meditating, watching and waiting for magic, for light, for the extraordinary.
In my personal faith tradition, this is the time when Christians meditate on the birth of Jesus, on the coming of God to bring light to the dark. But it’s no accident that the early church chose December in which to metaphorically bring Jesus to life. All northern hemisphere faith traditions are celebrating bringing light into darkness right now.
On the Welsh island of Anglesey, known in the Celtic as Ynys Mon, ancient Druids erected a burial mound, Bryn Celli Ddu, that points to the solstice close to 5000 years ago.
Other ancient mounds have been found throughout Scotland and Ireland, point to the Summer or Winter Solstices, when the sky is at the highest or lowest point in the horizon.
The Jewish tradition has an entire Festival of Lights at this time of year. And the ancient religion of Mithraism, which was an early competitor to Christianity (Mithras was also born on December 25), and the ancient Phoenician calendar lists a gives a festival of “Natalis Invicti” on 25 December. The Hellenistic faith celebrated Dies Natalis Solis Invicti (Birthday of the Unconquerable Sun) on December 25th, in dedication to King Helios. It is a feast day observed as the point when the sun renews itself, the cold winter is defeated, and the sun is reborn once again.
There is magic at this time of year, in the darkness before the light, in the quiet meditation before the celebration. Soon the light will come back. The sun will return, and the days will grow longer, a few moments at a time. But now, in these darkest days before the return of the sun, we go inside – metaphorically and physically. Into the warmth of the fireplace, and the quiet of our hearts and spirit, to rest, to meditate, to light candles to light the way for the sun, for the Savior, for the light to find its way back home.
This is the time of year I love the most, and not just because Christmas is coming. This is a time when the traditions take over, the familiar songs and activities come back, and we celebrate the return of the light together. This year more than any other in our memories, we’ve had to be indoors and quiet, alone in forced meditation. But these last few weeks leading into deep midwinter are a time to embrace it, to welcome it, and to trust that the light is returning.
