Advent Food for Thought

At our last Monday YAV meeting, we worshiped together and as a part of that, we all read different passages about Advent.

All the passages really struck home and got me thinking about Christmas and all the time leading up to it and what I end up focusing on. I usually end up focusing on making sure I get good Christmas presents, having the decorations up, and all the festivities that go with Christmas... but aren't necessarily in line with the true meaning of Christmas.

It made me think about what Christmas truly means and that is the birth of Jesus Christ which is amazing. The passages brought me back to the reality of Christmas and reminded me that presents and lots of food are not what it is all about.

Here are the passages I really enjoyed:

Christmas Comes
Christmas comes every time we see
God in other persons.
The human and the holy meet in Bethlehem
                  Or in ( Belfast, Baghdad, or Boston)
for Christmas comes like a golden storm on its
way to Jerusalem
determinedly, inevitably.....
Even now  it comes 
       In the face of hatred and warring-
                no atrocity to terrible to stop it,
                no Herod strong enough,
                no hurt deep enough,
                no curse shocking enough,
                no disaster shattering enough.
For someone on earth will see the star,
       someone will hear the angel voices
       someone will know peace and goodwill:
       the Christ will be born. 


The Gift
We were so glad to welcome him
On Christmas Day:
It was like having a new member
Of the family.

He looked so small and helpless,
It made you want to pick him up and cuddle him.
We made promises, of course,
Said we'd make room in our home
Said we'd alter our routines
To fit him in,
Said we'd walk with him 
Each day.

But the novelty
Soon began to wear off.
By New Year,
We mentioned him less often.
Daily chores were less of a thrill,
More of a reluctant duty.
By February he was unwanted,
By March we had abandoned him
Completely.
We should have read the warnings,
We should have counted the cost.
A God is for life.
Not just for Christmas.

-Gerard Kelly 

Holiday Housewife 
Christmas can be celebrated with one $2.00 candle and
    Compassion, but it never is. I won’t put tinsel on the manger
    Or take hawking merchants for angels
    Yet I will bake cookies, buy presents and cards, decorate the house and tree,
    commit the sin of self-exhaustion.
    There is nothing wrong with sentiment or tradition,
    but they are less than the Event.
    I will struggle to remember that Jesus Christ can redeem everyone and everything.
    Even Christmas. 

-Mim Neal


This one is a bit different than the version we read but the same point.

Mary's Dream 
"I had a dream, Joseph.  I don't understand it, not really, but I think it was about a birthday celebration for our Son.  I think that was what it was all about.  The people had been preparing for it for about six weeks.  They had decorated the house and bought new clothes.  They'd gone shopping many times and bought elaborate gifts.  It was peculiar, though, because the presents weren't for our Son...

They gave gifts to each other. Joseph, not to our Son.  I don't think they even knew Him.  They never mentioned His name.  Doesn't it seem odd for people to go to all that trouble to celebrate someone's birthday if they don't know Him.  I had the strangest feeling that if our Son had gone to this celebration He would have been intruding....
....
I'm glad it was only a dream.  How terrible, Joseph, if it had been real.