Читать книгу Teach Us to Number Our Days - Barbara Dee Baumgarten - Страница 8

“Mom, when will it be Christmas?”

“In a few weeks, son.”

“Mom, how many days ‘til Christmas?”

Sigh. “Oh, not too many. Twenty-something.”

“Mother! When will it be Christmas?” persisted young Gerhard of Munich, Germany, tugging on his mother’s sleeve.

Exasperated, Mrs. Lang took out a large piece of cardboard and drew twenty-four spaces to mark the days from December 1 to December 24. She added some decorations and placed a sweet in each of the twenty-four spaces. Each day, young Gerhard Lang removed one sweet to mark off the days before Christmas. The calendar successfully alleviated Gerhard’s incessant questions while increasing his excitement and understanding of the passage of time. Each year thereafter, Mrs. Lang made Gerhard a new calendar. Family and friends were intrigued by the homemade calendar and imitated it in their homes. Thus was born the twenty-four-day Advent calendar now mass-produced in assorted formats, shapes, sizes and materials worldwide.

Humankind has, from “time immemorial,” gazed at the heavens and marked time: days by sunrise and sunset, months by the lunar cycle, and years by the solar cycle. Whatever the culture, a lunar or solar calendar was developed to relate the days to months and the months to years. The task was formidable since a year is always more than twelve months but less than thirteen.

Again, from “time immemorial,” religious observances were connected with the cycles of the moon and sun. Christianity set its calendar by adopting and transforming observances from both the Jewish lunar calendar and the pagan solar calendar. The result is a two-cycle liturgical calendar consisting of feasts and holy days. The first cycle depends on the solar calendar and the fixed date of December 25 for the feast of the Nativity; the second hinges on the lunar calendar and the movable date for Easter Day. The Christian church year, in place by the fifth century, is a bit untidy, but its synthesis of Jewish and pagan roots rings true and has endured through the ages. Surely, God has been with humanity since “time immemorial” and prepares the hearts of all people for celebrations of God’s presence. When Jesus came, celebrations of God were illuminated by his life, not abolished.

“As for me and my household, we will Servethe LORD,”

—Joshua 24: 15

The Christian year, determined by the Nativity and Paschal cycles, is as follows:

I. Nativity

A. Advent, a short season of preparation for the coming of Jesus, opens the liturgical year on the fourth Sunday before Christmas.

B. Christmas, which celebrates the humble birth of Jesus, begins on December 25 and lasts for twelve days.

C. Epiphany falls on January 6; its season ranges from four to nine Sundays, depending on the date of Easter Day. It celebrates the manifestation of God-with-us, including the arrival of the Magi, the baptism of Jesus and the Transfiguration (last Sunday after Epiphany).

II. Pascha (Passover; hence, the Easter Season)

A. Lent, a time of penitential preparation for baptism and new birth, opens on Ash Wednesday, forty days (minus the Sundays of Lent)before Easter.

B. Easter Day is the first Sunday after the full moon that occurs on or after March 21. Easter Day is never before March 22 or after April 25. The Easter season, celebrating the Resurrection and Ascension (forty days after Easter Day), lasts for fifty days.

C. Pentecost Day, which falls on the seventh Sunday after Easter, celebrates the coming of the Holy Spirit, enabling the disciples to boldly witness to the risen Christ. The long season of Pentecost, sometimes called ordinary time, begins on the first Sunday after Pentecost, Trinity Sunday, and lasts from twenty-three to twenty-seven Sundays. The concluding Sunday of the liturgical year leads directly into the First Sunday of Advent by recognizing the eternal and cosmic reign of Jesus (Christ the King Sunday).

A liturgical calendar, besides marking time, helps us to deepen our relationship with God by encouraging us to align our days with the life of Christ. This book focuses on the first season of the church year, the brief season of Advent, by developing a liturgical Advent calendar. Unlike the traditional twenty-four-day countdown calendar, this liturgically based Advent calendar follows the actual dates of the church’s Advent season and its variation of days from year to year. Like nature’s year, Advent presents its own challenge to tally its days, since the season varies from twenty-two to twenty-eight days, as shown in the tables on the next page.

The secular calendar too often displaces Advent. As early as Halloween, “Christmas” decorations, music and enticements to buy, buy, buy begin to mask the quiet holiness of vigilance. Caught up in consumerism, we miss the signs of the coming Christ. We walk by them, we stumble over them, we fall into them, and still we do not see or understand who we are in Christ. Instead, we covet the enticing indulgences of commercialism. The Advent calendar teaches us to count our days so that we may gain a wise heart (Psalm 90:12).

The dates for the longest possible Advent season, beginning on November 27.

The dates for the shortest possible Advent season, beginning on December 3.

The anticipation of Advent is a response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The secularization of Christmas has made Advent into a cornucopia of choices and demands. It can be the most harried time of year. We are called by God to live integrated lives with God, humanity and creation. Advent counters the dis-integration of the false life with a pause—to see, hear and watch for the coming of Christ. We let go of anxiety, fears and anger and pursue trust, justice and dependence on God. Within the context of Advent, attention to the gospel can restore us to an integrated life. Through symbolizing the progression of days on the calendar; through listening to the Word; through praying and singing our yearning; through smelling the greens, fasting and helping the stranger, we prepare for Christ’s Advent.

This book is offered as a way to enrich and focus your household observance of Advent. It begins with a historical overview of how the season developed that is followed by a biblical reckoning of Advent themes and persons. The middle section contains the details of Advent: the symbols, persons, traditions and events you may want to include on your calendar. Each symbol has an accompanying scripture verse, description and suggestion. Finally, the last section provides three models for making a personalized calendar to mark the days of Advent. Consider making the junk-mail version once or twice before attempting the felt or quilted version. The final chapter contains the actual symbols for copying, coloring and transferring onto your calendar. (Note: The first year you make one of the cloth versions, you may want to specify coloring the symbol for the day’s activity. At Advent’s close, the symbols will be ready to transfer.)

The book and resultant calendar can be used to facilitate daily prayer and ritual, as well as to contribute to Christian education about the symbols, traditions, personalities and beliefs central to the season of Advent. The origins and meaning of Advent and some Christmas customs are presented, many of which are already popular practices. Yet many of the living traditions inherent to Advent are obscure in meaning, and other practices may be unfamiliar altogether. Learning the meaning of what we do strengthens our experience of Advent and ultimately our relationships with God and one another.

Advent is meant to be a time of introspection and reawakening of our true selves; therefore, setting a daily rhythm for using the calendar is well worth the effort. Just as we consult our secular calendars in preparation for the coming day, opening the Advent calendar and reflecting on a symbol’s meaning provides a foundation to live by daily. The daily practice will equip you in your service to Christ. Take the experience signified by the calendar to the lighting of the candle(s) on the Advent wreath. (An Advent wreath devotional is provided in chapter 4.) Prayers and/or conversation may reflect on how the symbolization of the day impacts its event and your faith. Sometimes the impact may be too subtle to notice. Practice awareness of its influence. The more aware you become, the more manifest the coming of Christ will be in your life.

The goal is to make consistent use of the calendar and the Advent wreath. Days will occur when you are lucky to get the calendar opened, much less enter into any type of ritual! Such is the way of contemporary life. Do not judge yourself when you neglect the calendar or wreath. Simply be aware of your omission and allow this awareness to encourage the following day’s observance. A prayerful, disciplined observance of Advent prepares us for an abundant celebration of Christ’s arrival. Blessed are we who live in homes rich with focused rituals that awaken, condition, and strengthen us to receive Christ and enjoy the fruits of the coming!