Preparing For Christmas

Shop until you drop. Buy as much as you can… and then some. Spend money you don’t have. Max out the credit card. Buy! Buy! Buy! That seems to be the predominate message of Christmas! Unfortunately, our secular-humanistic culture suggests that expensive presents equate with love and a lot of stuff is the way to happiness, so we spend an enormous amount of time and money during December filling our lives with more stuff. As Orthodox-Catholic Christians, it is important to pause from the shopping to consider the true significance of Advent and to reflect on how we are spiritually preparing for Christmas.

  Advent is the forty day period prior to Nativity during which we prepare ourselves for the coming of the Messiah. The Eastern Church considers Advent as a time of metanoia, a Greek word meaning repentance or change. It is a period of fasting, prayer and participation in the church services and sacraments to help us understand the full meaning of Christ’s coming into the world. Perhaps our change or repentence is to reduce our spending on stuff and to donate the savings to a charity. Maybe we invite someone without family into our home on Christmas Day to join us for dinner. Advent challenges us to identify the unique needs of change specific to our life, in light of Christmas as the birth of our Savior, the incarnation of God, the kingdom of heaven — and it is near and it is here.

December is dubbed by that Christmas favorite, “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” True. Add to that, though, for many it’s the most frenetic and stressful time of the year. Advent calls us to prepare for Christmas by simplifying our lives, pausing to consider its true meaning through spiritual reading, quiet meditation and prayer. Advent counter-culturally reminds us to slow down and simplify!

Advent offers us additional opportunities to prepare for Christmas with worship. Together, one with another, we proclaim in our prayers and our hymns the mystery of the incarnation of God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The season of Advent calls us to intentionally set aside time to worship privately and communally.

How will we spend the remaining few weeks of Advent leading up to Christmas? The Church counsels us to prepare with metanoia (repentance), simplicity and worship.

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