Advent: Waiting and Preparing

by Kaitlyn Willy, BCC Chaplain’s Apprentice

I’ve been trying to find time to write since I got back from break, but like everyone at Butler, the end of the semester has me swamped. Between all the work I have to do, my community commitments, studying, and trying to finish my 100 book challenge by December 31, I really don’t have time to do much, including Advent. So, I took it as a sign from God at 2:30pm today when I sat down and finally looked at the Advent calendar on busted halo and it gave me this challenge: “Sit down today and finally begin that long-term project you’ve been meaning to start or pick it up again if you’ve stopped working on it.”  (By the way, you should totally check out the calendar! http://bustedhalo.com/features/advent-calendar-2012)

Okay, God, I’ll write the blog article.

Advent. I love Advent. And by that I mean I L-O-V-E Advent. It’s my favorite liturgical season. I get really excited every year on the first Sunday of Advent. We get to light the candles. We get to start a new liturgical year, start a new year in the lectionary. I get to wear LOTS of purple. Advent is THE BEST. My love for Advent is a little ironic; since it’s the season of waiting and waiting might be my single least favorite activity. In spite of my love for this season of lights, I’m not the best at “doing” Advent, at least not from a traditional perspective. I don’t have a Jesse tree in my home. I only rarely remember to open the door on my advent calendar and read the reading for the day (apparently most of you have advent calendars with chocolate? I guess then I’d remember… instead, mine has scripture). We’re four days into the season and I haven’t read a single page of my Advent prayer book for the year because it’s at home and I’m at work and rarely remember to bring it in or to read it at home—and I sincerely doubt I will get much better at remembering. Despite all of that, it’s still my favorite season.

Advent is a season of waiting, yes. But, look at what we’re waiting for! At Advent, we remind ourselves that not only are we soon to celebrate the birthday of our Savior, Christmas, but also that we are anticipating, every moment and every day, the second coming of our Lord, Jesus Christ. Is that exciting, or what?

This week, I had a great experience with the BCC where we invited other faith groups to come for an Advent Information session. Our friends from Hillel who came asked us what this second coming thing was anyways, and we had the opportunity to explain it, or at least to try to explain what we believe about it. As I reminded the BCC students, the idea of the Second Coming is not something to meet with fear, but rather with joy. Christ is coming!! ALLELUIA!! He is coming to take away the things that come between us, to let us be as we were meant to be.

I recently read the book Perelandra by C.S. Lewis. If you haven’t read the space trilogy, you should. Something that Lewis said in this book really struck me and is appropriate to think about as we are experiencing Advent. In Perelandra, the main character, Ransom, is having a conversation with the Queen and King of an unfallen world (aka, Adam and Eve, only an Adam and Eve who withstood the serpent’s temptations and did not give in). They are discussing what we call the end of time. Ransom tries to explain that because the world will change drastically when Christ comes again, we believe it will be the end of the world. Instead of agreeing, the Queen says that it is really the beginning. If we believe that we are a fallen world, that this is not how the world was meant to be, and that when Christ comes the world will be as it was meant to be, then we have to accept that in preparing for Christ’s coming, for the coming of the kingdom, we are not preparing for an end, but rather a new beginning. While we certainly need to take a good look at ourselves and address our sinfulness and repent, the thought of the new beginning should bring us joy and consolation, not fear.

So, Advent is about preparing to welcome Christ into our hearts and preparing for the second coming—big tasks, for sure, but exciting. The next question that our Hillel friends asked us was how do we do this?

Advent is three dimensional, and the part we’ve talked about above covers only two of the dimensions. The third dimension is recognizing that we not only welcome Christ into our hearts and await the second coming, but that to do so and prepare, we must greet Christ in every person we encounter. Every person we meet has a divine soul and is, on some level, a divine being. We are all made in God’s image and likeness. C.S. Lewis says something of this as well:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest most uninteresting person you talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree helping each other to one or the other of these destinations. It is in the light of these overwhelming possibilities, it is with the awe and the circumspection proper to them, that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - These are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit - immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” – C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory

And if we understand this, that these immortal souls who we meet every day are really so extraordinary, then how we treat them must by necessity change from how we act now. In his Rule (Chapter 53—Thanks, Pat, for sharing this), St. Benedict says this of greetings guests:

Let all guests who arrive be received like Christ, for He is going to say, "I came as a guest, and you received Me" (Matt. 25:35). And to all let due honor be shown, especially to the domestics of the faith and to pilgrims.

As soon as a guest is announced, therefore, let the Superior or the brethren meet him

with all charitable service. And first of all let them pray together,and then exchange the kiss of peace. For the kiss of peace should not be offered until after the prayers have been said, on account of the devil's deceptions.

In the salutation of all guests, whether arriving or departing, let all humility be shown. Let the head be bowed or the whole body prostrated on the ground in adoration of Christ, who indeed is received in their persons.

After the guests have been received and taken to prayer, let the Superior or someone appointed by him sit with them. Let the divine law be read before the guest for his edification, and then let all kindness be shown him. The Superior shall break his fast for the sake of a guest, unless it happens to be a principal fast day which may not be violated. The brethren, however, shall observe the customary fasts.

Let the Abbot give the guests water for their hands; and let both Abbot and community wash the feet of all guests. After the washing of the feet let them say this verse: "We have received Your mercy, O God, in the midst of Your temple" (Ps.47[48]:10).

In the reception of the poor and of pilgrims the greatest care and solicitude should be shown, because it is especially in them that Christ is received; for as far as the rich are concerned, the very fear which they inspire wins respect for them.

Now, I know that I cannot kiss or wash the feet of every guest who comes into my house (or every student that comes into my office)—if for no other reason, because they (and, probably, I) would feel very uncomfortable with it. Yet, as I am reminded by Lewis and St. Benedict, I often fail to do more than look up from my work or cooking or book when someone enters my office or my home. I greet them half-heartedly, then, unless something more is needed from me, I go back to my work.

Is that really a way to welcome a human being, made in the image and likeness of God, an immortal soul?

Advent is really a time when we try to remember this in a special way. It is not that we aren’t always supposed to love our neighbor—obviously, that is part of our daily life as Christians, even outside of Advent. The thing about Advent is that it is a reminder of how we should act, how we should love. As I said in my last post, the spirit of Christmas is love. If Advent is the preparation for Christmas and the spirit of Christmas is love, then Advent is a time to practice love—not only for our friends, but for strangers; not only for strangers, but our families and neighbors we don’t like as well as others.

So, during this wonderful season of Advent, I invite you to stand back and look at those around you. Remember Lewis’s reflections and St. Benedict’s Rule. As you wait to welcome Christ into the world at Christmas, lovingly welcome these humans made in the image of Christ into your life. I promise you, these preparations will it make Christmas mean so much more when the waiting is over and we welcome Christ in on December 25.