Advent~A Time of Preparation

Our family is new at this. Yes, we've celebrated Advent for the past several years with various books such as Jotham's Journey, or by creating a Jesse Tree and following those readings, but I don't think we've emphasized the "preparation" part. For this we must be even more intentional, and as my Mountain Man reminded me last night, "anything intentional is hard." We eagerly accomplish most of the tasks you'll see mentioned below, but have been slack in taking time for the "inner housecleaning" that George Grant refers to. So, while we won't be "there" at once, I am thankful for the opportunity to grow in this area and impart to our children even more meaning and understanding of this Yuletide Season. Here are some thoughts about Advent to encourage and inspire you.

"Advent is that period of great anticipatory joy--it is a time of preparation for the celebration of Jesus' arrival in Bethlehem as a helpless infant. In the Western liturgy, Advent begins four Sundays prior to December 25th--the Sunday closest to November 30. (Today is the first day of Advent for 2008!) The annual commemoration of Jesus' birth begins the Christmas cycle of the liturgical year-- a cycle that runs from Christmas Eve to the Sunday after the feast of the Epiphany."

"The four weeks of Advent are often thought of as symbolizing the four different ways that Jesus comes into the world: 1) at His birth as a helpless infant at Bethlehem, 2) at His arrival in the hearts of believers, 3) at His death, and 4) at His arrival on Judgment Day. Because Christmas falls on a different day of the week each year, the fourth week of Advent is never really finished; it is abruptly, joyously, and solemnly abrogated by the annual coming again of Jesus at Christmas."
~from a booklet given to us containing readings for Advent, Twelve Days of Christmas, and Epiphany...complied by various pastors

"Advent is a season of preparation. For centuries Christians have used the month prior to the celebration of Christ's incarnation to ready their hearts and their homes for the great festival. While we moderns tend to do a good bit of bustling about in the crowded hours between Thanksgiving and Christmas--shopping for presents, compiling guests lists, mailing holiday greeting cards, perusing catalogs, decorationg hearth and home, baking favorite confections,a nd getting ready for one party after another--that hardly constitutes the kind of preparation Advent calls for. Indeed, Advent has been a time of quiet introspection, personal examination, and repentance. A time to slow down, to take stock of the things that matter the most, and to do a thorough inner housecleaning. Advent is, as ancient dogma of the Church asserts, a Little Pascha--a time of fasting, prayer, confession, and reconciliation. All the great Advent stories, hymns, customs, and rituals--from the medieval liturgical antiphons and Scrooge's A Christmas Carol to the lighting of the Advent candles and the eating of the Martinmas beef are attuned to this notion: the best way to prepare for the coming of the Lord is to make straight His pathway to our hearts."
~from Christmas Spirit by George Grant and Gregory Wilbur