by Julie K. Aageson

As we look forward to Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, many of us long for ways to clarify, re–interpret, and celebrate the deeper meaning of these three distinct seasons of the Christmas cycle. Perhaps at no other time do we experience so intensely the weight of expectations and traditions, the clash of secular and sacred in our commerce–driven culture, and our own yearning to celebrate anew Christ’s coming in the birth of Jesus. Among the treasures and contradictions of our experience of these seasons, we are looking and longing for the promised Christ, the God who continually breaks into human history offering wholeness and bringing new life.

Advent
Time to Hope
It is Advent. In the northern hemisphere, the sun rises late and low in the southern sky, the days are short and cold, the night is long and dark. All the world waits during this dormant winter season, hoping for new life. How desperately we need Advent! In our fast–moving, instant gratification culture, Advent calls for waiting, for patience. It is something we have come to know as necessary for a new beginning. We yearn for the promise of new life, for light in the darkness, for the source of our life, the promised Christ.

The Lukan texts for Advent describe signs in the sun, moon, and stars, and a palpable sense of fear and foreboding — a world gone awry. Natural disasters are coupled with war and violence. We hear the wilderness cries of John the Baptist reverberating in wildernesses of our own: "Prepare the way! If you have two coats, share with one who has none and whoever has food, do likewise." Into this cacophony of chaotic images and harsh voices comes Advent’s grace: "Wait! Watch! Hope! One is coming who will bring light into this darkness, one who makes all things new." Chaos is neither the final word nor the way we are meant to live. The Advent texts proclaim a world desperately in need of transformation and they promise a God who is with us now and always.

Advent reminds us of our human yearning for God–time, waiting, hoping, longing for God’s coming in human flesh to offer our wounded lives and our wounded world the healing power of resurrection. During these short, dark days, we wait and watch. The lighted Advent wreath is a visual reminder of holy time. It brings light into the darkness, marks the passing of the days, and reminds us that the whole world waits with longing for the coming of God. O come, O come, Emmanuel.

These resources can help us know Advent as a time to hope
> Hasten the Kingdom — Praying the O Antiphons of Advent by Mary Winifred is a compilation of prayers, images, and time for reflection on the meaning of Advent. (Liturgical Press, 1997)

> For Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, Gertrud Mueller Nelson’s book, To Dance with God, describes the rituals, symbols, and ceremony of the Christmas season so that our celebrating can be authentic and revelatory of God’s presence in the coming of Jesus. (Paulist Press, 1986)

Christmas
Grace upon Grace
It is Christmas and God has come to dwell with us! More than anything else, Christmas is the revelation of God’s overwhelming and extravagant love. The generosity of God in Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the fulfillment of our deepest hopes. He is light in our darkness, the embodiment of the mystery of God, full of grace and truth. This incarnation of God in human flesh is the great exchange — God becoming one of us, taking on our humanity in Christ even as we, in all our human–ness, are made "bearers of God." This is Emmanuel! God with us! The kingdom of God here and now! The servant Christ who will embrace death and suffering on our behalf, pouring himself out for the life of the world!

This God who comes to us is Jesus the Christ, peace–maker, pain–bearer, life–giver, the one who establishes justice and loves righteousness. In the grace that is God in Jesus Christ, we are blessed with the immeasurable love of God and invited to bear Christ to the world, to be little Christs — food and drink, hope and healing — for one another.

One Christmas Day several years ago, our family took a turn serving the meal at the local homeless shelter. It wasn’t our typical Christmas dinner but for each of us, it was a poignant reminder of what it means to be food and drink for one another. Christmas always provides opportunities for sharing God’s grace and generosity, for being with one another, for truly bearing Christ to the world.

(From Welcome Home: Scripture, Prayers, and Blessings for the Household: Year of Matthew by Samuel Torvend, Augsburg Fortress, 1995.)

Christmas, grace upon grace! Joy to the world, the Lord has come!

These Resources can help reveal the extravagant love of God in Christ — grace upon grace
> Susan Briehl’s Come, Lord Jesus is a beautiful collection of prayers and meditations for Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. (Augsburg Fortress, 1996)

> "Overwhelming Love of God," a video by Brennan Manning, illustrates the outrageous love of God, a love that leads to action. Manning’s compelling and passionate witness to God’s love is a word of grace to all who view it. (Seraphim Communications, www.seracomm.com, 1997)

> "Behold the Vulnerable God" and "The Spiritual Meaning of Christmas" on John Shea’s Christmas Stories CD explore themes in Matthew and Luke through contemporary and ancient stories. (ACTA Publications, www.actapublications.com, 1992)

Epiphany
Transformation of the World
It is Epiphany, the manifestation of the mystery that the baby born in Bethlehem is indeed God with us! On January 6, we come to Twelfth Night and the Feast of the Epiphany. It’s our final great day for celebrating this mystery. Epiphany is about light, the Light of the world, Jesus the Christ who brings light into darkness, hope and healing to a suffering world. It’s a time for shouting to all the world that the Messiah has come among us, that God, the Christ, is in our midst. It’s a time for proclaiming the Son of Righteousness, the one who calls us to the transforming work of justice and mercy, peacemaking, "Christ–making" so that — again — we ourselves become little Christs in order that a wounded world may know Christ in and through us.

If we can prevail against the customs of our time — taking the calendar of the church year as the lens it’s meant to be — we will celebrate all 12 days of Christmas. Our cultural bent for "jumping the gun" — decorating trees and homes, hosting Christmas parties and holding concerts and pageants in early December — has left us so exhausted that by December 26 or 27, Christmas for us is over. We need look no further than our own neighborhoods, where Christmas trees already lie at curb sides and trash cans overflow with empty boxes and torn wrapping paper.

In many European countries, Epiphany was marked by the custom of blessing the home. It’s a way of inviting God’s presence and acknowledging our homes as God’s home. House blessings, like other rituals, can remind us that the brilliance of the Epiphany star —"God with us" — makes our homes and our hearts places of refuge, havens of peace and goodwill.

In the Epiphany issue of Liturgy: The Journal of the Liturgical Conference (summer 1997), author Jeffrey VanderWilt reminds us, "The Epiphany of Jesus in our lives…suggests that we have seen not just a baby boy, not just a mystical prophet, not a king and certainly not a ‘superstar.’ The Epiphany of our lives is like some sudden ‘de–cloaking’ of the Spirit of the Risen Christ who lurks behind and beneath, over and beside, in and through everything we see and experience — without exception."

The coming of Christ at Christmastime is the very hope of the world that we all long for. The God who made the universe "lurks behind and beneath, over and beside, in and through everything." This Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, may we all be awakened to the true work of this sacred season, the transformation of the world and the reformation of our own hearts. God be with us all!

These resources can help us live the meaning of Epiphany
> Winter: Celebrating the Season in a Christian Home by Peter Mazar transforms the ordinary things of this season into extraordinary signs of God’s presence. (Liturgy Training Publications, 1996)

> A treasury of prayers, reflections, and celebrations, Christ is Coming: Celebrating Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany by Theresa Cotter can give shape and meaning to each of these seasons. (St. Anthony Messenger Press, 1997)

> O Marvelous Exchange: Daily Reflections for Christmas and Epiphany is a small book of meditations by John McIlhone about the mystery of Christ’s incarnation — with light for the question, "what are we to be?" (Liturgical Press, 1991)

Most of the books mentioned in this article can be purchased new or used on–line from www.amazon.com. If a publisher’s Web address is given, the book can be purchased directly from the publisher. Or you can try your local or synodical library. To find a book near you search the WorldCat on Lutheran Woman Today home page.