By Karen Reed

MY DAD is a very efficient man. His idea of prompt is being an hour early.

One Christmas, years ago, after my siblings had married and I had moved to Canada, I joined my parents for the holidays. We had the big Christmas Eve celebration at their place, and the Christmas day meal was going to be held at my sister’s home. It would be just my parents and I on Christmas morning.

To my shock and disgust, when I woke on Christmas day, all the decorations, tree and lights had been removed – and stored for next year!

My early rising father had figured that, since we had already hosted the family gathering, he might as well get a head start on packing up for their departure south the following week. Let’s just say I moved my Christmas morning tradition to my sister’s place after that.

I have teased dad a lot about this since. We are both very pragmatic people, and can easily get focused on tasks over people. But if the practical and the efficient are leading the way in terms of our values, we easily lose a sense of meaning to our lives. Advent celebrates the incarnation of God, which is about helping humanity recover meaning. I’d like to reflect on values to consider during this special season.

Traditions

Traditions are practices which help us affirm our beliefs. They are also markers that link us to history – like having the same food items at special celebrations.

We live in a time when our culture no longer encourages ritual and tradition, to our loss. Traditions can, of course, lose their sense of meaning – becoming empty rituals which move us subtly away from our beliefs instead of renewing them.

One tradition which assists me in connecting my Christmas celebrations to Christ’s incarnation is an Advent wreath. Mine has four purple candles in the circle, and one white Christ pillar candle in the centre.

One candle is lit during my daily devotional time during the first week. An additional candle is lit each week. Because I use tall tapers, the progression of staggered melted candles is obvious, which visually reminds me of the approaching celebration of Christ’s coming.

The theme of readings during advent is focused on preparing for the second coming, while commemorating the first coming of Christ at Christmas. The daily Advent reflections help renew this core belief, which stirs a sense of anticipation and meaning in the midst of the stress and pressure of daily life. Traditions, rooted in meaning, help us live and celebrate well.

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Simplicity

I recently cleaned out my garage. As I went through box after box of stuff, I placed most of the items either in the garbage or the thrift store pile – affirming my intent to not have a life shaped by consumerism. My simple rule was that for an item to be kept, it had to be beautiful, practical or sentimental.

It is amazing how much clutter can accumulate in our lives, both physically and emotionally. It seeps in slowly and quietly. Simplicity is a gift most of us crave in our complex world.

In times past, some have sought simplicity by removing themselves from the noisy culture and retreating into isolation. Simplicity is not a call to separation, but an invitation to live deeply in the midst. It enables the ordinary to become sacred.

Taking regular inventory of our whole lives helps distill the essential. The Christian life is to be a reflective, examined life. When this is neglected, activities can lose their connection to meaning. Jesus embodied simplicity, living with clear purpose. He called us to become like children, with a simple trust infusing every aspect of our day with sacredness.

Advent can be a season when we are reminded to focus on what anchors us and gives our lives meaning.

In the present

I’m a list person. How I’m wired puts me in danger of living primarily in the future – when the lists are completed – defining life merely in terms of accomplishments.

Dr. David Goa, of the University of Alberta, says most of us live toward our nostalgic past or in a fantasy of our future. The call of the incarnated life is to live fully in the present.

It is easy do things mindlessly, especially during Christmas – plowing through our seemingly endless tasks. To live in the present takes practice, concentration and reflection.

It is good to ask ourselves often: am I paying attention to where I am, to what I am doing? The incarnation invites us to live in a way that enables us to be present in every moment of life, aware of Jesus’ presence.

The Advent season enables us to reaffirm and realign values and practices which recover meaning for our lives, directing us to that which is important: loving God by loving our neighbours well. Blessings for a meaningful Advent season!

Karen Reed is associate pastor at Vancouver’s Broadway Church.

November 2007