Advent is the Antidote

I used to say "I hate Christmas"...but that isn't quite true...and honestly, it never was

I went through a really low period in my spiritual life about fifteen years ago, and I was tremendously cynical about almost everything faith related. I wasn't turning my back on the church or anything like that, but I was really wrestling and questioning. In the parlance of today, you might say I was “deconstructing,” but I’d prefer to call it “renovating,” as I think that’s a more accurate depiction. But regardless what you call it, I was at a low point in my faith and I was really struggling.

The Christmas season was especially challenging for me. In fact, I know I went so far as to say I hated Christmas. I was disgusted by all of the commercialism, and tinselly sparklyness, and blaring Christmas carols in the mall, and cheesy decorations, and all the demands and expectations and outright busyness of the season. Taking note of the ridiculous mismatch between what our broader culture says the Christmas season is about (STUFF!) and what I know Christmas is really about (celebrating the birth of Christ--the fullness of God wrapped up in human flesh!) I was disgusted. I was disgusted with how much the church has bought into the cultural message about Christmas. And I was really disgusted with how much I had bought into it as well.

I was angry.

I was fed up.

I was sick of it.

Something had to happen.

Looking back from today’s vantage point, I realize I didn't really hate Christmas, I hated "STUFFmas." Even then, my wife pointed out the really great news: I was feeling so strongly about the whole mess. If I didn't care, my apathy would have been obvious. The fact that I was angry and fed up and sick of it meant I cared deeply about my faith, and how it was being twisted with this commercialized Christmas yuckiness, and that I had to do something about it.

Realizing that I was teaching in a Christian school--with all the expectations of Christmas celebration that come with it!--I knew I had to do something.

I started subversively.

I didn't set up my classroom Christmas décor on the day after Thanksgiving as I normally had in the past. I didn't get my silly little Charlie Brown Christmas tree out of the box. I didn't get out the snowflake window clings. I didn't put up my "Wise Men Still Seek Him" bulletin board. I didn't put out any obvious "Christmassy" decor.

I started reading.

I read the gospel accounts of the birth of Christ.

I read much of the book of Isaiah.

I read from the minor prophets, like Micah and Malachi, who had a lot to say about the promised Messiah.

I read Jeremiah 33, which has become one of my favorite passages in all of Scripture.

I read Genesis, to remember how the story began.

I read Revelation, to remember how the story ends.

I read the Story.

And then I started writing.

It was really the first time I had written something of substance: I wrote a set of Advent devotionals that I used for my homeroom of 7th grade students. I was honest with them about how I was feeling about Christmas, and how I hated all the commercialization and all the busyness and all the "stuff." And I was honest about how it drove me back to the Word. And I shared with my students my reflections about the passages I had read, which had become the devotionals.

Throughout my reading and writing, I realized I was seeking. Really, truly seeking; seeking the King.

And so that became the narrative thread that wove the devotionals together: we were going to focus our attention on seeking the king.

My "Wise Men Still Seek Him" bulletin board may not have gone up that year, but I was personally seeking the King nonetheless. And perhaps more authentically than I had at any of the high moments of my spiritual walk up until that time, I really celebrated Christmas that year. I celebrated out of, and even in spite of my disgust for the commercialism of the Christmas season. I celebrated that I had found the baby in the manger, the Word made flesh, God camping out among us.

Advent is supposed to be a time of longing, of waiting, of yearning for what is to come at Christmas. Maybe that's the real problem. The Christmas season has become--for many of us, anyway--a time of incredible busyness: one more gift to buy, one more present to wrap, one more party to attend, one more goodie to make. What if in this rush to fill up the season leading up to our Christmas celebrations with more "stuff," we are crowding out the whole point of the season?

And so, my epiphany about the advent season: what if we need to get rid of some of the "stuff" so that we can be unburdened as we head out seeking the King? Perhaps a bit more focus on the waiting, the longing, the seeking of Advent could be the antidote to STUFFmas?

In the years since that revelation I have begun to do that more and more--as much as is practicable, as I'm still living in this crazy culture--and I have found much more peace, and much more joy in the Christmas season.

And today, I can say with a full heart that I don't hate Christmas.

And honestly, I never did.

Dave’s Faves

Here are three things I’m totally enjoying, and I hope you might enjoy them too…

Dave’s Fave #1: When Everything is on Fire

At the beginning of my story above, I mentioned the narrative in American Christianity today around deconstruction, and how I prefer thinking of this as “renovation” instead. I wish I had come up with that language myself, but credit where credit is due, it belongs to Brian Zahnd. I read his book When Everything is on Fire: Faith Forged from the Ashes earlier this year, and I keep coming back to it over and over again.

Here is a review I wrote of it for In All Things earlier this year: Rejecting Deconstruction and Welcoming Christian Mysticism. If you’re interested, you can grab a copy from Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/When-Everythings-Fire-Faith-Forged/dp/1514003333/

It’s a thoughtful, pastoral, encouraging read that I would recommend to anyone in a season of wrestling in their faith.

Dave’s Fave #2: Terrible Maps

If you follow me over on Instagram, you’ve maybe seen some of the things I’ve reposted on my stories from Terrible Maps. (If you haven’t, you should follow me over there! @drdavemulder)

Terrible Maps is exactly what it sounds like: terrible maps, usually with a humorous twist. You can follow them yourself on Instagram or Twitter. If you, like me, enjoy geography, I think you’ll love it. And if you, unlike me, have just a passing interest in maps…well, caveat emptor.

Dave’s Fave #3: More Perfect

I listen to a lot of podcasts, and I have fairly eclectic taste in what I listen to. One of my favorites is a spin-off of the time-honored Radiolab, called More Perfect. The focus: the U.S. Supreme Court. That might not sound like the most exciting topic for a podcast to you, but I found it absolutely engrossing, and it helped me understand so much more about an institution that had always felt a little opaque to me—much more so than the legislative or executive branches.

I was sad when they went on hiatus four years ago…but I just heard that a new season is in the works! So you have time to get caught up on the first three seasons before the new episodes start dropping next year. You can catch More Perfect on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and probably in any other podcast app of your choice. I highly recommend it to you!

5 Songs to Listen to This Week

In keeping with the Advent theme this week, I offer a collection of Advent songs. I fear we are so quick to rush on to “Joy to the World” at the beginning of December that we lose the sense of longing and waiting we need (okay…I need) to keep the focus of this season on the coming King. So in that vein, five songs for Advent:

1. “Mvmt I: ‘Rejoice! Rejoice!” - The Oh Hellos - This whole EP is marvelous for Christmas music, but this first movement in particular is more of an Advent-laden medley.

2. “Advent Song” - The Porter’s Gate - The best thing you could do to get into an Advent frame of mind is put in your earbuds, close your eyes, and listen to this one.

3. “So Long, Moses” - Andrew Petereson - This album is glorious, and has multiple Advent songs, but what I particularly love about this one is that Peterson tells most of the Old Testament story that leads to a sense of Advent searching in one six-minute song.

4. “In Like a Lion (Always Winter”) - Relient K - Picking up on the imagery of C. S. Lewis’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (where part of the witch’s curse is that Narnia is plagued with eternal winter with Christmas never coming) Relient K gives us a song full of longing for the Lion of Judah to make his arrival.

5. “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” - Sufjan Stevens - I never thought of this song as an Advent song until I heard this version. Now I can’t think of it as anything but. It might be the perfect song to get you into a “seeking the King” frame of mind.

And, as usual, here’s a playlist of the above for your easy access. I’d love to hear what you think, so give ‘em a listen, and then drop a comment in response!