"Front Page FOCUS" response

In part I would agree with Peter’s secular analysis of Advent. I would not go so far as saying that the last vestiges of Christendom have disappeared but the church does, it seems for a while at least, to have lost the narrative plot of Advent. Before we rehearse the traditional apocalyptic Advent themes of death, judgment, hell and heaven, Christmas has already started in most our local communities, in our high streets and garden centres. In Durham’s Market Place the 2008 Christmas tree was erected before Remembrance Sunday! We do indeed sing the Lord’s song in a strange land. As we step through the wardrobe door we have entered a fantasy world of spiritual amnesia and neglect. For in this land it is already Christmas.

But it is too easy for ministers like me to jump on their hobby horse and enjoy a seasonal rant about the relentless tide of consumerism at this time of the year, desperate as that is. We need to be careful! I too enjoy all things Christmassy in the Advent season - Christmas shopping, the smell of baking Christmas cakes, wrapping presents, selecting cards, the gossip at office parties and preparing new house designs for Christmas. Far from being free of the corrosive values of consumerism, I like everybody else are compromised by them - I guess we are all implicated in the values of our society.

But the church cannot be exempt from Peter’s criticisms either. Some churches have their Christmas tree displayed from the 1st Sunday in Advent, we are reminded of that holy night as carols are sung as the 1st Advent candle is lit. A crib of plastic and pottery wise men greet me in the church vestibule. And all those Christmas church activities, Victorian markets, pantomimes, winter wonderlands, mince pies and mulled wine, Christmas Fairs, all encouraging us to part with our money. Christmas too, it would appear, in some of our churches at least, is in full swing from St. Andrew’s Day onwards. The Advent season forgotten.

The question is then (which Peter I think might be referring to) - is it worth trying to keep Advent at all? Should we just abandon the season and go with the flow? Do we really want to hear sermons about death, judgement, hell and heaven in a society and a church that would rather embrace sweet nostalgic Rutter carols and the warm lullaby atmosphere of a manger? Alas there is not much comfort in the Advent messages of divine judgment from the 8th century prophet Isaiah or the hissing, impatient, relentless radical- desert prophet voice of John the Baptist.

But if we were to persevere with our Advent readings and “keep” the season of Advent we might find the season’s readings about judgement a thankful relief. To hear of God’s impending judgement, frightening and alarming as that might be, is of course, to recognise in ourselves our failings and shortcomings, our ambivalence that often motivates selfish thoughts and actions. Advent in its brief 4 week season offers us a place to come before God as we are, without hiding, without pretence – and to reflect and think about what distracts us from being humane and God-filled as St Paul invites us as well as his Galatian church to become. Advent at its heart, is an invitation to reflect on what we truly need and long for in life. It's a summons to know ourselves.

But I think Advent can offer us more. If we can leave aside for a while John Betjeman’s “ tissued fripperies, the sweet and silly Christmas things, bath salts and inexpensive scent and hideous tie so kindly meant,” Advent I believe invites us to amendment of our lives as the Book of Common Prayer says, to know and discover God in a new way. For when God comes as Judge, he also comes as William William’s hymn Cwm Rhondda has it - as a great Redeemer. Our Advent readings of hope are shot through with the promise of salvation, so that those last things become the first things. The readings and Advent carols, our thoughts of Isaiah and other Old Testament prophets, the Baptist and Mary begin to change our direction and focus, open doors of possibility, offer new goals and values to live by, they give back to our lives dignity and worth, and help our churches in a new more positive direction.

The 19th century Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard talked about ‘the truth by which we live and die'. Advent is a time for doing both, to practise the one and rehearse the other. The church may indeed have lost control of the Advent narrative for a while. But let’s break the mould! Might I suggest we regain control of the powerful themes and images of the Advent season in our own lives and in our churches as we remain wakeful, waiting and praying with joy for the advent of God's kingdom of peace and truth. For the spirit of Advent, as the Welsh poet R S Thomas said in his poem Kneeling, “The meaning is in the waiting.”

Ray Anglesea