Stay off a dead-end circle
Go to the spiral instead
By Steve Hall
We begin our year, not with the 1st of January, but with the first Sunday of Advent. It is here that we should make our New Year’s resolutions. Why? Because it is at this moment in time that we resolve to become more Christlike.
Memorial of Saint Ambrose, Bishop and Doctor of the Church
Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26
Matthew 9:35 - 10:1, 5, 6-8
Begin at the beginning!
That’s what I’ve always been told.
Image by Peter H
Today that will be easy because, by the luck of the draw and Lou’s scheduling, last Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent and this is the first week of Advent and I’m giving the reflection. So we’ll consider Advent.
My two oldest sons went to college in California. The elder of the two was generally satisfied and lives there still. The younger felt different. California and its ‘endless summer’ were OK but he really missed the seasonal changes that had been part of his Kansas youth. Such expectations of life are not uncommon. Cycles, changes, repetitions, patterns—they’re always around. Three hundred sixty-five and 1/4 days and we start over again. Twenty-four hours and the sun is rising once more. Spring- then summer, then winter, then fall, then spring again, and we’ve had another birthday. We get up in the morning at whatever regular hour and retire for the night at some regular hour.
We get into habits and as these cycles regularly return we expect certain other things to repeat as well. “I always have pie—not cake—on my birthday.” “Spring Break—time to go skiing.” “Everyone in the family exchanges Christmas gifts.” “It’s the 4th—let’s get fireworks.” These customs and practices we come to rely on.
That’s the norm so here we are today with Advent once again. Will this be the same as every Advent before?
Back around the fourth century the Christian community selected the Roman celebration of the winter solstice—also the feast of the sungod—to be the day to celebrate Jesus’ birth. You might say that they just appropriated it. It was, after all, nine months from the feast of the Annunciation. Some would say that the reverse is true today, citing the necessity of advertising that we should keep Christ in Christmas. The truth is far more serious.
Current practices are somewhat the same as they’ve always been except they’ve been amplified—or maybe I should say supersized. Today you can get Advent Calendars with a variety of themes and even a few with activities. The list is long, so here are just a few: There are ‘Advent’ calendars dedicated to Train Building, Sephora Cosmetics, Lego, the movie Wicked. There are Toy Calendars, Cookie Calendars, Gnome Calendars. There are Advent Calendars with themes of crystals, perfumes, and rocks. Puzzle Calendars, Grinch Calendars and this year even a Halloween Advent Calendar. Did someone say appropriated?
Along with all this we get a name change. It’s winter—not Christmas—decorations. It’s seasonal—not Christmas—festivities. It’s a winter—not Christmas—break. It’s holiday—not Christmas—gift exchange. Etc., etc., etc. These things we sort of expect given the cultural emphasis on consumerism. But there’s something less obvious and more important. You see it throughout the year. Why? Because it’s more effective to market to a specific segment. You’ll see it in any consumer oriented business. First we have Halloween, then abruptly everything is Thanksgiving. But Thanksgiving is short and then it all becomes Christmas. We could continue the pattern through New Years, Valentine’s Day, Easter, and so on.
This compartmentalization for commercial purposes may serve business interests well but it segments our lives and misses the vision of the whole which is the vision of Christianity.
The cycle of our faith begins with the anticipation of the Messiah, culminating in the celebration of his coming on Christmas Day. But it doesn’t end there. Recalling the presentation of the Christ child in the temple, his early years as he engages in discussion in his Father’s house, and his Baptism by the Prophet John quickly follow. From there we are directed to Jesus ministry and his proclamation of the Kingdom. And that, of course is followed by his crucifixion and three days later his Resurrection. Ascension and Pentecost soon follow and finally we arrive at today—always today—as we strive to imitate him while waiting his return. Then we start again. Why? Why repeat what we have done? Because practice makes perfect and we clearly still need the practice.
There is a building in Rome named for the Roman god Janus. It is not a temple; rather, it is an open enclosure with gates at both ends, for Janus was the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces, each looking in opposite directions. Janus was the god of the Circle of Life. We just go round and round. You might think we’re on a Carousel.
Let me acknowledge here that I’m telling you what you already know. Moreover, while some of it seems rather silly, none seems outright anti-Christian. Parts are even pleasant. But there is a danger that’s easy to overlook. It’s hidden in the compartmentalization we noted before and in the significance of Janus. In fact, the two are not easily separated; but let’s still look at them separately.
Along with so many other things, our faith teaches us to look beyond the now even as we live in it. Consumerized compartments come and go; and they do so at such speed, each with its own hype and clutter, such that it’s easy to forget—set aside—ignore the eternity which is our goal. There’s more than the wondrous things that Christmas brings. There’s more than stepping on that carousel of sequenced celebrations only to reach the end and then start over again.
That brings us to Janus who is the icon for repetition. Supposedly he begins the New Year; but that is a remnant from Roman Culture we would have been wise to discard centuries ago. Janus may represent the beginning and the end but both are on the same Circle of life. And both, while on the circle our essentially meaningless.
As Christians we do not belong on a Circle. We belong on a spiral. Christ is the beginning and end, not Janus; and neither his beginning nor his end are on a circle. So why is it that we may feel that way when Advent comes round again? The answer for that is in the cycle of faith which I mentioned earlier.
We begin our year, not with the 1st of January, but with the first Sunday of Advent. It is here that we should make our New Year’s resolutions. Why? Because it is at this moment in time that we resolve to become more Christlike. We live in the sorrow of purple in our religious celebrations. We remember the failures of our past as did the Israelites of old. We resolve to let Christ live in us in whatever ways we have refused him in the past. In great rejoicing he comes! We celebrate that coming and then, for the next several days—the twelve days of Christmas—we continue our festivities til we arrive at the time when we, the gentiles, are welcomed into his Kingdom. That is the feast of Epiphany.
We continue our journey recalling both the miracles and teachings of his life while simultaneously being mindful of the resolution we made back in those days of Advent. The journey continues. We follow Jesus through the region of Galilee and ultimately to Jerusalem! The cross. The resurrection. And still our journey continues. He stays with us, but only for a time. Then he returns to the Father and, in turn, sends the Spirit to both remind us of our resolution and to assist us in its fulfillment. So, we have days, weeks, months to practice and hopefully accomplish with the Spirit’s assistance, the perfection we were to obtain.
But then . . . It’s Advent and we start again . . . Or so it may seem. If we took our faith resolution seriously we only appear to have returned to the same place on the circle. In fact, with God’s grace, that circle has become a spiral and we have moved an inch or two toward the point where we can say with Paul “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” It is doubtful that we’ve been able to accomplish that with just one round on the spiral. So we come again to Advent. New resolution. A new and enlarged understanding of our faith. A new growth toward perfection.
Don’t be satisfied with living on a dead-end circle. Go to the spiral instead.
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