The first candle of Advent
`Hanukking’ Christmas'
(Rededicating
Christmas)
November 27, 2011, 1st Sunday of Advent
First reading from Isaiah
Oh, that you LORD would tear open the heavens and come down! The mountains would see you and shake with fear. They would tremble like water boiling over a hot fire. Come and reveal your power to your enemies, and make the nations tremble at your presence! There was a time when you came and did terrifying things that we did not expect; the mountains saw you and shook with fear. No one has ever seen or heard of a God like you, who does such deeds for those who put their hope in him. You LORD are our father. We are like clay, and you are like the potter.
The word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
Alleluia,
alleluia.
A reading
from the holy Gospel according to Mark
Glory to you, Lord.
Jesus said to his disciples: “Be watchful! Be alert! You do not
know when the time will come. It is like a man traveling abroad. He leaves home
and places his servants in charge, each with his own work, and orders the
gatekeeper to be on the watch.
Watch therefore; you do not know when the Lord of the house is coming, whether
in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or in the morning. May he not
come suddenly and find you sleeping. What I say to
you, I say to all: Watch!”The Gospel of the Lord.
Praise to you, Lord
Jesus Christ.
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Introduction
New Year’s Day in the Church
Today we liturgically
exit Ordinary Time and enter into the Extraordinary Time of Advent in
preparation for Christmas 2011. Today is New Year’s Day in the Church. Today we
go from liturgical cycle A to cycle B which
takes the gospel readings from Evangelist Mark. Today we also change the color
of the liturgical vestments from the green of Ordinary Time to purple – the
liturgical color for penance.Skipping the penitential aspect of Advent
Hanukkah derailed
The ancient Jewish scholar Johannes Buxtorf II (1599-1664) scolds the Jewish community for having derailed Hanukkah from its original story and inspiration. He berates his fellow-Jews for being mired down in superstition and petty minutiae in their observance of The Feast of Lights. In Synagoga Judaica, chapter 23, Buxtorf writes,
They celebrate Hanukkah today more by eating, drinking and having fun than by giving thanks to God for their victory over the enemy. They prepare a seven branch candlestick and then light one light each day until the eighth night. The candles are not allowed to burn all night long. While they are burning no one is allowed to do any work in the house. The menorah itself must stand on the right side of the door, not less than ten paces from the ground, and not higher than twenty. And they often hold subtle and futile discussions about how long the lights should burn, who should light them, whether or not it is permitted to light one light with the other, and similar things. In their observance of their Feast of Lights they are so fussy about the outer light, but they are not concerned about the great darkness which abides in their hearts!
Christmas derailed
Like Hanukkah,
Christmas too has been derailed from its original story and inspiration, and Buxtorf
would also scold Christians as he scolded his Jewish brethren:
They turn the season
into an orgy of busyness. They
are busy decorating everything with a million lights for their Feast of Lights. They are busy
with parties they have to host or attend, with Christmas cards they have to
write or answer, and with shopping sprees for gifts they very much want to give
themselves, or feel they have to give others. They are busy with trips they want
to make, and with visitors to whom they have to show hospitality. They are busy
hurrying and scurrying here and there and everywhere, except to the stable
where they would find “the reason for the season.” And at the end of the day,
they’re glad when their busy Christmas season is over, and they can get back to
`normal,’ and breathe a breath of relief.
Christmas derailed at Walmart & Target
On one “Black Friday”
Christmas was, indeed, derailed at a Walmart Store. On November 21, 2005, a
crowd of 300 shoppers outside a Walmart Supercenter in Ekton, Md., was waiting
in “joyful expectation” of getting their hands on a new video Game-player which
retailed at “only” 399 dollars. Some had kept a long vigil of 12 hours outside the
Supercenter. When a night manager improvised rules and said the Game-player
would be sold on a first-come, first-served basis (instead of using a number-system
agreed on by the public) all hell broke loose, and a stampede ensued. It took
more than 10 policemen to restore order. Later a store official was happy to announce
that “No one had been crushed to death.” Someone epitomized the
whole scene as “Black Friday and Oink, Oink, Oink!”On another Black Friday 2008 Christmas was again derailed at a Walmart Store, and someone had, indeed, “been crushed to death!” A frenzied mob of shoppers broke down the doors of a Walmart on Long Island, knocking several employees to the ground, and sending others running for their lives to avoid the horde. When the madness ended, a temporary employee (34-year-old Jdimytai Damour) was dead and four shoppers, including a woman eight-months-pregnant, were injured.
In 2004 Christmas was derailed at Target Stores, when the chain announced its intention to ban the Salvation Army’s kettles and bell-ringing at its stores. A spokeswoman for Target notified the Army of its decision, saying, “We have decided to adopt this policy in order to ensure a distraction-free shopping environment at Christmas.”
What mumbo-jumbo! By “a distraction-free
shopping environment at Christmas” did she mean an environment that wouldn’t
distract us and our kids from the hot pursuit of ourselves and our self-centered
wants? Did she mean an environment that wouldn’t distract us with uncomfortable
reminders of other people who (through no fault of their own) are much less
fortunate than ourselves?
Dickens’s
Christmas Carol – a social commentary
Target’s
“distraction-free shopping environment at Christmas” calls to mind Charles
Dickens’s Christmas Carol, which is a
social commentary about how a nation feels and speaks about its less fortunate
people and its Tiny Tims. One day two solicitors come into old Scrooge’s office
trying to distract him from his savage self-containment and capitalistic
spirit. One of them addressed Scrooge:At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge, it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and the destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundred of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.
When Scrooge cynically asks “Are there no prisons or workhouses to take care of such people?” the gentleman answers,
Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude, a few of us are endeavoring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time because it is a time of all other times when Want is keenly felt and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?
When Scrooge replies “Nothing!” and the gentleman asks whether by `nothing’ he means he “wishes to be anonymous,” Scrooge replies: ”I wish to be left alone!” Scrooge wishes to be left alone like those Target patrons who wanted to be left alone – “free of any distraction,” as they go in hot pursuit of themselves.
Thanksgiving & Christmas
right on track
A long email received a few days ago reads:
Late last night, I received a frantic call from my elderly mother whose furnace wouldn't turn on. It was in the lower 30's here in Milwaukee. When I offered to pick her up and have her sleep over at my house until the furnace could be fixed, she declined the offer. She said she had plenty of blankets and that she'd be alright. I immediately contacted a friend who works for a heating business. He said he didn't want her to spend the right without heat. So I picked him up with his tools at his house.
At my mom's place it took him two hours to fix her furnace. (A bee’s nest was not allowing the furnace to start.) He also fixed her fireplace. So she can now use that also to help heat her home. She has a fancy thermostat which a Philadelphia lawyer would have had trouble figuring out. So he also patiently walked her through. My mother asked, “How much do I owe you?” and he quickly replied,”Don't worry about it.” (On the side I had told him that I would take care of the bill.) My mom then gave him a turkey for Thanksgiving. When we got into my car, I asked, “How much do I owe you?” He said, “Your mom just gave me a Turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, and then he added, “How about 2 gallons of cider?” 2 measly gallons of cider and nothing more for such a greatly appreciated deed!
At my mom's place it took him two hours to fix her furnace. (A bee’s nest was not allowing the furnace to start.) He also fixed her fireplace. So she can now use that also to help heat her home. She has a fancy thermostat which a Philadelphia lawyer would have had trouble figuring out. So he also patiently walked her through. My mother asked, “How much do I owe you?” and he quickly replied,”Don't worry about it.” (On the side I had told him that I would take care of the bill.) My mom then gave him a turkey for Thanksgiving. When we got into my car, I asked, “How much do I owe you?” He said, “Your mom just gave me a Turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, and then he added, “How about 2 gallons of cider?” 2 measly gallons of cider and nothing more for such a greatly appreciated deed!
After I dropped him off at his home I thought
about when I was a boy and my mom would call the doctor to come to our house
when I was sick. I remember one time my mom (without any cash at the time) asked
the doctor to bill her (his fee was $2.00 or $3.00 for a house-visit), and she
promised to pay him on payday. And I remember also our family doctor once telling
my mom, “Why don't you just make me lunch and we will call it even?” The
kindness which my friend, the repairman, showed my mom last night reminded me
of times long gone by. After school today, I will get him his cider. It was
nice having someone do something so nice for my mom. After last night, I feel
there’s still hope for mankind. Steve
That email nostalgically speaks to us of times long gone by, when Thanksgiving and Christmas were right on track.
A season of both penance and joy
Conclusion
`Hanukking’ Christmas
This isn’t a
crusade against the busyness of the Christmas: the hurrying and scurrying, the
buying and selling, the giving and receiving of gifts. Some of us have outgrown
that crusade of our younger days. We’ve come to realize that many people make a
good substantial part of their income at this festive time of the rolling year.
Nor is this a crusade against the merriment of the season. Let the bells of
Christmas ring. Let the carols of Christmas sing that this is the “happiest
time of the year.” Rather this is a crusade for `hanukking’ Christmas -- for rededicating
Christmas, and bringing it back to its original inspiration: an Infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and
lying in a manger.
