A Blue Christmas Tree for a Blue Christmas

A Blue Christmas Tree for a Blue Christmas 

December 2, 2012, 1^st Sunday of Advent

Jeremiah 33:14-16     I Thessalonians 3:12 & 4:2     Luke 21:25-33

First reading from Jeremiah

The Lord said, “The time is coming when I will fulfill the promise that I made to the people of Israel and Judah. At that time I will choose as king a righteous descendant of David. He will do what is right and just in the land. The people of Judah and Jerusalem will be rescued and live in safety. The city will be called `The Lord Our Salvation.’"

The word of the Lord

Thanks be to God

Alleluia, alleluia.

A reading from the holy Gospel according to Luke  

Glory to you, Lord

The Coming of the Son of Man

At that time Jesus said to his disciples: ‘There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. People will faint from fear as they wait for what is coming over the whole earth; for the powers in space will be driven from their courses. Then the Son of Man will appear, coming in a cloud with great power and glory[1]. When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.”

Then Jesus told them this parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees. When you see their leaves beginning to appear you know that summer is near. In the same way, when you see these things happening, you will know that the Kingdom of God is near. Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”

 

The Gospel of the Lord

Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ

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Introduction

Advent & Hanukkah

This Sunday, Dec. 2, we liturgically exit Ordinary Time and enter into the Extraordinary Time of Advent in preparation for Christmas 2012. Today is New Years Day in the Church. Today we go from liturgical Cycle B to Cycle C. The gospel readings in Cycle C are from St. Luke. That great evangelist relates our favorite parables: the Parable of the One Lost Sheep (Lk.15: 1-7), the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Lk. 15:11-32, and the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Lk. 10:25-37). Today we also change the color of the liturgical vestments from the green of Ordinary Time to purple – the liturgical color for penance.

 

This Sunday, Dec. 2, the Catholic community will light the first of the four candles on the Advent wreath. Next Sunday, Dec. 9, the Jewish community will light the first of eight candles on their menorahs (their eight-branch candelabra) to begin the celebration of the Feast of Hanukkah – the Feast of Dedication. Hanukkah (which lasts for 8 days) commemorates the eight-day purification and rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem, after the Greek tyrant Antiochus Epiphanes desecrated it in 161 B.C. During Hanukkah Jewish households commemorate the rededication by lighting one candle on the menorah each day for eight days. That gives Hanukkah its other name: The Feast of Lights.

Christmas derailed

Before Vatican II, Advent like Lent was a strictly penitential season; it frowned on all partying, gift-giving and decorating before December 24. In 1969 a revised Roman liturgical calendar characterized Advent as a `season of joyful expectation,’ though not denying its penitential dimension. The revised calendar seemed, however, to give permission to skip the penitential aspect of Advent, and go straightaway to the joy and the fun of Christmas.

 So on the Friday after Thanksgiving, the nation always kicks off the Christmas season with a vengeance. Shopping malls are jammed with people in joyful expectation of a good bargain. That Friday is called Black Friday because retailers are in joyful expectation of a good profit, and of being well into the `black.’ Some retailers, eager to be the first to draw customers, even anticipate Black Friday and open their stores for Christmas shopping on Thanksgiving Day itself!

 On one Black Friday, Christmas was indeed derailed at a Walmart Super-center in Ekton, Md., when a crowd of 300 shoppers was waiting in `joyful expectation’ of getting their clutching hands on an `Xbox 360 Video Game Player,’ retailing at only $399! Some had kept a long vigil of 12 hours outside the Supercenter. When it was announced that the game player would be sold on a first-come-first-served basis (instead of using a number-system first proposed) a stampede ensued. It took more than 10 policemen to restore order. Later, a store official happily announced that no one had been seriously hurt in the melee. The whole scene was epitomized as `Black Friday and Oink, Oink, Oink!’

On another Black Friday Christmas was again derailed at a Walmart Store on Long Island. This time the derailment turned deadly! A frenzied mob of shoppers broke down the doors of the store, knocking several employees to the ground, and sending others running for their lives to avoid the horde. When the madness subsided, a temporary employee (34-year-old Jdimytai Damour) was dead, and four shoppers including a woman eight-months-pregnant were injured.

Buxtorf’s scolding

The ancient Jewish scholar Johannes Buxtorf II (1599-1664) scolded the Jewish community for having derailed Hanukkah from its original story and inspiration: the purification and rededication of their beloved Temple desecrated by a Greek tyrant. Buxtorf berated his fellow-Jews for being mired down in petty minutiae and dark superstitions in their observance of their Feast of Lights.[2] Christmas, like Hanukkah, also becomes derailed from its original story and inspiration: the birth of an Infant in Bethlehem of Judea, wrapped in swaddling cloths, and laid in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn. (Lk. 2:4-7) Buxtorf would also scold Christians for their derailment of Christmas, as he scolded his Jewish brethren for their derailment of Hanukkah.

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“The most wonderful time of the year”

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is a popular Christmas song written in 1963, and sung by pop singer Andy Williams in his first Christmas album:

“It's the most wonderful time of the year.
With the kids jingle belling,
And everyone telling you,
"Be of good cheer,"
It's the most wonderful time of the year.”

 

What makes  Christmas ”the most wonderful time of the year” is a whole host of things: brightly wrapped packages, Christmas trees all alit, holiday parties, upbeat carols in shopping malls, visits from friends and family, baking and cooking, and food everywhere. And to top that all off is the hushed joy of welcoming a tiny Infant into our world and hearts.

But not for everyone

But Christmas is not “the most wonderful time of the year” for everyone. There are many, in fact, who dread the approach of the holiday season. They have absolutely no heart for the cheer and bustle, the anticipation and excitement of the season. In no way whatsoever will you find them standing in front of a Walmart Supercenter in `joyful expectation’ of getting their hands on an Xbox 360 Video Game Player retailing at `only’ $399.

 For some of them are in a financial crisis in these day of a slowly recovering deep recession, and they don’t have money to spend at this `most spending time of the year.’ Others are in a grieving mode because they’ve lost a loved one in the never-ending war in Afghanistan. Or they’re in a grieving mode because they’ve recently lost a beloved spouse of 40 or 50 years. And then there are those who are frightened because they’ve received some very bad news from their doctor. At this time of `the rolling year’ especially, many find themselves in a very sad situation. For them “the most wonderful time of the year” has become the saddest time of the year. When we turn Christmas into an orgy of joy, we exclude all those who for various reasons weep. The season’s heavy expectation of joy is not an easy burden for them to bear. For them the bells of Christmas do not ring; they toll.

Christmas is for everyone.

So there’s a great need to be sensitively aware that many people are hurting at this time of `the rolling year.’ And there’s a great need to help such people cope with the Christmas holidays, which makes them feel very isolated. The inescapable bottom line is that Christmas is for everyone, not just for those for whom it is “the most wonderful time of the year.” Christmas is also, and especially, for those for whom it’s the saddest time of the year.

It’s time to recognize that the typical celebration of Christmas does not meet everyone’s needs. To fill this gap some churches actually offer what is called a Blue Christmas Service. People who for various reasons are not having a very merry Christmas, and friends who support them, are invited to come and sit with one another in a liturgy that speaks of the love of God especially for the grieving, the sad and the lonely.

If that’s not possible for some reason, we can at least try in our own way to be sensitive to those in our midst who are sad, while the world is glad. We can at least try to be sensitive to the fact that while many are dreaming of a white Christmas, a great many others are dreading a Blue Christmas. And we can at least try to be mindful of them, and find creative ways to include them in our celebration of “the most wonderful time of the year.”

The blue ones

The best Christmas cards are the blue ones: pictures of the Infant lying in a manger and warmed by the breath of beasts; or sketches of deer and birds seeking shelter from blizzard blasts under the compassionate arms of evergreen trees. The best Christmas carols are the blue ones: songs about wanting to be home for Christmas but there are too many miles to go; or songs about little poor drummer boys who have nothing to offer but themselves. The best Christmas stories are the blue ones: stories about miserly Scrooge and indigent Bob Cratchit and lame Tiny Tim. The best Christmas trees are the blue ones: they remind us (which we easily forget at this time of `the rolling year’) that Christmas - “the most wonderful time of the year” - is for many the bluest time of the year.

Early & Late Advent

Is Advent a season of penance or of joyful expectation? It can be and should be a season of both. Liturgical language after Vatican II divides Advent into two parts - into Early Advent (the beginning of Advent to Dec. 17), and Late Advent (Dec. 17 to Dec. 24 - also called the Novena of Christmas). Let Early Advent be the penitential part of Advent. Let it be the more prayerful part of Advent. Let it especially be mindful that while many are dreaming of a `White Christmas,’ many also are dreading a `Blue Christmas.’ Let Early Advent be mindful especially of those who feel very excluded by a season that’s declared to be “the most wonderful time of the year.”

 Then let Late Advent be the joyful part of Advent: go to the shopping malls, and let the better spirit of Black Friday take over. Being sensitive to those suffering a `Blue Christmas’ will make a difference in our celebration of the Christmas season. For one thing, we won’t find ourselves in a `Black Friday’ frenzied crowd climbing over the bodies of others to get our hands on a prized but limited gift. Being sensitive to those suffering a `Blue Christmas’ will, strange to say, add a dimension of joy to our Christmas, which wouldn’t leave us when the curtain comes down on the holiday season, and our Xbox 360 Video Game Player retailing at `only’ $399 has either been broken or tossed aside.

Conclusion

A blue Christmas tree glowing just for them

We don’t crusade against the busyness of the Christmas season: the hurrying and scurrying, the buying and selling, the producing and consuming. After all, this is the way a great many people make a living. Nor do we crusade against the joy and merriment of the season; let the bells of Christmas ring and let the carols of Christmas sing that this is “the most wonderful time of the year.” 

But at this time of `the rolling year’ we do crusade for being mindful and sensitive that Christmas is the saddest time of the year for many, and that Christmas is also, and especially, for them. They are having a very blue Christmas, and there’s a blue Christmas tree glowing just for them.

        The first candle lit

          on the Advent wreath

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[1] Daniel 7:13

[2] In Synagoga Judaica, chapter 23.