First Sunday of Advent

The advent season is upon us, and it is especially meaningful to me this year. My spiritual explorations continue apace. I look forward to the Winter Solstice, and my initiation into the Ordo Sacrae Flamme. I look forward to the lengthening of days, which begins Dec. 21st or so. I look forward to Christmas, and the gnostic meaning of the coming of light. I look forward to a journey to a city that I love, though she is a wounded lady: New Orleans.

And all these things have their advent in this month. This month will prepare me for journeys, initiations, rebirth. It behooves me to have my bags packed, my affairs in order, my work finished before the 21st.

A sermon I found asks the question "Why do we sing Joy to the World at this time of year?" It is the darkest part of the year here in the northern hemisphere. Short, overcast days; long dark nights of enforced homeboundness. Yet this is the time of year we reconnect: with families, with friends, with ourselves. The Holiday cards go out, and rekindle acquanitance we thought lost. We pile into the car and travel to our Parents, our Siblings, our friends. We gather around food and drink, and remind ourselves that yes, it is dark, but yes, the light will come again. And we find the light and joy in our lives, even in the midst of all this darkness.

O Come, O come, Emmanuel.

Comments

sparkwidget said…
I think Christmas time has always been a holiday exactly BECAUSE its such a crappy time of year! Christmas marks the solstice (as well as the birth of Christ) and is the synthesis of thousands of years of solstice traditions. In older times, it was the hardest part of the year, being the coldest time with least sunlight. I sort of consider it a "let's be merry so we don't shoot each other in the dark and cold" time of year. It's on the one hand sort of psychotic, on the other sort of heart-warming!

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