How do you wake up? Are you one of those people who pop out of bed as soon as your eyes open?
Or – are you a “snoozer?” You hit the snooze button OVER AND OVER until it is the inevitable.
And when do you wake up on Christmas?
As a small child, I’d be so excited for the presents (still am – love a good gift – ha!), I’d get up at 3 am and go in to see what Santa bought.
That deeply frustrated my parents. So they talked with Santa and Santa proceeded to wrap every gift from then on.
So, my next plan was to gently unwrap the gifts but tape them back. I’d unwrap JUST ENOUGH so I could see what was there!
That also brought a deep level of frustration. And some scolding. From then on, I’d just lay next to the tree until they decided to wake up. If it took too long, I learned to make a lot of noise. 🙂 (the joys of being an only child)
We all have different ways of waking up. On this day, however, I’d like us to think about waking up in terms of Christmas.
In the first 1,200 years of Christianity, the most prominent special focus (known as a “feast”) was Easter—the celebration of Christ’s resurrection. Around 1200, Francis of Assisi entered the scene with a new perspective. He believed we didn’t need to wait for God to love us through the cross and resurrection. Instead, Francis emphasized that God had loved us from the very beginning, a love demonstrated by becoming incarnate (in the flesh) in Jesus.
Francis popularized the great Christian feast of Christmas. Yes, we’ve veered a lot from what it was originally intended to be, but at its root, the celebration and its meaning remain the same. We simply call it “Christmas.”
St. Francis was so passionate about Christmas that, despite the Franciscan order’s deep emphasis on fasting, he declared that on Christmas:
“I want even the walls to eat meat. Every tree should be decorated with lights to show that light in its true nature.”
And here we are . . . 800 years later.
The season of Advent is about waiting. Waiting for the arrival of Christ.
But if God has already come to us, what are we waiting for?
Think about this for a second . . . What if it isn’t about waiting but about awakening?
What if we awaken to what is already in our midst?
Fr. Richard Rohr says:
“Advent is a coming to a new consciousness of God. God, already loving us into something new, something more whole, means we are not, in a sense, waiting for what is not there. Instead, we are attending to what already is.”
So maybe Advent is God waiting for us.
Waiting for us to “wake up.”
Jesus is alive in our midst.
“What if we’re asleep in the manger—not Jesus! Jesus is alive in our midst. What if we’re in the manger, and God is already awakened in our midst, but we’re so unconsciously asleep that God is looking for someone to get up and help bring the gifts into the world?” (Rohr, “What are We Waiting For?”)
So today . . . just a few days before Christmas, let’s wake up! Let’s wake up to what God is doing in us and seeking to become in us.
Wake up.
Grace and Peace,
Andrea