I just finished reading my daily Advent devotions from the booklet from our free bin in the narthex, called "Journey Into the Light." That helps put me in the right seasonal mood, as well as lighting a couple of candles in my office plus some cheery music playing on my bookshelf stereo. I've been praying, reflecting on the Advent season, preparing worship services, making worship plans for Christmas Eve. Yes, these are all part of my personal preparations for this most wonderful time of the year. My family has lined up a couple of dinner events, made plans for two big family gatherings, and soon we'll be having our staff pot-luck. Beth and I are making plans for our day together to go off and complete some of our Christmas shopping, so that we buy locally and not just online. And I've done my decorating part too!
I'm not too fancy, and I don't take too much time for it. But I sure do love to put on an ultra-hip collection of Christmas music, then help decorate at home, and even in my church office. I don't have too many things (see my picture) but I do have a couple items that take center stage for awhile. A little wirey Christmas tree with a big star, some lights, a Santa Yoda. Note in that picture that I do have two unusual decorations - John the Baptist and a bobble-head Bumble, the Abominable Snowman from the Rudolph TV show.
It got me to thinking. These two are not really central characters to all the festivities in December, and yet. And yet. They do have some interesting messages that they bring to the season.
Think about it:
LIVING CONDITIONS: Bumble - the wild ice-capped wilderness of the north; John the Baptist - the wild wilderness of the desert.
OUTFIT: Bumble - white fur plus hairless blue lips, hands and feet; John - camel's hair and leather belt.
FOOD: Bumble - anything he can get his claws on, but has a fondness for pork, for some reason; John - honey-dipped grasshoppers.
HAIRYNESS: Well both of them are pretty hairy.
WATER ISSUES: Bumble - can't float and is afraid of water; John - loved the water and wanted to cleanse everybody who came to see him.
SPECIAL SKILL: Bumble - can bounce; John - could straighten out what was crooked, plus smooth over rough places.
MESSAGE: Bumble - at the end, he gets a special job of putting the star on the Christmas Tree, so a rather Christian task, really, of being a light-bearer; John - calls out the brood of vipers, plus insists that everyone start bearing good fruit (see Luke 3).
Don't you find it interesting how the secular and sacred often slam into each other during Advent, much like floating blocks of ice on a lake. They crash, they clatter, they intersect, and end up always impacting our lives in such strange ways that careen back and forth from the holy to the profane; the blessed to the material; the meditative to the raucous. This doesn't have to all be bad though. As we again contemplate the great story of Christ's incarnation, his arrival to earth sure clashed the secular against the sacred, didn't it?
He was born in such a humble way, yet he was the king of our hearts. He arrived in the midst of political turmoil, yet he is the prince of peace. He was a helpless baby, yet frightened Herod, the ruthless local king. And though only a newborn, received the honor and respect and gifts of both blue-collar workers and mighty leaders from society's upper crust.
Our modern Christmas continues to be a crashing, clattering intersection of what we find holy, peaceful, and spiritual over against what we find noisy, commercial, and stressful. That is just the reality for the modern disciple. As for me, I sort of enjoy keeping both of these Christmas-time energies swirling around me. Instead of fighting it, I go with the flow. And in my office, I've got my hairy John the Baptist in constant dialogue with my bobble-headed Bumble, forever facing off on the office shelf. A good reminder for me of how my deep-rooted joy in Christ forever informs the day to day living I experience in this world.
