“For a stalk to grow or a flower to open there must be time that cannot be forced; nine months must go by for the birth of a human child; to write a book or compose music often years must be dedicated to patient research … To find the mystery there must be patience, interior purification, silence, waiting…” -Pope John Paul II
Christmas is coming.
Christmas is coming. And it is, in my opinion (though possibly in fact), the most wonderful time of the year.
I realize that as I write this, it has only been 10 hours since I ate turkey on Thanksgiving. But there is more to Thanksgiving’s end than a tryptophan-induced coma. The end of Thanksgiving signifies the beginning of Advent, a liturgical season in which followers of Christ await and prepare for the celebration of His birth.
It is also when all kinds of people lose their freakin’ minds. Sometimes, the holiday mind-loss is voluntary (case in point: shopping on Black Friday.). Other times, people don’t pre-plan to do things that are crazy. They only succumb to the insanity when the voluntarily-crazies cut them off with cars and shopping carts or call them out for paying with checks instead of credit.
And so what happens is, while we go into Advent intending to prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ, we get a little distracted when we have to fight over the last can of pumpkin puree, or to get into and out of parking spots, or with some kid’s angry grandma because she yelled at us when we glanced at the last set of Harry Potter Legos and she thought doing so meant we’d try to take it from her cart.
Not a particularly productive way to spend the season. Also, thankfully, not a necessary way to spend it. There is a moving, rebellious alternative: the Advent Conspiracy. If you haven’t heard of it, take 2 minutes and 39 seconds to watch this:
Feeling free to conspire yet?
From the Advent Conspiracy blog:
1. [AC] was created by three pastors who simply wanted to challenge people to make Christmas personal again. We are asking folks to consider doing four things: Worship Jesus Fully, Consider Spending Less on gifts that are bought out of obligation, Give More relational gifts, and use a little bit of the money you didn’t spend to Love All by helping those in need.
2. No money comes through, to, under, over or around [AC]. We are not an organization. We’re a movement.
3. We really love giving people clean water (did you know the lack of clean water is the number one killer in our world). You should check out Living Water International for more info. That being said, we want you to make this a personal thing between you and God. If you have another organization that you wish to support, go for it!
Happy Advent!
Saying thanks for the things we don’t notice.
Three days until Thanksgiving.
It reminds me, like it always does, to think about the things I’m grateful for and to say thanks for them.
SO EASY. I’m thankful for my family, my dog Rudy, mashed potatoes, my friends, my job, macaroni and cheese, cruise ships, the beach, the fact that I have clothes, grilled cheese sandwiches, school, the freedom to worship God, nachos with cheese, health, a place to live, pillows, blankets, role models and cheese by itself.
All good things. All obvious things. Makes me wonder if there are good things I haven’t noticed.
Have you ever encountered a person who is, in the worst ways, oblivious?
One of the worst oblivious encounters I’ve had happened one afternoon while I drove through the parking lot of a grocery store near my house. In one corner of the lot, there’s a three way stop. Like George Costanza says, “we’re living in a society!”, so when you’re at a three way stop, you and the other drivers take turns. That’s how it works and it works like a charm when respected.
It was not respected on that particular day.
I stopped at the sign and waited for my turn. And just as it was my turn, somebody totally blew one of the other stop signs. This guy, I thought, is about to overtake my turn! In effort to teach him a lesson (usually a bad idea), I took my turn anyway. Naturally, we both slammed on our brakes to avoid a collision. We rolled down our windows.
“HEY!” he shouted while running his stop sign. “YOU’RE RUNNING A STOP SIGN!”
Is. He. KIDDING ME? I am on Candid Camera right now, I thought.
Unfortunately not so. He really was that unaware. If he only knew! My hunch is, that given awareness of what he had missed, he’d be slightly ashamed of himself. He’d probably pay more attention in the future. He’d try harder to notice things that are easily overlooked. He’d admit that some things are only easy to overlook when one is too self absorbed.
Just sayin’. Certainly not sayin’ I’m never that person. Pretty sure we all are sometimes. On an episode of Conan O’Brien’s old show, comedian Louis CK pointed out a place where we are mostly guilty:
airplanes.
“People come back from flights and they tell you their story,” he said. “It’s a horror story. (People say) ‘it was the worst day of my life. We didn’t board for 20 minutes and then they made us sit there on the runway for forty minutes!’ … Oh really? What happened next? Did you fly through the air incredibly? … You’re flying! It’s amazing! … You’re sitting in a chair in the sky.”
But we’re so often quicker to notice instead that the seat “doesn’t go back a lot.”
Thanksgiving, I think, is a good time to look for the good things we don’t notice. It’s a great time to say thanks for them.
Stepping away from social media.
I quit MySpace in 2006. I stopped texting in 2007. I deactivated my Facebook account in January. And in keeping with tradition and conviction, after a few years in its bonds, I quit Twitter last week.
My journey into a world sans social media seems to strike nerves, even in strangers.
“Why are you trying to shut yourself out from the world?” -an old friend.
“Facebook is an amazing application to keep in touch with old friends. (You have) some social interaction issues to deal with.” -some stranger.
“It sounds like YOU have the issues, not Facebook … you took it too seriously.” -some other stranger.
“You’re just trying to hide from modern inventions.” -guy I’ve never met.
Forgive my being blunt, but way to miss the point.
Social media is to relationships what fast food is to nutrition. It makes us feel like we’re getting what we need, but compared to what we really need, what we get is insubstantial. For the lonely, the bored, the socially awkward or the socially phobic, it — in the long run — perpetuates what it’s supposed to alleviate. It teaches us to value the reaction to what we express more than we value the opportunity to express it. It casts the vote for convenience, further supressing the ability to wait.
It enables us to avoid. It creates an illusion of busy-ness. It distracts us. And I don’t want the use of it to play a big role in my life.
I don’t disagree, though, that social media has benefits. Even I’ve reaped them. I have friends I wouldn’t have without social media. I’ve scored interviews solely because of it. But I can make friends and score interviews without it, too.
I very well may be a neo-luddite. And maybe that means my life will be only more complex for opting out of all extra ways to communicate and my friends won’t be my friends anymore because it’s too much work. Maybe I’ll never be invited to another party because Facebook will monopolize the invitation industry and I’ll be single forever because meeting people like our parents met people is officially passé. Maybe stepping away from social media is condemnation to a life inside a hermitage, a life out of the loop. Maybe the stranger is right: I am the one who takes it all too seriously.
Maybe.
But I doubt it.
One day, I realized how unimportant these loops are. Why do I need to be in them? How do they help me to more wholly live my life? Why do I need to know what TV show so-and-so is watching? How much better is my life for knowing that lead vox in a band at a bar in Ybor just spilled his beer on the stage? Why, when people spend more time uploading photos from a party than fully being present at the party and sleep with their cell phones and read and respond to text messages from behind the steering wheels of moving motor vehicles, am I the one who takes this stuff too seriously?
I understand, though, why it strikes a nerve. And I appreciate the reasons some choose to stay. But for me, stepping away from social media, so far, is like liberation. And I look forward to learning what life really looks like without it.
My prayer for you. Yes, you!
A Four-fold Franciscan Blessing
May God bless you with a restless discomfort about easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships, so that you may seek truth boldly and love deep within your heart.
May God bless you with holy anger at injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people, so that you may tirelessly work for justice, freedom, and peace among all people.
May God bless you with the gift of tears to shed with those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, or the loss of all that they cherish, so that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and transform their pain into joy.
May God bless you with enough foolishness to believe that you really can make a difference in this world, so that you are able, with God’s grace, to do what others claim cannot be done.
And the blessing of God the Supreme Majesty and our Creator, Jesus Christ the Incarnate Word who is our brother and Saviour, and the Holy Spirit, our Advocate and Guide, be with you and remain with you, this day and forevermore.
Amen.