Spiritual Seasons: Advent w/ Hannah Sorota

Enjoy this guest post from Hannah Sorota!

The church now enters Advent: our season of expectation. It is another season that teaches us about waiting. It is a season of anticipation and hope, in which we long for the coming of Christ.

Be honest. Is that what’s on your mind right now?

Are you excited for this season, looking forward to Christmas, but feeling pressured by your to-do list? Are you hassled because the days have started passing too quickly for you to get it all done in time? Annoyed because you’ll be spending time with extended family members who stress you out? Already tired of the Christmas music playing everywhere? Cynical of the culture’s materialism – and then unhappy because you see it in your own kids, and even more in yourself?

We all love Christmas, but most people are weary of the madness by December 26th. We all have that madness in our lives this season of the year: another get-together, your son’s band concert, your daughter’s dance recital, your husband’s company party and the church ladies’ Christmas Tea; decorating the house, putting up the lights, shopping for deals, traveling, hosting the open house, finding those stocking stuffers; the family coming to visit, more presents to wrap, more presents to buy, more baking to do. Always MORE!


Then it’s over. You’re cleaning up what remains of that madness and you realize you never actually sat down for any quiet time in which you worshiped the King. Your life was already full of things to do. Christmas launches even more stress, urgency and busyness into it. We fall into this trap every year as we let our (or others’) calendars run our lives and allow our activities and the marketplace to control our mood and enthusiasm level.

Do we really know why we are doing this? Sometimes, it’s hard to actually hear that question over the commercials and the sleigh bells. 

A few years ago, the marketing and the constant hype overwhelmed me more intensely than usual. I went to church on Christmas Eve and even the church service felt contrived. Each of us, all over the country, seemed to be squeezing this candle-lit hour of quiet music and prayer in between last-minute wrapping and the family party. How fake we are, I thought.

A friend of mine in high school once told me, “Christmas is not really a big holiday for us. It’s mostly about family, and love, and being together.” What an anti-baby-Jesus comment, I thought. And they call themselves Christians!

It took me another fifteen years to understand.

Unlike the Jewish Passover or our celebration of Holy Communion, Christmas is not a biblically mandated celebration – we all know about Christmas history and Church history and how this is a reformed-and-repackaged pagan holiday. This day of remembering Christ’s birth – His first advent – has become a feast day, as the Catholic Church calls it, which is about family and being
together. Not in a secular, tolerant, “winter holiday” kind of way, but the way in which we make it a special point to treat each other with Christ’s love.

Are we doing THAT?

We think of the manger affectionately and read the narrative in the book of Luke, but seldom do we contemplate those details any other time of the year. Anyone preaching a sermon on the nativity seems off-time unless he does so in December.

We need to understand Christ’s birth in the light of our daily lives – year round. His birth and His life are a lesson in obedience, humility, suffering, sacrifice, God’s love. The Church remembers the rest of the Salvation message every day, but the account of Jesus’ birth helps us understand just how much like the least of society He became.  What hypocrites we are to remember Christ’s birth on only one arbitrary day in December.

“I hate, I despise your feasts,” God spoke to the Israelites; “and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer Me your burnt offerings… I will not look upon them… Take away from Me the noise of your songs… But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (Amos 5:21-24). 

Israel’s injustice to the poor among them had caused God to reject their sacrifices and artificial praise. What injustice do we practice daily, even unthinkingly, to those around us? Do we think about the poor when the Salvation Army bell isn’t ringing? Are we allowing injustice in our lives, not just to the physically and financially poor, but to the poor in spirit, and to the lonely, and to the family members we profess to love?

Observe your own heart on this feast day: what does God see in it?

We continue to celebrate Christmas and Jesus’ humble birth, not because God has commanded us to do so, but because we praise Him for His unfathomable gift of grace – this gift of His Son who makes it possible for us to become the adopted children of God. We praise Him for this gift of His Son, who makes it possible for us to join Him in heaven with His Father.

Christmas in the marketplace feels ludicrous in light of the immeasurable glory of heaven. We can’t even imagine it. We can’t even try to imagine it.

I sometimes laugh at the people who make war against stores that no longer say “Merry Christmas” – as if this were a phrase in the Bible. What difference does it make if someone says “Merry Christmas,” whether they actually wish it for you or not? There is very little of Christ in Christmas as the world observes it.

Mainstream Americans keep Christ out of their lives in general, not just at Christmas. The words “Merry Christmas” shouldn’t be a greater concern than the very real problem of living without the Lord.

This is what takes us to the core of the matter. Am I any better? Am I living with the Lord? Do I act like it? Speak like it? Think like it?

Sometimes I do, but not always. Most of the time, I see my own pride, selfishness, sarcasm, judgment, laziness, criticism, and idolatry. The truth about Christmas makes me realize the glaring sin of myself.

How will your Advent and Christmas this year be different from those in your past and from those yet to come? Let this Advent affect the season of life you experience at this moment.  

Whether yours is a season of waiting, simplicity, passion, parenting, shepherding, sorrow, or rejoicing, you have the opportunity to use each day as a gift from God – the opportunity to refine our character, strengthen your faith, love others when they are unlovable, enjoy the beauty of life, and rest in the joy of His love for you.

There will always be tasks to do, no matter the season of the year, no matter the season of life. Aim to live each moment as an expression of Christ’s love for you and for others. As our Advent expectation begins, we remember His first coming. Let us also use it to prepare for His second coming, in which we will join Him in glory for eternity.