Thanksgiving is past and the Christmas season has begun.
“’Tis the season to be jolly.”
No thanks.
I appreciate the invitation. The attempt to encourage and uplift, especially when the northern hemisphere is cold and dark. I understand the impulse and it doesn’t work for me.
This time of year is no more a season to be jolly than any other time of year. I choose to feel what I feel. Be present to myself. Trying to be jolly (feel anything I’m not feeling) separates me from myself, and when I am not present to myself, I am not able to be present to you. It doesn’t help me connect with you.
That’s really what so many are seeking during this season. We seek connection.
If I give the perfect gift or prepare the perfect meal, we will feel connected.
If we continue with the same traditions, then we will feel connected.
If we have the same experience we had 3 years ago, we will feel connected like we did then.
Nay.
‘Tis the season to be real.
The perfect gift, the perfect meal, doesn’t exist. Perfection is an illusion, a bill of goods sold us by the marketing department. Even if it were real, it isn’t gifts or food or recreating what was that connects us. It’s people showing up and being available for connection. It’s us each showing up as our holy, messy, contradictory selves and being open to what may be.
As we lead up to the Christmas story, we remember the journey of the holy family:
* Mary, a young teenager, connecting with her body through experiencing her first pregnancy.
* Joseph, a groom, getting help connecting with his values, and choosing to do right by Mary and the child on the way.
* Elizabeth, an old woman, pregnant with her first child, connecting with Mary, her younger relative, sharing wisdom and experience. Two women muddling through together.
* The gospel of Matthew, through the genealogy, reminds us of some difficult and messy family history.
* Through all of this, God moves toward deeper and closer connection with human beings.
Thanksgiving is past and the Advent season has begun.
It is a season of prophecy, visions, mystery, and miracle. It is a time of holy perplexity, of pondering and wonder. We hear messages of hope spoken into bleak circumstances. We tell stories of angels and divine promises. We are called to prepare for the coming of the Divine.
Holy mystery. Who understands any of this? So, we wonder, together. We ponder, together. We bring our whole, messy, holy selves. We seek to be open to what may be – in our lives and in our relationships with friends and family. We muddle through – together.
Rachael