The celebration of Advent

This past Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent. Advent, for those of you that don't know celebrates the coming of the Messiah and his eventual return.

Advent has always been one of my favorite aspects of the Christmas season. When I was a member of the United Methodist church our congregations would have an Advent wreath that would be lit by the acolyte. There were four candles for the Sundays leading up to Christmas, and one larger candle in the center representing Christ.

We also had a Chrismon tree—a concept originally created by Frances Kipps Spencer, a Lutheran, in 1957—that had Christ-oriented ornaments. Chrismon are ancient symbols of Christianity, like the Pisces and crosses, as well as others. The tree, like most Christmas trees, is an evergreen. It represents eternal life through Christ.

My family created our own Chrismon and an Advent wreath. We've somehow misplaced the wreath, but our tree always has a Chrismon or two on it.

I don't know how many other denominations beside United Methodist and Lutheran use the Chrismon but I always enjoyed it. I'm sure pagans will say that we stole the idea from them, but since God created the tree, it doesn't really matter what either of us think.

Despite what this time of year meant in the past, it has come to be the accepted time for celebrating the birth of Jesus the Christ. However, over the last several years more groups are coming out against public expressions of Christmas, even when the property in question isn't owned by the government.

The interesting thing about all the hubbub is that the majority of the people who protest the most about Christmas celebrations are people of no faith—atheists. Jews, Muslims, Hindus, none of them argue about it. And some even get in on the fun, whether they believe in the spiritual side of it or not. But atheists for some reason have a chip on their shoulder about Christians. I hardly ever hear of some atheist complaining about Eid al-Adha or Hanukkah decorations or celebrations. Admittedly there aren't as many overt displays of Jewish or Muslim celebrations.

However, I think it goes deeper than that. They are more terrified of Christianity than any other religion. It's not the Crusades or the Salem witch hunts. Those were crimes against people of faith and they happened centuries ago. And we have repented of those atrocities, whether anyone accepts that or not. But just as there are, and were, evil people who used the cover of Christianity to commit crimes that Christ abhors, there have been more than enough atheists that have committed crimes against humanity (read: Mao Zedong, Lenin, Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot, etc.). There have also been plenty of pagans that have killed on genocidal scales. For Christians this is simply proof of the fallen nature of man. For the atheist there's always the question: “What drove them to do that?”.

Regardless, Advent is a time of celebration and reflection for Christians just as Hanukkah and Eid al-Adha are for Jews and Muslims, respectively. We should all live with each other, if only for a month or so. There are so many real problems in the world that we don't need to be squashing the holiday season simply because we don't worship the same god, or any god. Take a deep breath and listen to some Christmas songs, light a menorah or watch the sun from Stonehenge on the Solstice.

God bless.