Volume 6, Issue 4, December 1996

THE PARADOXES OF ADVENT

Northrop Frye, well-known Canadian writer and scholar, once said that there is an even more important question than, "Who am I?"It is, "Where is here?" It is important to know your identity. It is important also to know your situation.

Like you I enjoy the poetry of Christmas: the stories of the shepherds, the angels' song, the wise men and the star. But, the advent message must be viewed in the context of the world of reality - in the midst of the struggle of good over evil. The advent meaning is the opposite of sentimentality. It means reality, that the realm of God is within our midst, but threatened by the secular expectations and selfishness.

Advent reminds us of the struggle between good and evil. It confronts us with the challenge can we survive in the struggle against goodness? Here is the true measure of a person and a society. Margaret Atwood has said that Canada's struggle is now for spiritual survival. In Jesus' time it was thought by many that the kingdom of God was at hand. Today we too see the reality of the spiritual struggle between good and evil. The struggles of our time are essentially spiritual struggles - a war of beliefs, ideas, and attitudes. The outcome will decide what kind of persons and society we will be.

Advent further reminds us the struggle is more internal than external. The realm of God calls us to have spiritual imagination and resourcefulness. Secularism may be desirable for selfish economic reasons, but the realm of God cares for the welfare of everyone. This calls for sharing, sacrificing and giving. Our fiscal deficits are majoring over our social responsibilities and needs. Today's politics are revealing what kind of persons we are and reveal what kind of society we ought to be.

The underlying sanity and goodness of the majority in our communities is shown in our increased response to charity and helping others in this time of cruel cut-backs and unemployment.

The battles going on in society are only the larger expressions of the inner battles being fought by every thoughtful and sympathetic individual.

If we are fearful or pessimistic regarding the future this indicates a lack of integrity in ourselves. We are afraid of our future. We worry about our material wants.

What manner of persons ought we to be? Honest persons - persons who seek to do the right thing even though it costs, persons whose word is good and whose promises are kept. That is what integrity means, and our society suffers from the lack of it.

The struggle must be creative. Hardship and struggle can inspire the creative spirit within us. We must know the meaning of evil and suffering. Out of this understanding our creative spirits may be led to answers to the needs among us.

We must rise to the knowledge that the realm of God is within us and live as the children of God. Spiritual imagination is not an accident. It is the product of a philosophy of life that all worthy religions teach. Integrity does not stand alone in a person's character. It belongs to a whole family of attitudes and convictions that spring from religious faith. Long ago the Hebrew prophet, Micah declared, "and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

The real meaning of advent is not in the story that a baby was born in a stable and slept in a manger, but that there was a man who fought in the ring with evil and lived love to all within his reach. The tidings of comfort and joy at Christmas is that love overcomes. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
This is the gift of advent.

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"Religion NOW" is published in limited edition by the Rev. Ross E. Readhead, B.A., B.D., Certificate of Corrections, McMaster University, in the interest of furthering knowledge and participation in religion. Dialogue is invited and welcomed.