Christmas Old School Style
Marking Time in an Ancient-Future Way
How do you tell time? I don’t mean in terms of the hour of the day. Rather, how do you mark time through the year? It’s difficult not to let the world shape the way we think about time. Many Christians arrange their activities around the civic or academic calendars and think little of it. But if we’re not careful, we can let the retail stores tell us what season it is: If the decorations are out and the sales are on, then Christmas must be near (even though it’s October). And it seems to get earlier each year!
A funny aside: Some years ago while teaching a class, I asked “What are some of the signals that Easter is on the way?” A lady piped up: “When The Ten Commandments comes on television.” It wasn’t quite what I was going for. (But I still wait to see each year if Charlton Heston is going to make an appearance at our house).
But the Bible’s view of time is much different than the world’s. For the ancient Hebrews, and for the early church, all of time was meant to be redeemed for the Lord. Our contemporary notion of worship being a “Sunday thing” would have been foreign to the first century believer. We know that worship happens 24/7, all week long.
These days, as the world demands so much of our attention, droves of evangelicals are returning to the ages-old, traditional Christian Year as a meaningful way to mark time. The Christian Year (also called the Liturgical Calendar) was developed over the centuries to help believers order their steps and “redeem the time.” In following the Christian Year, we join with believers all over the world and across the ages in a pilgrimage toward redeeming time for the Lord.
Walking through the Christian Year means following in Christ’s footsteps and learning more about discipleship, all while marking time in a spiritually disciplined way. While the concept of the Christian Year is not one that you’ll find explicitly prescribed in the Bible, it is thoroughly immersed in Scripture. Better said, it is immersed in the person and work of Jesus Christ. The idea of marking time in a Christian way comes to us from the first centuries and grew out of the belief that our whole life finds meaning in the death and resurrection of Christ. Beginning with the Easter season, early believers extended the Christian calendar forward to Pentecost, then backward to Lent. In about the fourth century, Advent and Christmas and Epiphany were developed and added to complete the cycle.
So, here’s something that might help you get into the holiday spirit: Christmas (also called “Christmastide”) doesn’t arrive until December 25, and then extends for 12 days (that’s where we get the nifty song) until January 6. If we don’t first walk through the preparation season of Advent, and instead jump straight away to “Christmas” at the beginning of December, then we might very well be tired of the holiday before we even really get there. And then to celebrate for 12 days? Most folks are ready for Christmas to be over by New Year’s Eve.
It’s so hard to wait for something, isn’t it? That’s part of why Advent is so challenging: We want to get to the good stuff right away! But imagine some of the ways your Christmas might be enriched if you wait. And meditate. And prepare. And then imagine celebrating – with all of the joy you can muster – for 12 full days the Nativity of the Lord. What a Christmas that would be!
So, rather than wait for the department stores to tell us what time it is, or worry that we might miss Easter if we don’t catch “The Ten Commandments” in the TV lineup, consider following the Christian year: Use a lectionary for your weekly Bible reading or Sunday worship preparation; incorporate some of the spiritual disciplines of the Christian Year into your personal or family worship; subscribe to a free internet-based calendar that will keep you up to date on the changes in Holy days or seasons.
Jump on board soon: Epiphany is just around the corner!
