Let the Advent-ure Begin

Next Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent, a season of the church that I truly enjoy. Now I've always enjoyed Christmas, but I've not always been aware of Advent, that season of four weeks prior to Christmas Day. But then again, the Presbyterian Church didn't reclaim the tradition until probably about 25 or so years ago, so it's no wonder my early years aren't filled with such memories.

Of course, in seminary I learned more about Advent. Even when I first became aware of Advent, it was only as a time of preparation for Christmas. Yet Advent means even more than that - it's a reminder that Christians are also awaiting Christ's return. That's something most people tend to ignore. We look to that incredible baby in a manger and not the return of the Divine.

So, I'm driving along just casually thinking that Advent is approaching when a truly random thought fired in my brain: Advent and Adventure start the same! And I began to wonder how they might be related (other than the obvious, of course).

They seem to share the same Latin root, since the dictionary.com etymology invites one to "see advent". Yet somehow the more or less uninteresting meaning of "to arrive" for Advent took a detour into risk and danger for Adventure. Hard to believe those three little letters could add so much.

Adventure: 1. an exciting or very unusual experience. 2. participation in exciting undertakings or enterprises: the spirit of adventure. 3. a bold, usually risky undertaking; hazardous action of uncertain outcome. 4. a commercial or financial speculation of any kind; venture. 5. Obsolete. a. peril; danger; risk. b. chance; fortune; luck. –verb (used with object) 6. to risk or hazard. 7. to take the chance of; dare. 8. to venture to say or utter: to adventure an opinion. –verb (used without object) 9. to take the risk involved. 10. to venture; hazard. (from dictionary.com)

Hmmmmmmmmm..... you know, if you think back to that very first Advent (long before it was ever called Advent), Adventure describes it quite nicely. Here you have an unwed mother in a society that didn't particularly support women in general, much less one who became pregnant out of wedlock. It doesn't matter that the woman involved claimed divine intervention in the conception. She could have easily been tossed out on her ear by her soon to be husband, abandoned to whatever fate awaited.

Then they make that perilous journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the census-taking. If you've never been pregnant, those final months are not particularly conducive to travel even with modern conveyances to ease the way. Our cherished Christmas narratives always include Mary riding on a donkey as she and Joseph wend their way to the City of David. I'm sure that became part of the tradition because it seemed cruel to make a pregnant woman walk all that way. (total aside - I'm not sure riding on a donkey would have been that much more comfortable for a pregnant woman, but then, that's just me!) Yet there's no mention of four-footed transportation in the Bible. Joseph and Mary were not wealthy, so how could they have afforded a donkey? Either walking or with donkey, the journey would not have been easy or without peril.

When they get to Bethlehem, there is the uncertainty of housing, the birthing of a baby in the even more than usual hazards of a manger instead of a house and apparently without a midwife. In time, they get the warning that King Herod's out to get the baby Jesus, so they flee to Egypt. Yep! Adventure describes this quite nicely.

Adventure even describes the anticipated Second Coming, when, as Christians understand it, the status quo will be turned topsy-turvy. Not my favorite Advent images, but the lectionary texts include that famous "wars and rumors of wars" and other dark and dangerous images of what is to come before Christ arrives (Advent). Personally, I'd prefer to jump right past the perilous and into the time when "the lion will lie down with the lamb" - nice and quiet and peaceful is what I'd like.

Most of us seem to have forgotten the risk, the excitement, the unusual, the dare which comes with Advent. That is, if you don't count those whose vision of the season includes venturing into the wilds of seasonal commerce to score the latest whatever-happens-to-be-the-find-of-the-season item, which some misguided folks would risk life, limb and fortune for.

There are different risks involved in being open to Christ's call "to come" (Advent). We each have the opportunity to explore "actions of uncertain outcome" in our own lives, even if the main risk involved is changing who we are into what we are called to be. Believe me, taking such risks can turn one's life topsy-turvy in many ways!

However, there's adventure in taking such a risk. It has been quite an adventure for me over the years. If you'd known me 'then', it would be difficult to even imagine me as I am today. You probably would have rolled on the floor laughing to even think of me speaking to a group of people, or stubbornly standing up and holding my ground over something I believe to be important, or even being willing to take on such a potentially conflict-ridden call as that of pastor. The adventure has been worth it!

So.............................................

Let's reclaim that very special risk, excitement, even dare! that the arrival of the infant Jesus, the coming of the Christ entails! Let the Advent-ure begin!!