Celebrating SimplicitySample

Holidays Can Be Joyful Times

When was the last time you really celebrated Christmas? I’m not talking about the commercial event that starts before Halloween and ends December 26. I’m talking about the Feast of the Incarnation that the church of Jesus Christ celebrates for twelve days beginning December 25. I’m talking about a celebration that has been prepared for through Advent, those four weeks before December 25, and that begins when the world is putting its Christmas holiday away.

Imagine this scenario: during Advent, the family reads the daily Scripture readings of the Advent calendar together. The house is decorated gradually instead of the Christmas decorations appearing all in one day. There are no Christmas parties until after December 25. Gifts and goodies are saved for the twelve days between Christmas Day and Epiphany (which is January 6 and celebrates the wise men coming to Bethlehem). During those twelve days, little work is done and much time is spent doing fun, restorative things both alone and with others.

Does this sound like a complete fantasy? We worship a God who commands feasting as well as fasting. We all need these kinds of rhythms in our lives. Isn’t it nice to know that God blesses them?

From Spiritual Disciplines Devotional by Valerie E. Hess.