Slow Down - Save a Life!

There are many ways to tell time. We use clocks and calendars. We mark perosnal time by birthdays, and anniversaries.  We knwo that a day has 24 hours, a week has 7 days, and a year has 365 days. One innovation of Western Culture is to see timeas a line. January begns; December ends.

But the Church tells time differently. The Church’s year is Christological: it is based in the life of Christ.  Reverend Jerome Berryman explains in his book Young Children and Worship, the Church “tells time by celebrating the events of Jesus’ birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension and the gift of the Holy Spirit.” These are divided into two cycles. A key word here is cycle—it indicates a circular movement, not a movement in a straight line. The two key cycles—Christmas and Easter—are divided into our six Church seasons: Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, and Pentecost.

We begin the season of Advent November 27th this year. The first Sunday of Advent is also the first Sunday of a new church year.  The word advent comes from a Latin word meaning “coming” or “arrival,”especially the arrival of someone or something important. In Advent we wait for the coming of Christ: both at the end of time and for the rememberance of his birth among us. In our own lives, Advent can be a special time of learning to wait and slow down.

Margaret Wheatley writes that one of the crises of our age is the belief that we can ignore or negotiate with time.  This mis-guided belief, she says causes us to forget about the natural rhythms and cycles of life.  “Instead we believe that it’s a straight trajectory into the future, and we can go as fast as we please.   This can move us away from nature, from rhythm, from others, from God and even from a sense of place."  Wheatley adds that as people in the Christian tradition, and especially for those of us in liturgical churches like the Episcopal Church, it is time to say ENOUGH!  We must take time to think.  We must take time to reflect.  We must take time to slow down and enjoy the cycles of nature and our own lives.  Advent is a season that can help us do just this.

Advent can teach us to wait.  How does one learn to wait exactly?  Our culture is not a particularly adept at this.  It seems to teach us always to be in a hurry, to be impatient, and to want instant gratification. Some of the traditions of Advent such as the Advent calendar and Advent wreath are about the opposite – about slowing down and learning to wait.  How might we use them effectively this Advent?   As we await the celebration of Christmas, what might we be waiting to be born in our own lives?

Advent is a gift of time if we will only grasp it.  It is a time to move more slowly, spend more time with family, friends, and with God.

(Thanks to Carolyn Moomaw Chilton who writes and blogs as a spiritual discipline and an invitation to conversation with others. She is on staff at Grace and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Richmond, Virginia as the Assistant for Evangelism and Stewardship.)