Great Stuff — Forget The War On Christmas, The War On Advent Is Worse

A great post found by original BJS columnist Mollie Hemingway found over on TheFederalist.com excerpted below:

 

shutterstock_220418719-998x665I just received an email asking me to “save the date” for a “Christmas” party to be held on Wednesday, Dec. 3. “Hi friends, get a jump start on your holiday planning with our Save the Date for the [redacted] Christmas party,” the email read. Attached was a card that read “sleigh bells will ring, JINGLE, JINGLE, JINGLE So let’s get together to MIX & MINGLE.”

Even though Advent is marked in this country by millions of Catholics, Lutherans, Episcopalians and many other Christians, it’s almost invisible in media coverage and cultural celebrations. And Christmas, in this country, “ends” on the day it begins for Christians, which makes things weird. The season after Christmas, by the way, is Epiphany. A traditional time of celebration was the night before Epiphany, the 12th night of the Christmas season. Perhaps you’ve heard of the play “Twelfth Night” by Señor William Shakespeare? There you go.

So if you really want to fight on the right side of the War on Christmas, you also have to fight on the right side of the War on Advent, OK? This will require something we’re very bad at in this country: a modicum of restraint and patience.

  1. Advent is for preparation. Christmas is for partying.
  2. If you’re going to throw a secular party about sleigh bells ringing, don’t bother calling it a Christmas party. Christmas parties celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the incarnate God.
  3. If you are going to host a “Christmas” party during Advent, be mindful that many traditional Christians go to Advent services on Wednesdays.
  4. Don’t buy Christmas decorations during the summer.

OK, so are we clear on all this? About how the “War on Christmas” can not be fought at the expense of the “War on Advent”? And that liturgical seasons are very cool ways to get the proper amount of preparation and contemplation before the big celebration? Great. Glad we got that settled.

 

To read the whole article, go to TheFederalist.com.

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