Rev. Peter Boullata
Parish Minister
Peter's Recent Columns
| Celebration |
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| Thursday, December 29 2011 12:28 |
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A few years ago, I was in Montreal for the celebration of New Year’s. While I was there I called up two friends, a couple, to ask if we might get together. They suggested meeting at the Oratoire Saint Joseph the next day. There was an exhibit there of nativity scenes from around the world. These two friends had decided to take Christmas seriously that year and celebrate it as a twelve-day feast. For each of the twelve days of Christmas they were doing a particular activity in the city—ice skating, serving lunch at a homeless shelter, the fine arts museum—and inviting family and friends to join them. We walked together among the nativity scenes of different sizes and materials from Africa, Asia, Latin American countries, all stationed on the grounds of the oratory, a large domed structure dedicated to Jesus’ other father. As we walked, my friends told me how they had spent the past month preparing for Christmas. Things tend to get hectic in most households during the December holiday season as we buy presents for people, prepare special foods and meals, and entertain friends, family and co-workers. My friends had wanted to make the Advent season what it had been traditionally: a time of introspection, prayer, and fasting as a way of preparing for the arrival of the Christ child (as in “let every heart prepare him room”). They consecrated their yoga practice to expectant mothers during that time, practiced mindfulness and daily prayer, and kept the drinking and spending to a minimum. In contrast, when I was growing up, Advent was nothing more than an extended period of being whipped into a frenzy about what Santa Claus might be bringing, and it came to a sudden climactic end on one day. After watching the Queen’s address in the mid?afternoon of Christmas Day, it was all over. A long period of expectant waiting, a time of mindfulness, followed by a twelve?day feast sounds like a way to take the pressure off of that one day. Gifts, activities, visits could be extended for the whole twelve days. My friends ended their twelve?day celebration of Christmas with a Twelfth Night dinner on January 6. I personally now barely celebrate Christmas, let alone Advent. However, my friends did inspire me that year. It would be unrealistic to do away with all the activities that we typically engage in during December, but wouldn’t it be nice to take some time out to ask, “How am I preparing room in my heart? Is there room in my heart for more love, more hope, more joy?” This is a time to expect the arrival of the holy, not with angels and foreign dignitaries and shooting stars but in quiet, disregarded ways. Celebrations surrounding the winter solstice in the northern hemisphere have focused on this expectant waiting. Vigil is kept for the arrival of new light at the darkest time of year, an all?night wait for the breaking of the dawn. I like that my friends not only took Advent seriously, spending it deepening their spiritual lives, but also took Christmas seriously as a festive time of celebration and activity. However you have spent the past few weeks, and however you are spending the days following Christmas, I hope that you are enjoying the company of people you love, the comfort of friendship, beloved traditions and foods, and are finding ways of deepening your soul. May your holiday bring you joy. Warm wishes for a joyous holiday season from the minister and staff at First Parish. Peter Boullata Dick LeSchack Lynne Weygint Bob Coughlin Suzanne Jubenville Michelle Grullon Jeffrey Jubenville Alexis Marvel Cindie Umans Krystal Flewelling Alison Green Will Barton Frost |