A couple of weeks ago, our family made the choice (mistake?) of going to the mall on a Saturday. It was the afternoon of Remembrance Day and I have never seen the mall so busy. There were people in all the stores and busy streams of folks moving along the corridors. Then in something I had never seen before, there were all kinds of people just loitering, standing against the balcony railings, sitting on every bench and chair. 

There was even a line-up for the Lego store. I asked the employee waving people in if there was a special sale and he said, “Nope, just fire regulations.”

Now why was the mall so busy on November 11th? I am sure you know the answer already. It was the first unofficial day of Christmas shopping. In addition to the throngs of people, the mall was covered in the usual Christmas decor and blaring Christmas music. People were hauling bags and bags of things that were destined to be wrapped and put under a tree. 

Now two weeks later as we plan to begin Advent (and we are a week early!), secular Christmas has been in full swing for almost a month. I used to be upset by all the Christmas stuff going up nearly two months before Christmas actually begins (the season of Christmas starts on December 25th and is 12 days long). I would also be annoyed by all the Christmas stuff coming down on December 26th, on only the 2nd Day of Christmas.

In the last few years, I have been coming to see more and more that this season of lights and winter whimsy centred on Santa Claus; and the Feast of the Nativity and the Christmas season that follows are really two different things. The lights and displays that go up this time of year are a way for us to adapt to the winter season and darkness which can be hard to cope with. It is a way to push back against a world that would otherwise feel like it is closing in on us. 

In fact, secular Christmas is a lot more like Advent than the actual Feast of the Nativity. Even though it is full of Nativity and Christmas images (songs, displays etc…) Secular Christmas is about preparing and getting ready, it encompasses our struggles and desire for a different world, and it often reveals the contradictions and conflicts that exist in our families, relationships and society as we contend with the contrast between extravagant gift buying with increasing poverty and need.

Now, unlike Advent, it does not do these things intentionally, but rather quite accidentally.

So as we begin Advent this week, getting ready for the coming of Messiah, searching for the light in our darkness, for hope in our suffering world, we know that we are walking alongside a world that is also searching for hope – but maybe going about it in a strange way. 

And that in our waiting for Messiah, God is revealing again the promise given to our world that our darkness and struggle will not define us. And that no matter how we try to fill that void with store-bought gifts, light displays, Hallmark movies and Santa photo shoots, Messiah is coming to meet us with gifts of the love, mercy and life of God.