Advent is a Blue Season

Our family has been making a more focused effort this Advent to prepare our minds and hearts for Christmas. We wanted to share one of the devotions that impacted us this past week.

John 1:6-8, 19-28

A blue of new beginnings,
     a hue of hope.
A blue serious and steadfast,
     not as airy as the sky
     or as black as navy
     more a royal blue
     evoking "solemn anticipation and...spiritual preparation."
A slightly impatient blue that prays
     "Come, Lord Jesus" as it
     remembers his coming in the flesh,
     anticipates his coming again,
     and celebrates his daily coming
     through holy means and unholy people.
But instead
     Advent often becomes a season
     in which we sing the blues.
Busy, busy, busy we cry.
As if to justify.
Gifts to buy.
Cookies to bake.
Houses and trees to decorate.
No joy to anticipate,
     no holy preparation,
     remembrance or celebration.
And even though we know better,
     sometimes we buy this burdensome blue
     so fully
     that it almost becomes us.
Which raise for me,
     my blue friends,
     a question of identity.
Which Advent blue is true
     of you and me?
"Who are you?"
     "I am not the Christ."
"Elijah then."
     "I am not."
"The prophet after all!"
     "No!"
But then, who is there left to be
     my out-of-sync friend?
John, who are you then?
Someone, a preacher, once said
     "It's hard for pastors
     to be Christians
     in Advent."
Hard too
     for Christians
     to be Christians
     with Advent blues.
So then, who are we?
"Who?" The Pharasiees persist.
Says John:
     "I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
     'Make straight the way of the Lord!"
John does not conform
     to the pressure and temptation
     of Pharisee voices.
John the Baptist
     locust fed and camel-coated
     out of style but one of substance
     his ancient voice with present call
     denies
     what the world would have him be,
     claims only that he is a herald,
     a voice crying out in an untamed place.
John knows who he is.
     He is a voice crying counhter to whinings in the wilderness.
     He is a herald trumpeting straight a tree-strewn and winding way.
     He is a long, thin, frail finger pointing to one who matters most
          in a forest of little matters.
Who are you?
John knows who he is.
His Advent is the royal blue of preparation,
     reflecting a concrete and certain hope
     that the one to come is mightier than all the busy, busy, busy
     that sometimes paints our Advent
     such a blackened blue.
So then, who are we?
Are we voices crying preparation
     or tongues wagging in trepidation?
Are we out of substance, caught in style
     conforming, caving in
     to the pressure and temptation
     of many Pharasee voices,
or heralds calling to clear a path?
Are we singing the ain't Christian enough to count
     Advent carwash blues,
     or Prepare ye the way of the Lord?
Just asking.
Advent blue doesn't sing the blues
     but heralds a hope born yesterday, for today
     and good tomorrow,
a hope that is our hope
     and the source of our salvation
Come, Lord Jesus.

Modified from the Luteran Theological Seminary at Philadephia Advent Devotional Guide for 2002.