Canterbury on Advent:

Dr Rowan Williams said many people are unwilling to wait for Christmas Day to enjoy themselves because of the culture of instant gratification, and so spend the whole of December shopping and eating chocolates from their Advent Calendars.

He pointed out that Advent is a separate, significant part of the Christian year but complained that this message is often drowned out by the shopping frenzy and by carols that are piped through stores.

His comments, in a film made for the video-sharing website YouTube, come as part of a campaign by the Church of England to encourage worshippers to reflect on the wait before the birth of Jesus Christ during the four weeks of Advent, rather than just seeing it as a time to shop and party.

In the video message, which contrasts images of High Street sales with those of religious paintings and people praying, Dr Williams says: “I suppose if you did one of those word association tests on ‘Advent’, the other word you’d come up with straight away would be ‘calendar’.

“That’s all that most people these days are really aware of where Advent is concerned. The Advent Calendar is a countdown to Christmas, and it means daily sweets and chocolates.

“It’s a slightly thin and inadequate account of what has been for a long time one of the most important and significant times in the Church’s year – a time of waiting, we sometimes say.

“But once we’ve said waiting, of course that’s not a very attractive word. We’re not a culture that’s very used to waiting.”

Read the rest.

I was having a conversation about Advent with the gels yesterday that is nearly word-for-word with the Archbish’s sentiments.  In my disreputable past, the season never meant that much to me, but in recent years it has become very, very much more important.  Unfortunately, they’re all still more of the chocolate-from-the-calendar mindset, but I’m working on them.