-Luke 1:30-32, NRSV
Advent began this past Sunday. In my church we decorated the sanctuary with banners and purple paraments and a Christmas tree covered in Chrismons*, a nativity, and lots of candles. We lit the first candle on the Advent wreath and sang the first verse of O Come, O Come Emmanuel. Although this is my first Advent in this church, it was not so different from the way I have celebrated the first Sunday in Advent in the other churches I have been a part of here in the US. But this time of year, I can’t help but remember three years ago when I celebrated the beginning of this season in a very different way.
Colombia has its own unique traditions for celebrating the season leading up to Christmas. Three years ago while I was there I wrote several blogs on the topic, which you can read here, here, and here. Rather than beginning with the first Sunday of Advent, Christians in Colombia begin the season with Dia de las Velitas (Day of the Little Candles). On the night before the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), Colombians hold parties and stay up late so that they can light candles outside their houses in the early hours of the morning. Catholic churches will bring out their statues of Mary to parade around the square by candlelight. Having been raised Protestant in the US this was the first time I had ever been part of the celebration for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, but for Protestants in Colombia, it was more of a cultural celebration and marked the beginning of the Christmas season.
Their preparations for Christmas continued December 16, with the beginning of Las Novenas, the nine days before Christmas. Each day the children would gather in the church for Villancicos (children’s Christmas songs), scripture lessons, and treats. At the end of those nine days, on December 24, we gathered for our Christmas Eve service. That day I preached in Spanish for the first time. I still remember that sermon clearly. I described all the differences between our Christmas traditions, and then I described how they were similar. Often, we tend to focus on the differences between cultures and peoples, but that day the similarities were more important to me. When the kids of the church got up to act out the Christmas story, I remembered the many times I myself had acted in the Christmas play as a child.
Christians around the world will celebrate Christmas this month, as they do every year. Although the traditions and celebrations will vary widely, the story will remain the same. We tell the same story year after year because it is the story that unites us across cultures and traditions. No matter how we tell the story, no matter how we celebrate, no matter what we call the season leading up to Christmas day, what ultimately matters is that we are telling the same story. Despite being set in a time and place very different from our own, we still connect to the story of Christmas, because it is a story of hope and peace, love and joy, and those things are not limited by time or place.
*Chrismons are symbols that represent Christ. They are often used to decorate Christmas trees in the church. Common Chrismons include the cross, a crown, a sheep, a shepherd’s crook, a fish, grapes, shells, and stars.
The Presbyterian Peacemaking Program provides a daily lectionary of scriptures based on themes of peace and peacemaking. Over the course of 2019-20 I’ll be basing my blogs on one or more of the scriptures from each week’s lectionary. If you would like to follow along in the lectionary with me, here are next week’s scriptures:
Sunday – Genesis 38
Monday – Exodus 5
Tuesday – Isaiah 66:1-9
Wednesday – Psalm 10
Thursday – Luke 1:46-55
Friday – 1 Corinthians 6:1-11
Saturday – James 4:11-12