We humans do like things to be done in a neat and orderly fashion, don’t we? I mean, look at how we’ve developed mathematics and theoretical physics and our sock drawer. A place for everything; everything in its place.
Our minds and bodies respond to order and rhythm. Contrary to some popular ideas, we don’t really like things that are linear. Yeah, we try to draw timelines and straight line graphs and such.
But, we are far more comfortable with things that are cyclical.
Seasons, for instance.
Winter is followed by Spring. Summer joins in the cycle with Autumn grabbing on to Winter’s coat tail to begin the circle again.
We talk about the Circle of Life, not the Straight Line of Life.
Medical folks speak about Circadian rhythms that follow a cycle. They don’t move from point to point to point. Rather, they follow the circular motion of the Earth’s rotation.
Cycles and rhythms are good for us.
They provide for good order and allow us to function with a degree of confidence that today will in many ways be much like what we experienced yesterday.
One such measure of cycles begins this Sunday for those of us who follow the traditions of the Christian Church.
A brand, spanking new liturgical year begins with the first Sunday of Advent.
Advent is the season that prepares us for the birth of Jesus.
The word derives from the Latin adventus. That word means “coming,” or “arrival.”
So, the season of Advent is that time of the yearly cycle when we look forward to the arrival of Jesus the Messiah.
In recent times, though, Advent has become little more than that time of year when we rush around finishing the shopping. We dig through the attic or basement to pull out all of the decorations which need to be dusted off so they can be hung on trees, (or, reasonable facsimiles of trees), or placed on mantles and coffee tables. Don’t forget the holiday table ware and dish towels!
All of the local radio stations pull out their Christmas collections of music. (How many times can a person really listen to “Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer” before going completely mad?)
What if we actually stopped for a second and considered the Season?
Perhaps, we could feel the rhythm.
Let the Spirit of the Season rap out a cadence that our heart could match and join with.
Rhythms are part of who we are as Living Beings.
Let this Sunday be the beginning of a new cycle of life in which we gaze expectantly toward the Arrival of God’s Messiah in our lives.
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