Advent reflection
12/12/15 05:24
Here’s your traffic tip of the day. I’m thinking that most of the regular readers of this blog will have no trouble complying with my advice. Today would be a good day to avoid downtown San José in Costa Rica. If you do have to drive in San José, be sure to allow a lot of extra time. There will be delays, detours, and heavy traffic. Paseo Colón and Agenda Segunda will be closed beginning at noon. Actually, if you are used to driving in San José, you are probably used to detours and delays. But, seriously, it will be worse today. This evening, beginning at Parque La Sabana, there will be the biggest holiday parade of the year, Festival de la Luz. They know how to put on a parade in Costa Rica. There will be big, elaborate, lighted floats, marching bands - lots of marching bands, and cheerleading squads. There are competitions for prizes in each of those categories. All will be decorated with portable lights - lots of lights. It is, after all, the Festival of Lights.
Costa Rica is officially a Roman Catholic nation. Even with the state religion, there is no ban on other religions, but the Roman Catholic church receives governmental support, including financial subsidies for buildings and programs. No one makes any apologies for state promotion of a particular religious group. Parades and festivals with religious origins and meanings are sanctioned. Christianity has been a part of the culture of Costa Rica since Christopher Columbus first visited that country. Subsequent waves of Spanish visitors and settlers have left their language and religion deeply ingrained in the lives of the people.
Christmas, of course, is a time for many celebrations and the season that immediately follows Christmas, Epiphany, is the season of light. There are lots of references to light in the Christmas story, most notably the prologue to the Gospel of John which declares, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The fascinating thing about the Festival of Lights in Costa Rica is that it isn’t an ancient tradition. It is a modern festival. The parade was first held in 1998, about the same time that our city held its first Festival of Lights parade. I guess I’m turning into an old timer, but the Rapid City Festival of Lights was a project of the Leadership Rapid City class of which I was a member and I served as a member of the planning committee and a parade volunteer in the early years of our celebration.
The celebration here, and in Costa Rica, doesn’t carry, for me, much of a religious impact. There is a vague association with a Christian holiday, but the events of the parade are largely secular. I haven’t got anything against secular celebrations and the lights and sounds of a night parade are a lot of fun.
It is just that I prefer a quieter and more intimate celebration of the holiday.
It looks a lot like the festival of lights just driving up our street these evenings. Some of our neighbors have invested quite a bit in festive holiday lighting. The displays of outdoor decorations include lights on homes, lights on trees, inflatable figures, stars, Santas, deer, and a lot more. Artificial deer always bring a smile to my face. We have eight or nine deer in our lawn at the moment, but they’ll get up and wander over to the neighbor’s place as soon as it is light. They just like to lie down and chew their cuds in the early morning hours. We haven’t felt the need of artificial deer since living in this neighborhood.
I have no objection to the decorations. I appreciate the investment and work involved in decorating. There are some decorations that I understand better than others. I understand nativity sets. I even get Santa Claus displays. But I am uncertain what the meaning of lighting up the outline of one’s house is. Does the size or shape of one’s house demonstrate something about the depth of one’s faith? Or is the narrow fascia just a convenient place to attach lights?
We aren’t much for outside Christmas decorations. And we tend to wait a lot later than our neighbors to do our interior Christmas decorating. Since we celebrate Christmas for twelve days beginning on December 25, we don’t want to take down our tree before New Years, as most of our neighbors do. So we put it up a bit later to assure that it stays fresh through the celebration.
The main thing for me is that Christmas isn’t about show. I don’t need to compare myself with the neighbors in order to have a season of genuine celebration. One of the very favorite things about Christmas for me is slipping out of our driveway late on Christmas Eve to go to the church for our 11:30 worship. We tell the story, sing some carols, celebrate Holy Communion and ring the church bell at midnight. It is usually a small group that gathers and the church is quiet with just a little piano music. The pageants and costumes and big candlelight events are over. The calm of the season gives time for contemplation and reflection. With that service, Christmas begins for me each year.
Advent, in our culture, is filled with rushing and crowds and parties and marketing. The weight of the ads in the newspaper exceeds the actual news most days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My life is busy during Advent as well. There is a lot of preparation required for the events and activities of the season.
At this time of the year I begin to long for Christmas. I yearn for peace and quiet and I know I won’t be disappointed. I’m quite sure that the longing is exactly what I should be feeling.
So I won’t be going to Festival de la Luz in Costa Rica. I’ll probably stay home this evening. I might even sneak in a few moments of quiet in anticipation of that which lies ahead.
Advent blessings to you!
Costa Rica is officially a Roman Catholic nation. Even with the state religion, there is no ban on other religions, but the Roman Catholic church receives governmental support, including financial subsidies for buildings and programs. No one makes any apologies for state promotion of a particular religious group. Parades and festivals with religious origins and meanings are sanctioned. Christianity has been a part of the culture of Costa Rica since Christopher Columbus first visited that country. Subsequent waves of Spanish visitors and settlers have left their language and religion deeply ingrained in the lives of the people.
Christmas, of course, is a time for many celebrations and the season that immediately follows Christmas, Epiphany, is the season of light. There are lots of references to light in the Christmas story, most notably the prologue to the Gospel of John which declares, “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The fascinating thing about the Festival of Lights in Costa Rica is that it isn’t an ancient tradition. It is a modern festival. The parade was first held in 1998, about the same time that our city held its first Festival of Lights parade. I guess I’m turning into an old timer, but the Rapid City Festival of Lights was a project of the Leadership Rapid City class of which I was a member and I served as a member of the planning committee and a parade volunteer in the early years of our celebration.
The celebration here, and in Costa Rica, doesn’t carry, for me, much of a religious impact. There is a vague association with a Christian holiday, but the events of the parade are largely secular. I haven’t got anything against secular celebrations and the lights and sounds of a night parade are a lot of fun.
It is just that I prefer a quieter and more intimate celebration of the holiday.
It looks a lot like the festival of lights just driving up our street these evenings. Some of our neighbors have invested quite a bit in festive holiday lighting. The displays of outdoor decorations include lights on homes, lights on trees, inflatable figures, stars, Santas, deer, and a lot more. Artificial deer always bring a smile to my face. We have eight or nine deer in our lawn at the moment, but they’ll get up and wander over to the neighbor’s place as soon as it is light. They just like to lie down and chew their cuds in the early morning hours. We haven’t felt the need of artificial deer since living in this neighborhood.
I have no objection to the decorations. I appreciate the investment and work involved in decorating. There are some decorations that I understand better than others. I understand nativity sets. I even get Santa Claus displays. But I am uncertain what the meaning of lighting up the outline of one’s house is. Does the size or shape of one’s house demonstrate something about the depth of one’s faith? Or is the narrow fascia just a convenient place to attach lights?
We aren’t much for outside Christmas decorations. And we tend to wait a lot later than our neighbors to do our interior Christmas decorating. Since we celebrate Christmas for twelve days beginning on December 25, we don’t want to take down our tree before New Years, as most of our neighbors do. So we put it up a bit later to assure that it stays fresh through the celebration.
The main thing for me is that Christmas isn’t about show. I don’t need to compare myself with the neighbors in order to have a season of genuine celebration. One of the very favorite things about Christmas for me is slipping out of our driveway late on Christmas Eve to go to the church for our 11:30 worship. We tell the story, sing some carols, celebrate Holy Communion and ring the church bell at midnight. It is usually a small group that gathers and the church is quiet with just a little piano music. The pageants and costumes and big candlelight events are over. The calm of the season gives time for contemplation and reflection. With that service, Christmas begins for me each year.
Advent, in our culture, is filled with rushing and crowds and parties and marketing. The weight of the ads in the newspaper exceeds the actual news most days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. My life is busy during Advent as well. There is a lot of preparation required for the events and activities of the season.
At this time of the year I begin to long for Christmas. I yearn for peace and quiet and I know I won’t be disappointed. I’m quite sure that the longing is exactly what I should be feeling.
So I won’t be going to Festival de la Luz in Costa Rica. I’ll probably stay home this evening. I might even sneak in a few moments of quiet in anticipation of that which lies ahead.
Advent blessings to you!