Reflections on Advent – I

I wasn’t raised with the word “Advent” – I was raised with the word “Christmas”. I think they are both fine words. I recall seeing the designation “XMass” as a lad, I didn’t know what it meant beyond being an abbreviation for Christmas. Later I considered the “X” as a negative substitution for Christ; still later I realized that the “X” is a designation for Christ – the X being the first letter of the term Christ in Greek. Of course most people don’t know that, even as I didn’t know that – which once again points to the fact that I don’t know much, including much of what I do know.

Brucie and I were talking the other day that when we were young men we thought we knew things; now that we’re older men we know that we don’t know much. When we were young we thought we were men; now that we’re old we realize we’re children. I said to Brucie, “I used to want to know the answers to a lot of things; now with most questions I say, ‘I can wait on that, it won’t be long before I’ll find out.’” But I digress, back to Advent.

I like the word Advent because it specifically speaks to the birth of Jesus Christ. XMass can be misinterpreted, as can Christmas, but I think the word Advent is a bit harder to pass by, to treat as a bit of holiday verbal filler.

When saying “Christmas” perhaps we could pronounce it, “Christ-mas”, with an emphasis on the first syllable? That way our hearer’s attention might be drawn to the Christ in Christmas. What do you think?