Advent invites us to accept the true gift of Christmas

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At times, information feels like a raging river that threatens to overwhelm us, creating anxiety and leaving us unsettled and frustrated.

Advent, the days of reflection which lead to Christmas, marks one of the few instances in which we know how the story ends: With a gift being laid at our feet.

The noise, commercialism and tumult that has all but taken the holiday hostage has all but obscured the arrival of Advent, a time designed to renew our hope by reassuring us that we have not been left to our own devices, that, despite all evidence to the contrary, there is a plan in place, namely peace on earth.

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During Advent, we find ourselves constantly challenged to remember that the unseen and eternal remains greater than what we may be experiencing at any given moment.

Because we are so easily fooled by the shadows cast by fear and uncertainty, Advent begs us to remember that a light has come unto the world.

The candles lit each week to symbolize hope, peace, love and joy, and culminated by the Christ Candle, are ancient signs of a timeless promise which cannot be vanquished by the chaos, anger, avarice and hubris which constantly compete for our attention.

The light of Advent pierces the darkness of doubt by assuring us that love remains impervious to despair, and that the arrival of Christmas cannot be detoured by all that we see and hear.

In some ways, the way in which we celebrate Christmas is really a form of denial of our need for it. We don't want to believe we're deficient. It's why we find ourselves so frantic and stressed, willing to engage in hand-to-hand combat over a toaster oven or spending ourselves into debt, all in an attempt to fill that need, even as we acknowledge that the excitement of whatever we buy and do and give rarely lasts beyond the day itself.

But nothing we buy or receive is comparable to the gift contained in Christmas, which is a reconciliation with love.

There are those who will tell you that Dec. 25 and the traditions attached to it are rooted in a pagan holiday usurped by the early church.

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Some people who study such things argue that Jesus may have been born in the spring during Shavuot, the Jewish feast of the first fruits, while others theorize he was born in the fall during the Feast of Tabernacles.

But those discussions, albeit interesting, are all distractions. It doesn't matter if he were born on the Fourth of July or on Sadie Hawkins Day.

The meaning and purpose of Christmas remains intact, regardless of when it is observed.

It is, in the words of the late theologian Frederick Buechner, the story of a God in a passionate pursuit of the creation he loves.

It is a story that, on its face, certainly makes no sense: The redemption of a fallen world arriving in the form of a helpless infant born to poor and powerless people, witnessed only by illiterate and dirty shepherds?

In a world which values wealth and splendor, what king would choose such a manner?

The embodiment of Christmas in the form of a child is a wholesale rejection of a militaristic "warrior" messiah being sent to defeat evil by overthrowing the temporal systems of oppression and corruption. So, it's no wonder we've created a more palatable narrative that Christmas is about food and family and decorations and gifts.

The truth of it makes us uncomfortable because it requires that we respond to the divine gift being given.

If we allow it, Advent will give us respite from the cares and worries of this world.

It grants us the time and grace to prepare for the true and priceless gift of Christmas.

Charita M. Goshay is a Canton Repository staff writer and member of the editorial board. Reach her at 330-580-8313 or charita.goshay@cantonrep.com. On Twitter: @cgoshayREP

This article originally appeared on The Repository: Charita Goshay: Advent invites us accept the true gift of Christmas