December: Slowing the pace and actively waiting. A lot of us aren’t too patient when it comes to observing Advent. We want to celebrate Christmas throughout the whole month of December.
In her book To Dance With God, Gertrud Mueller Nelson tells of pre-Christian people in Europe who, as the nights grew longer and the weather turned colder, took a wheel off their wagon and brought it into their home. The wheel was festooned with evergreens as a reminder that life would come again anew in spring. Candles were added to the wheel for added light in the darkening days of winter. Taking the wheel off also symbolized stepping back from their means of commerce and entering into a fallow, dormant season.
Nelson goes on to ask the provocative questions that continue to haunt me each year – how would your Advent be different if you took a wheel off your car? What if you slowed down the pace of December and leaned into an active dormancy?
This message is excerpted from “Advent: A season for waiting and preparing” by Linda Post Bushkofsky from the November 18, 2021, blog of the Women of the ELCA.
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