Advent Lessons in Cleaning...

I've been doing a lot of cleaning lately, and I'm reminded of some lessons I've learned over the years:

• You cannot make time stand still.  All those cute little school projects I saved for my children are unwanted and unneeded.  They have moved on.  As much as I would love to preserve those ahwwww moments, I cannot.  The macaroni self-portrait Claire made when she was 4 with straight spaghetti on one side and curly noodles on the other (reflecting her unique hair) cannot hold up, attracts bugs, and is completely unwanted by the artist.  Instead, it's a story to be told that shapes our present and future.  Celebrate the moment, then throw the paper away.  Another moment is coming.
• Too much stuff is as difficult as too little.  If there is nowhere to put something away, 1) you don't need it or 2) you need to get rid of something else.
• Identify the present task and stick.  to.  it.   Attention Deficit Cleaning Disorder is deadly.  (If you clean, you know what I'm talking about.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, you better help your spouse/parents clean more!)
• It never ends.  Something always needs to be cleaned out, straightened up, made right.

The temptation of Advent is to hurry it up.  Most churches can't follow a straight Advent celebration.  The temptation to jump to Christmas is strong...too strong.  We know the good news is coming, why shouldn't we just skip the preparation stuff and celebrate.  Wouldn't that be what God wants us to do?

Christmas doesn't make time stand still.  God "moving into the neighborhood" (as Peterson puts it in his paraphrase of John 1) happens again and again.  It is not a cute little project.  It is  a story told that shapes our present and future.  It is a story that comes and goes and comes again, completely beyond our control.  Don't hang onto the past moments.  Celebrate and look for the next one.  

Christmas can't come if there is too much other stuff going on.  Advent is the preparation work for the good news.  If our lives and hearts are stuffed full already, God has no place to come into.  Advent does the hard work of clearing out...of making room.  If Christmas comes too early, there is no place for it to stay.

We need to stay focused.  It is incredibly hard not to worry about the "what's next" while we ignore the needs of now.  

We are human.  Until the ultimate coming of God's Kingdom we must always be preparing.  We always hang onto the past.  We always collect too much stuff.  We always to be cleaned out, straightened up, made right.

So while we are cleaning up in preparation for our Christmas festivities, let's not forget the importance of our Advent cleaning.  So Advent during Advent.  Christmas during Christmas.  Both will be better.