In the desert, prepare ye a highway for our Lord!
Advent is the season of preparing, of making room in the inn of our souls for the coming of Christ on Christmas. How easy it is to get ahead of ourselves and rush into Christmas, or at least into the frenzy of shopping and decorating and cookie baking and parties and RUSH! While it is fun to deck the hall with boughs of holly and to share festive cheer with those we love, it can kind of defeat the purpose if all that we feel is the stress and do not take time for the joy. How peaceful it can be to wait for something we know will come exactly when it is supposed to. If we can recover a little of the delicious anticipation many of us felt as children awaiting holidays like Christmas or Hanukkah or Diwali, I am convinced we could better savor the season of Advent.
Take the crèche scene outside of school as well as the one on the table in the central foyer. Now, in the early stages of Advent, each looks a little bare and incomplete. The Christ child is absent; there are no kings, no shepherds. Just Mary and Joseph alone in a quiet stable waiting for the greatest miracle in the history of humanity. From their perspective, it hasn't happened yet.... but they have faith that it will!
I know I am eager to see my first St. Anne's Christmas concerts which kick off in chapel this week as the youngest ones perform for the older students. I am told that both the concert for Pre-K to 1st grade and the concert for grades 2 to 8 are less theatrical and more musical than in years past, a little more about simplicity and beauty and the joy of the children. In rehearsal the singing has been angelic. The true spirit of the season becomes almost tangible among us as the children lift their voices and instruments in song. I know we will all be stirred.
Speaking of being moved, I am again overwhelmed at the generosity shown by those who have picked the Jesse Tree clean of gift requests. I have heard that some did not have a chance to get a tag so I made a few dozen more that are more general to spread the good cheer among those families we have pledged to help. If you would like to take a tag from this second round, please do so and know that any gift no matter how modest is greatly appreciated. It is the humble gesture of caring that can convey the most genuine sentiment. Gifts should be wrapped with the tag on the outside and delivered by the tree by December 15.
What a great community of love we have here at St. Anne's! I deeply believe that as a school family we are preparing the way of the Lord with our acts of kindness toward one another and to those less fortunate than we beyond the community. Thomas Carlyle, 19th century Scottish historian, critic, and sociological writer put it this way:
"To make some nook of God’s creation a little fruitfuller, better, more worthy of God; to make some human hearts a little wiser, manfuller, happier, more blessed, less accursed... is great and there is no other greatness."
Let us prepare God's way this Advent with the little acts of kindness that make our world more worthy of the One who makes us whole.
Our families have helped St. Anne’s earn over $300 so far this year in Boxtops. Each little rectangle you rescue from products you use everyday is worth 10 cents for our school and that adds up fast! Participating brands are Avery office supply products, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Hamburger Helper, Juicy Juice, Ziploc, Cheerios, Kleenex and Hefty. Don’t throw away anything without checking for the Boxtop first!
