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“He must increase, but I must decrease.” --John 3:30
I used to be in the “Advent police.” In fact, I used to be a captain or at least the rank of sergeant in this mythical brigade. By “Advent police” I mean those who want to be sure other folks know that this season exists, sometimes with a wag of the finger of judgment in early to mid-December.
At its best, the “Advent police” want to remind us that waiting is a lost art in the currency of our culture, and that the church in her wisdom offers us this season as a gift. For indeed, our need for instant gratification requires some tempering, and Advent is an excellent antidote to its corrosive effects. Yet like anything in the life of the world and the life of the church, we can realize we’re doing a good thing from the wrong place. Recently I’ve come to see this as true for me. And since we’re amongst friends, here’s my confession: my membership in the “Advent police” had more to do with me than anything holy.
“He must increase, but I must decrease” says John the baptizer today. His call is really a call for us all, especially at certain seasons of life. You and I are called to point our lives not to ourselves—increasing and valorizing who we are—but rather to Jesus…to the Christ child who is preparing to be born anew. Jesus calls us to righteous lives, lives that look like we have been found by grace. Yet sometimes that “righteousness” can veer into self-righteousness. Methinks that might have been the case at times when I insisted on telling anyone and everyone around me about the supremacy of Advent! Perhaps my eyerolling about Christmas carols just after Thanksgiving was more about looking “right” than anything else?
Does the world need this season? Absolutely. Does the world need more followers of Jesus who point to themselves, seeking to increase more and more in the process? Not so much.
So, since I am now trying to receive an honorable discharge from the “Advent police,” I ask you this question: how might you decrease—for the love and increase of Christ—today?
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