Lots of people get cranky during the Christmas season and for plenty of good reasons: stores blasting “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas” the day after Halloween, pressure to spend money we don’t have on things we don’t want to buy. Alongside irritability at the materialism an even more unpleasant emotion lurks: grief, loneliness, despair. Idealized holiday scenes or warm memories of Christmas Past can be brutal for anyone who has experienced death, divorce or any of life’s transitions or detours.
My own response to the season has shifted along with the various chapters of my life. One of the most significant shifts happened at Target about 8 years ago when I heard Johnny Mathis singing O Come Let Us Adore Him over the speakers. It made me pause. I had recently been looking at the details of the Christmas story with fresh eyes – thanks to writers like Cynthia Bourgeault and Richard Rohr – and here I was in a Target (of all places!) being reminded to pause and contemplate the Christ that is continually birthing itself into the world. I realized that I could intentionally use the music, decorations, everything about Christmas as triggers to pause and center myself, rather than ignore them or let them trigger me in other ways.
Cosmic Birth/Sacred Moment in Time ©Mary Southard marysouthardart.org
Courtesy of MinistryOfTheArts.org
All rights reserved
Every year since then I have been offering an Advent Retreat at Loyola where we meditatively immerse ourselves in the Christmas stories through art, music and guided visualizations. Every year, I seriously consider changing to a different theme since I realize people might be getting tired of the same old, same old. But then I decide nope, I still need this retreat to center myself in the sacredness of the season, and to keep exploring how it applies to my personal spiritual journey. Maybe you do too?
