“It’s not the end of the world.”
What a great phrase.  We toss these words
around during those moments when things just aren’t going our way.  

“It’s not the end of the world” is what I said when I received my
summons for jury duty.

“It’s not the end of the world”
is what I said when accidentally booked a flight with a 15 hour layover,

“Its not the end of the world” is
what I said when my 2 year-old daughter put an entire roll of toilet paper in
the toilet.

We use this phrase at those moments if life
that really annoy us but that ultimately aren’t that bad.  The “End of the World” is viewed as
the worst thing that could possibly happen and so daylong layovers, and wasted
toilet paper just aren’t that bad comparatively.   Reminding ourselves “it’s not the end
of the world” can be a very helpful mantra that allows us to keep life’s
annoyances in perspective.  

I’ve been thinking a lot about this popular
phrase because many of the Gospel readings assigned during the Advent season
deal with the end of the world.    During
Advent we read about the sun being darkened, the moon not giving off light, and
stars falling from the sky.

Obviously, these readings create a stark
contrast with the commercial side of the holiday season with all its upbeat
songs and twinkling lights.  Long ago
these merry, jolly, commercial elements of the Holiday season usurped the more
subdued and contemplative nature of Advent, but that’s not the end of the
world, right?

Right.
The secular, commercialized understanding of this time of year does not
see the upcoming holiday as the end of the world.  For most people Christmas is nothing more
than Santa, elves, reindeer, jingle bells and egg nog.  

Unless, of course, you’re a Christian.  

If you’re a Christian than Christmas is a
holiday that’s meant to celebrate God becoming human for our sake.  It’s a holiday that celebrates the world as
we know it ending and a new way of life being born. God is coming to be with us
in the person of Jesus and this is a bold, world-changing claim that is
powerful enough to change our current reality.

As
I think through the events of this past year I am quickly filled with
despair.  The political unrest, the
coronavirus; the racially fueled violence and riots; the injustice towards
minorities both domestic and abroad; it all leaves me feeling hopeless.  But this year, more than ever, I have
embraced this Advent season and the invitation to look towards the future with
hope.   I’ve been looking ahead towards
Christmas hoping that in some way, we (myself included) might catch a fuller
picture of Christ’s incarnation and be inspired to not only bring about an end to
the current ways of the world, but also to usher in a new reality where
Christ’s ways of peace, acceptance, and love guide us each day.