Rejoice!

It's the mandatory mantra of Christmas.

After all, there are brightly colored lights, beautiful decorations, great sales, parties, programs, and parades. What's not to be joyful about?

But the flip side of the holiday season is a dour, depressive mood that settles on Christian and non-Christian alike. For the studious and the dubious, joy become mere jocularity, praise is only uttered by those who close their minds to realty, and thankfulness is just middle-class relief that life is still going on as always.

All of us know of or have experienced holiday depressions. We've all had a Christmas where nothing went right, a Christmas where no one came home, a Christmas where we had to work the night shift, a Christmas where someone was seriously ill. How is such a situation compatible with the kind of joy, prayer, and thankfulness Paul expresses in this week's epistle text?

Advent extends over four Sundays until Christmas. How are we expected to maintain a constant expression of Christmas joy and expectation over all those long days and nights?

Advent is a journey, not a one-night-stand. It takes time to prepare for an event as momentous as the birth of a Saviour. For Mary it took nine long months. Ask any woman who has carried child: "How long does pregnancy last?"

The expectation is never measured in days or months. The ups and downs, the highs and lows of a pregnancy are (in)famous.

Think morning sickness. Think bizarre cravings. Think weight gain, swollen ankles, uncomfortable days and nights. Think all the variables medical science has taught us to help control and limit. Think all the variables medical science has taught us we can't control or limit.

Nine months seems nothing like nine months. More like an eternity, and then suddenly, it doesn't seem nearly long enough to prepare for the biggest change life can bring - new life.

The Thessalonian community to which Paul was writing was gestating as well. It was a new community of faith. Its faith newly gestating, still developing, still growing. Paul's advice was both particular and general, prescribing particular actions and general attitudes. Part of Paul's message is his advocacy of a nurturing acceptance of the various expressions of the Spirit in their community. But notice how Paul preaches both an open heart and a critical mind. Welcome the Spirit, he says. Listen to the words of prophecy. But keep in mind God's word and test everything (verse 21) against that word.

Yet did you notice? The most emphatic words in Paul's message to these Christians aren't words of caution but a call to exuberance. "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you" (verses 16-18). Wow! Let me read that again: "Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Notice how the apostle's directives are mobile words - words that take us through the Advent journey, however long it is, however difficult the path.

There's an Advent tradition in Mexico known as Las Posadas. This celebration highlights the journey of Advent because it extends over both space and time. Las Posadas lasts for nine days before Christmas. The nine days symbolize the nine months when Mary carried Christ in her womb. To enact Las Posadas individuals are cast as Mary and Joseph, and they travel on a live burro, representing the holy family. In the most traditional rendition of this event, nine homes or families in a parish are singled out as the host (or non-host as the case will be) of the holy family for nine nights. These nine families represent nine posadas or inns, and for each night of the novena they take their turn as the inn that turns away the traveling trio. The rest of the parish follows these representatives on their journey, holding candles, singing hymns, witnessing the long journey of Mary and Joseph as they seek shelter and shoulders on their way to Bethlehem.

Traditionally it's not until the ninth night, the final night, that Mary and Joseph and the burro find acceptance and rest in the final house on the list. It's in this final posada or inn that the holy family finds a crib in a manger all prepared for the birth of the holy child.

But even after they are turned away eight of the nine nights, there's food and fellowship with all families, as old friends are greeted and new friends are made amidst an atmosphere of joy, prayer and thanksgiving.

Some churches have adopted and adapted this Las Posadas tradition in a striking way. They have made a traveling manger, with knitted figures of Mary, Joseph, baby Jesus and the donkey - a kind of traveling creche that's taken to a home on the first Sunday of Advent and then travels from one home to another, staying one night in any inn that will welcome them.

But at each home where the traveling crib is housed, there's a short service presided over by the innkeepers in which candles are lit, a song is sung, prayers are offered, and gratitude to God expressed. The crib also contains Advent resources, music (DVDs), books, kids coloring books, and a diary so that the story of the crib can be read on Christmas Eve when it's returned to the church and its journey told to the congregation (for more see Diana Klein, "Prepare the Way," The Tablet, 26 November 2005, 18).

In their recent book on Seasons of Grace (2003), Alan Jones and John O'Neil tell how "St. Francis of Assisi found in the humble birth of Jesus a touching image of God's hospitality. God, the universal host, thought Francis, came as a vulnerable guest into the world. He saw the crib in the stable as a sign of God embracing our poverty - both the literal poor and the poverty of spirit that makes us realize we are, finally, as vulnerable as any baby. We too are guests just passing through, and we're called to be hosts to each other" (Alan Jones & John O'Neil, Seasons of Grace: The Life-Giving Practice of Gratitude (Hoboken, NJ: John F. Wiley & Sons, 2003), 185).

Can we treat everyone we meet as we would a guest in our home? Can we welcome everyone we meet as an angel of God . . . just in case? You never know . . .

But remember this: Christians have a dual role. We're hosts welcoming others to the table, but we're guests at God's table, and our response to the hospitality offered is one of joy, prayer, and thanksgiving.