burning like matchsticks in the face of the darkness

Tues. Dec. 4, 2012

Get more vertical: hike, climb to a high place, pogo or trampoline. Lift your chin to the sky and remember whose you are.

-from Molly's Advent calendar ["Advent and Christmas 2012: Incarnation"]

The end of the workday yesterday, I was feeling kinda pissy, so coming home I kinda wanted to just bike for ages, but I also wanted to head home. (There isn't a nice bike path immediately near me, which is irritating -- my go-to is the Charles River, and while I remembered about the Minuteman Bike Path later, I'm not certain that would have been all that more convenient, requiring that I head into Arlington, since it was the whole "travel during rush hour after dark" that was disinclining me from heading out again -- well, that and various other factors.)

I sometimes flirt with the idea of doing an hour bike ride along the River in the morning and doing strength training after work (I seem to get through it much more quickly when I'm not doing it first thing in the morning) rather than alternating morning routines. Days like today when I have extra time after my strength training routine and no time-sensitive plans after work, this seems like a good idea -- but I usually have evening plans (and don't love the "gym during lunchbreak" thing, though certainly I do it at times when I agree to be in the office early).

At the gym this morning, a trainer was talking about classes she teaches e.g. a Cardio Chaos from 12:05-12:55 (Wednesdays), where you rotate 3 times through 10 stations (jumping jacks, kettlebell swing, etc.), which is sort of tempting. (I tend to forget that there are regular classes which I can attend for free as part of my gym membership since I'm not inherently interested in trainers/classes and thus only notice classes when there are fliers up for special pay-extra classes -- which I have done before.)

(On the theme of Molly's calendar today, one of these days I'll go rock wall climbing again.)

+

At the gym this morning, a trainer and her client were like, "Yay, Christmas music!" and my first response was "Unrelenting War on Advent!" and then I realized the song playing on the radio was "Let It Snow," which isn't actually a Christmas song. (In contrast, at Trader Joe's on Sunday I heard "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" and cringed for multiple reasons.)

The trainer said that one year it was like the last day before Break and barely anyone was in and she had Christmas music on and someone asked her to turn it off and she did but she thought, "Grinch." I did not say, "Unrelenting War on Advent!"

She talked about some class she does where she plays holiday music and she really does try to be inclusive -- e.g., including the Chanukah song. (On reflection, I assume she means the Adam Sandler song -- which is trufax an amusing song, though, hi, I bet Jews have lots of songs they sing at Chanukah, because they're Jews and thus have lots of songs for every occasion.)

Somewhere in here the client commented that there aren't really a lot of "Advent-y" songs, and in my head I was like: THANK YOU for acknowledging that the season of Advent even exists! -- Advent songs aren't peppy upbeat radio songs (like "Let It Snow") because they're about expectant waiting, and also they're explicitly religious so they're not radio songs and ugh, we mostly don't play explicitly religious songs on the radio period for obvious reasons (though, okay, I have a Josh Groban album (no, I don't remember why -- possibly a gift from Singspiration) which has actualfax Jesus songs on it, so probably so does every other album, of which there are many since apparently everyone needs to make a Christmas/holiday album [Edit: And on that subject, on Thursday night, someone I know from high school posted to fb: "How was I completely unaware that Sufjan Stevens released another amazing 58 song, 5 album Christmas extravaganza? So ridiculously excited right now! http://www.npr.org/2012/11/19/165470944/first-listen-sufjan-stevens-silver-gold " /edit ] -- because people need 87 different renditions of the same few dozen songs for their parties? idek.), so when we talk about "Christmas music" we probably mostly mean either generic winter stuff (which varies in quality, and obviously elides the entire Southern Hemisphere) or songs about "Santa" -- which I want to burn in a fire because, ugh, lying to your children.

I am not trying to take away anyone's holiday joy* but seriously, if you want joyful music in the darkness, go for it. If you want it to explicitly reference the cold/snow/dark of the season, go for it. [I have in fact crowdsourced "songs celebrating winter."] Please don't subject me to crappy music, and please respect my desire to observe my personal spiritual/religious practice of expectant waiting during the ~4 weeks of Advent and then celebration during the 12 Days of Christmas (see also: Lent and Eastertide); see also: my desire to not have "Christmas" cantatas or carol sings during Advent.

[Later today, someone on facebook linked to: The Daily Show with John Stewart: "The War on Christmas: Friendly Fire Edition" (it gets good about 4 minutes in -- "Christmas is so big now it's eating other holidays").]

* posts I have read recently include:

• Mary Luti's "A Good Word for the World in Advent" [via Molly]
  
• "Grace as: Permission to Celebrate" [via MagpieGirl]
  
• "A few ways in which the church cultivates irrelevance" on Episcopal Cafe [via OccupyAdvent]
  
• "Top 10 Reasons Christians Should Stop Whining About Secular Xmas" [via a UMC acquaintance]

When I was thinking about secular radio not playing Advent songs I remembered that on Sunday, @OccupyAdvent shared their #adventplaylist:

• Depeche Mode, "Enjoy the Silence"
  
• Blind Boys of Alabama, "People Get Ready"
  
• Bob Marley, "Stir it Up"
  
• Colin Hay, "Waiting for my Real Life to Begin"
  
• Mumford & Sons, "I Will Wait"
  
• Simon & Garfunkel, "Sound of Silence"
  
• Bear with us on this one: They Might Be Giants, "Birdhouse in Your Soul"
  
• Tom Waits, "Jesus Gonna Be Here"
  
• Over the Rhine, "Only God Can Save Us Now"
  
• Johnny Cash, "The Man Comes Around"

and then today they Tweeted the YouTube playlist link.

I am debating including Ani DiFranco, "The Waiting Song" (or "Second Intermission" -- yes, I ran a lyrics search for "wait").

Edit: @OccupyAdvent added:

• Beatles, "Let it be"
  
• Sam Cooke, "A Change Gonna Come"
  

And friends of mine suggested:

• Joni Mitchell, "River" (Coming on Christmas, waiting)
  
• Avril Lavigne, "I'm with You" (I tend think of Avril Lavigne's "I'm with You" as describing my relationship with God in general, but it strikes me as pretty darn Advent-y)
  

Plus, obvs., given my joy sadhana this season: Bob Franke, "Say Yes"

And after Wednesday's concert, possibly: Jenna Lindbo, "Angels on the Subway"

/edit

***

"Joy Sadhana is a daily practice in the observation of joy."
-mylittleredgirl [more info]

Hail full of grace, the Lord is with you
Worlds without end depend on you
Bless'd is the one whom you bring forth
Whom no one else can bring
-"Say Yes," Bob Franke

( joy sadhana )