The Church’s command to Bethlehem to prepare and be glad extends also to us. We are invited to go back in time to Judea. This is of course a poetic way of encouraging us to rejoice and marvel-as fervently, as intimately, and as tangibly as hun1anly possible-in the wonder of the Incarnation and of our salvation:
Let us celebrate the forefeast of the Nativity of Christ, O people, and raising our minds, let us go in spirit to Bethlehem.
(Vespers of the Forefeast, December 20, first hymn of the Stichera)
Come, O faithful let us see where Christ has been born. Let us join the Magi, kings from the East, and follow the guiding star.
(Matins of the Nativity, first Kathisma)
Yet there is more to the theological poetry of our hymns. “Bethlehem” becomes a synonym for “the Church” Christ is to be born within us: in our mystical celebration we shall become Bethlehem, the humble place of His Nativity and so we must prepare ourselves in order that our Lord may make His dwelling within us.
But how, exactly, are we to prepare? Our hymns provide the answer:
Let us cast aside the sleep of idleness, and with vigilance of soul let us sing to Christ, who is born of a pure Maiden….
Let good action be sufficient for the storehouse of our soul, that with a radiant countenance we may sing to Christ, who is born….
Increasing our talent by good works, let us offer them instead of gold and frankincense and myrrh as gifts to Christ, who gave them.
(Triode of Compline of the Forefeast, December 20, eighth ode)
Shedding our tears like myrrh for Christ, who is born in the flesh for us, let us purify the stains of the flesh….
Knowing that ransom is effected by His compassion and a fountain of tears, let us believers, having been cleansed through confession, approach Christ, who is born in the flesh.
(Triode of Compline of the Forefeast, December 21, eighth ode)
O faithful, let us shake the sleep of slothfulness from our eyes, and, fending off the temptations of the evil one; let us keep vigil in prayer….
O faithful, let us stop every vile word from leaving our lips; and having learned the words of God, let us now offer them to Christ….
Let us make haste to renounce the carnal passions and the beauties of the world; and let us confine ourselves to spiritual concerns…. presenting ourselves as worthy by our works.
(Triode of Compline of the Forefeast; December 23; eighth ode)
~ Adapted from Vassilios Papavassiliou, Meditations for Advent: Preparing for Christ’s Birth
