When the Season Changes: Listening for the First Advent Angel November 29 2025
In our western world, there is a building feeling of celebration leading up to the winter solstice, Chanukah, Christmas, and even the Lakota Winter Count. The sun’s growing strength and light give this season a feeling of “something significant happening.” Ancient stories indicate that the “windows of heaven” are open for a time in the deep winter, and Heaven hovers near the earth more closely than at other times of the year.
With young children, we tell stories of the Maccabees or the birth of Christ to help them understand that this time of year is different from other times. There may not be an actual earthly Santa Claus who is a man in a big red suit, for example, but there certainly is a spirit of Christmas filled with generosity and kindness. Santa Claus gives us a picture of this that helps us to make sense of what might cause the change in people’s hearts at this time of year, why those usually gruff and hard-hearted give gifts and open their hearts.
There are stories in the Christian tradition that give children images to understand this time of year and the need for inner quiet and an open-hearted attentiveness to this mystical change that affects us all in winter. Written by a Christian Community priest in France shortly after World War II, these little pictures — one for each week leading up to Christmas — are a small treasure. We offer these in the hope that they help everyone better understand the ephemeral side of life.
The Blue Angel, 1938 by Marc Chagall
L’Ange Bleu
The Blue Angel
(First Sunday of Advent)
How do we know that Christmas is coming? You cannot see it with your eyes, because the days and nights are as they usually are; people live and go about their business as they ordinarily do. You cannot hear it with your ears because the sounds are the same ones we always hear: cars drive by, planes pass overhead, and children play and cry out as they always do.
And yet, four weeks before Christmas, something significant happens: a great angel descends from Heaven to invite the inhabitants of the earth to prepare for Christmas. He dresses in a grand cloak of blue, woven of silence and peace. Most people do not notice him because they are so busy with other things. But the angel sings in a voice profound, and only those who have an attentive heart can hear him.
He sings: “Heaven comes to the earth, God lives in the hearts of men. Pay attention! Open the door!”
It is on the first Sunday of Advent that the angel passes and speaks to all people. And those who are attentive in their hearts can prepare for Christmas, and sing the song that enkindles a spark….