Office Christmas Party Week

I enjoy this week at my college. Every department has a Christmas party. We have to do it this week. Once finals start, no one is thinking about parties. Today and tomorrow are the big days. By tomorrow afternoon, I'll be eating nitrogen ice cream in the chemistry lab, dividing pie with the math teachers, and hob-nobbing with the English faculty. It's a fun couple of days!

I've always found it interesting how the liturgical year matches with the academic calendar. This Advent, some students created an Advent devotional. They handed out one reading per day. Of course, they only have to create two weeks worth of material. Also, in chapel we continue to talk about preparation, expectation, and waiting. These take on a special meaning to a student who is fretting about finals, or to a faculty member who needs to finish assignments before the deadline.

Today in chapel, we slipped into Christmas, against the wishes of the college organist. You see, Christmas doesn't exist on the academic calendar. We won't return to school until after Martin Luther King Jr. Day (shall I say St. Martin's Day?). By then, we will be will into epiphany.

Then, during the doldrums of mid-spring semester, we journey through Lent. Spring and graduation often occur either in the joy of the Easter resurrection, or very close to the pouring of the Spirit in Pentecost.

I think that our position in life shapes our perspective. I look at the academic calendar through the liturgical calendar, and it shapes how those seasons affect me. It lets me appreciate those seasons even more.

But for now, I'll enjoy a little premature Advent/Christmas tidings.