Advent is a wake-up call and the future is just around the corner. “Almighty God, keep us in the eternal now. Let us know that there will never be so many problems in life, there will never be so much joy and so much sorrow as there is now, and that today is a day of salvation, a day to be, to decide, to love.”
The divinity revealed by Christ already exists within and among humanity, but its fullness is yet to come. That tension is at the heart of Advent.
History gives us images. At the end of World War II, D-Day marked a turning point, but the ultimate victory, V-Day, remained far away. The peace that humanity longs for exists in a similar space between what has begun and what is yet to be completed. shalom It means wholeness. It’s not just the absence of conflict, it’s the existence of justice. In this waiting, the Spirit of Christ brings stability and confidence.
That’s why this season leans more toward preparatory songs like “In the Wild Midwinter” and “Come Thou Long-awaited Jesus” than a celebration of “Joy to the World” in its entirety. Many rush to carol and miss the searching, almost austere beauty of Advent hymns.
This season speaks of grace already at work and the promise that continues. It shows the birth in Bethlehem, which became the basis of God’s presence in history, and the final birth. Parousia (“Second Coming”), which will complete all things.
In this view, we live between what God has already begun and the world as it is now. That tension manifests both within us and around us, and it is rarely simply pulled in two directions. Most of the time, we feel several currents at the same time, each pulling in its own direction.
The same goes for close to home. Each of us – parents, partners, friends – is more like a committee than a single voice. Loyal but suspicious. Careful and bold. Members have conflicting opinions and there is no clear chairman. As Orson Welles once said, “Everything about me is a contradiction, and so is everyone else.” He wasn’t exaggerating. He was naming things that we live with every day. It means we keep trying rather than resolving conflicts.
So how can we find peace in such a situation?
A surprising answer comes from Karen McCarthy Brown, a religious anthropologist and leading expert on Haitian voodoo. Born from a fusion of Catholicism and West and Central African spirituality, Voodoo has long been misunderstood, reduced to a curse and a zombie by Hollywood. What has been lost is its essential nature as a tradition of healing, protection, and community strength.
In a place of constant hardship like Haiti, this faith has withstood repeated efforts to suppress and provided the resilience needed to survive.
Voodoo does not deny science or medicine. They see it as being too focused on curing the pain or eliminating the conflict, rather than how to overcome it. It’s as if Voodoo is saying, “We’re in a storm and you think the important thing is to stay dry.”
I came to give peace, but not as the world gives, and I am reminded of the words of Jesus: “I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.” The sword is not violence, but the inevitable conflict that occurs when peace is mistaken for avoidance, or when people need an enemy to feel at peace.
Vodou takes a different approach to conflict. Conflict works by engaging forces that create tension. The ritual is centered around polyrhythmic drumming and dance.
Brown suggests that strength is “stability within multiple rhythms” and responsiveness to the many “spirits” within and outside of us, supported by a flexible but resilient sense of self. She uses the Creole term to refer to active listeners and dancers of polyrhythmic music. balancer. The goal is to find an inner rhythm that joins with, but is different from, the rhythms of the “other,” both internal and external.
Rather than forcing harmony, Voodoo rituals heal divisions by allowing contradictions, such as human and divine, joy and sadness, hope and fear, to be expressed simultaneously.
This is not self-salvation, but “spiritual salvation,” music and dance that captures and stabilizes the self like a muse. Einstein often said that his best ideas come from music. In Vodou, rhythm prepares understanding before explanation makes sense.
I deal with friends, partners, parents, work, and the temptations of belief and doubt better than mastering the drums on YouTube or receiving careful instruction. Let’s try polyrhythm. Move your hands and feet to different beats: 2/2, 3/4, 7/8, 2/4. (Start by tapping your knuckles on the table with just your hands.) Most days I feel that way, but I just don’t have the rhythm.
Seeing and hearing another harmony in conflict brings a different kind of peace, something closer to joy. Perhaps you too will find it appealing.
Advent is approaching.
A modern interpretation of West African polyrhythms dating back over 1,000 years – 2:54 If the link below doesn’t work, please use this hyperlink.
notes and reading
Peace often begins with contradictions… —Peter Elbow Embracing Contradictions: Explorations in Learning and Teaching (1986), 252. Elbow is known for its emphasis on process, freewriting, and opposing perspectives. He is Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Advent: The Past and Future Coming of Jesus Christ — Rev. Fleming Rutledge (2018). Grounded in the Bible, patristic studies, Barth, Bonhoeffer, and modern theology, Rutledge is academic without being obscure to non-academics.
“Everything about me is contradictory…”—Orson Welles interview (2002), 14. Wells’ career is multifaceted and thoroughly intertwined with his persona.
voodoo
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Karen McCarthy Brown (Drew University):
“Women’s Leadership in Haitian Voodoo” Interweaving the vision, Edited by Judith Plaskow and Carol Christ (1989), 226-234. After studying voodoo for 10 years, McCarthy Brown was initiated into the tradition. -
Mama Lola: Brooklyn Voodoo Priestess (2011), Karen McCarthy Brown. American Journal of Religion.
Brown was a respected anthropologist and religious scholar known for his groundbreaking research on Haitian voodoo.
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Drumming and dancing in religious practice—See Catherine Bell for an extensive explanation. ritual theory, ritual practice (1992, reprinted in 2009) was awarded “Best First Book in the History of Religions” by the American Academy of Religion.
Bell was a professor of religious studies at Santa Clara University and became one of the leading scholars of ritual studies.
postscript:
In the 1920s, philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin developed a view on culture and discourse that was translated as: conversational heteroglossia:The idea is that meaning does not come from silencing contradictions, but from the interaction, interruption, and reshaping of different voices. This is a dynamic that is particularly germane to living Advent in the midst of competing pulls, rhythms, and selves.
hidden hope
Thanksgiving anyway
Approximately 2+2=5
Source: 2 + 2 = 5 – williamgreen.substack.com
