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For the last twelve months I have been growing a beard.
The intention was not to shave or trim at all in this period, but having started at the end of November with a clean shave, I had a wedding to do in March and decided that I needed to trim the sides in order that I look a little presentable and not ruin my friends wedding photos.
But the hair growing out of my chin has not been trimmed for almost twelve months.
Someone said the other day, ‘Harry’s beard is so crazy! I feel sorry for Zoey.’ Lots of people wonder why; when I try and comb it I wonder why.
It all began as we approached Advent in 2009. Advent is the time of the year where the church looks forward to Jesus coming into the world. It is normally the time when you get an Advent calendar from the shops with barely edible chocolate shapes hidden behind cardboard doors. This chocolate delight takes the shape of things like Father Christmas or a reindeer; rarely do small children pause and consider the symbolism of eating a chocolate man with a big beard and a lapsed health regime.
Advent used to be what the church called a penitentiary season. This means a time of the year when we are particularly aware of our need for Jesus. This would be marked by an acute awareness of our sinful nature and perhaps even some kind of self-discipline – like giving up eating chocolate Father Christmases for example. In Advent the church also often reads Revelation, the last book of the Bible. This helps us remember that Christmas is when Jesus came into he world, that Jesus will come again, and that this future hope invades the present and gives us a hope today. There ought not be parties in Advent, we should wait until Jesus does arrive on Christmas morning before we break our fasts.
So last Advent I decided to fast alcohol. But then I decided to do it for a year because I wanted to tell anyone who asked me about my silly facial hair that as a general rule of thumb people in the western world rely too much on alcohol – to help them forget, to help them relax, to help hide the shame, to help them be someone who they really aren’t.
In the Bible there is something called a Nazarite vow. It basically involves not shaving or drinking alcohol for a year. You can read about it in Numbers 6:1-21. So I decided to mark Advent by not drinking or shaving for a year.
The vow runs out soon, and I will have a shave. But on the day that the vow runs out Advent starts again, and so for Advent I am giving up alcohol again. The reason for this is that I want Christmas to be a real party. I want to get ready for Jesus coming into my life in a fresh way, and I want to celebrate his arrival.
At the same time, once Advent begins, I will begin another year long fast. This time I will not buy anything which I don’t need. I have to do some work on defining need here, but I am convinced and convicted that it is not good that some in the western world get richer and the poor get poorer. I am also convinced that it is not good that more and more we define our identity by the things that we own or the things that we don’t own. I am not buying that anymore.
But some of that is the topic of another discussion…
