"The Archetype of Advent: The Story of Imagination."

"The Archetype of Advent:  The Story of Imagination."

By: KC Knippa

"However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”, but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit.The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.   [1 Cor. 2:9-10]

            Last week we began to look at this idea that sometimes the stories that the hardest to imagine can also be true.  This week, we once again open our eyes to the fact that the world of the fantastical and the world of the real are one in the same.  Through looking at classic Christmas literary works that present themselves as the archetype of the advent story, we will once again see that the real message of advent can be found all around us. 

            Just as archetypes point to something greater, tonight we again see that through our classic piece.  This story is one of vivid imagery, familiar songs, and dreams beyond belief.  But this story, as imaginative as it is, points to advent – the greatest story of imagination ever told.

            The word imagination is an interesting one.  For most people, myself included, the word imagination conjures up thoughts of ‘make-believe’ or that it is simply untrue in nature.  But in fact, the word “imagination” really means to ‘evoke worlds’; to imagine is just a mental process of seeing a vision or to gain an understanding of something by not physically seeing it.  In essence, imagination is nothing more than faith itself.

            The great body of work that we will discuss this week will be The Nutcracker.  The Nutcracker and the Mouse King was written by ETA Hoffman in 1816.  This original story is fairly dark in nature, focusing mostly of the epic battle between the Nutcracker prince and the Mouse King.  In fact, this tale may be much different than the version most of us have come to know and love.  The Nutcracker as we know it today is based on the adaption of this story into the ballet written by Tchaikovsky nearly a century later.  As we will see, this story has much to show us about the message of advent.

            The story of the Nutcracker, goes a little like this:

It’s a cozy Christmas Eve at the Stahlbaum’s house. Their house is decorated with Christmas ornaments, wreaths, stockings, mistletoe and in the center of it all, a majestic Christmas tree. As the Stahlbaum’s prepare for their annual Christmas party, their children, Fritz and Clara, wait anxiously for their family and friends to arrive. When the guests finally appear, the party picks up with dancing and celebration. All of a sudden, a guest arrives dressed in dark clothing, it is Clara’s godfather Drosselmeyer, the toymaker.  The celebration is interrupted once again when Drosselmeyer reveals to the children that he has brought them gifts. The girls receive beautiful china dolls and the boys receive bugles. Fritz is given a wonderful drum, but Clara is given the best gift of all… the Nutcracker. Fritz grows jealous, snatches the Nutcracker from Clara and plays a game of toss with the other boys. It isn't long until the Nutcracker is dropped and breaks. Clara is upset, but Drosselmeyer fixes it with a handkerchief and placed it in a small make-shift bed under the Christmas tree.

The party grows late and the children become sleepy. Everyone generously thanks the Stahlbaum’s before they leave. Clara fears for her new toy and its safety, she checks on her Nutcracker one last time and ends up falling asleep under the Christmas tree with the Nutcracker in her arms, full of despair.

At the stroke of midnight Clara wakes up to a frightening scene. The house, the tree and the toys seem to be getting larger. Is she shrinking? Out of nowhere large mice dressed in army uniforms, led by the Mouse King, begin to circle the room while the toys, the nutcracker, and the Christmas tree come to life. Clara’s Nutcracker groups the soldier toys into battle formation and fights the mouse army. The Mouse King traps the Nutcracker in the corner, but the Nutcracker can’t overcome the Mouse King’s strength. Clara makes a desperate move to save her Nutcracker from defeat and throws her slipper at the Mouse King. She hits him directly in the head! The Nutcracker is able to overcome the stunned Mouse King and claims victory. In defeat, the mice army quickly carries away their King.

Clara falls onto the Nutcracker’s bed, over-whelmed by the moment. As angels and delightful music hover over their heads, the bed turns into a magical sleigh, floating higher and higher. The Nutcracker is transformed into a human prince.  He gets on Clara’s sleigh and drives through a snowy forest where the snowflakes turn into dancing maidens.

The Nutcracker guides Clara on a magical journey, revealing to her a world like she has never seen.  A large festival filled we dancing, song, and feasting unfolds around them – all coming from the Christmas tree itself.  Sugarplum fairies, snowflakes, and tasty treats come to life and awakens Clara’s imagination.  She becomes full of life and her night that once began with despair, is now transformed into an evening of wonderment and awe.

The celebration lasts for what seems like hours and days.  The festival concludes when everyone comes together on the court and bids Clara and the Nutcracker Prince farewell. She tells the Nutcracker she wishes the adventure would never end and he tells her it won’t for those who have an eye to see it.

Clara wakes up the next morning, under the Christmas tree with her Nutcracker still in held tightly in her arms – full of hope and joy.

            It may be hard to imagine, but there are many parallels and types to be seen between this story and with advent.  This story actually begins in much the same way as the advent story – with an epic battle scene.  Believe it or not, most people do not see the fact that advent is wrapped around this ongoing struggle and battle... without which, advent would not even be necessary.

            Think about it.  Just as the Nutcracker came to life in Clara’s hour of need, Christ has come into our world – became flesh – and fights in our hour of need.  Christ coming as a child in a manger was one of the first strikes against our own Rat king… The Evil One and sin.  If there was not a battle to be waged and a struggle to be overcome, then why would we need a savior?  It is for this very reason that advent must be seen in this way.

            Christ has come and defeated evil once and for all, claiming us as His own.  But that does not mean that we are without struggle.  Life is full of its ups and downs.  But just as the Nutcracker defeats the Rat King and shows Clara a new world, Christ has taken on and won this battle; to free us to begin to imagine new worlds.

            Now that we have become awakened to our battles and no longer need to fear or despair, we can focus on this imaginative world Christ reveals to us.  Can you see this world?  It is all around us.  If you close your eyes… you can begin to see it.  The world that Christ shows to us gives us a glimpse into the heavenly realms and of His Kingdom here on earth.  As He says many times throughout the gospels, the Kingdom is not in the future… it is now.  His fantastical Kingdom is also very real, and beyond anything our imagination can comprehend.  It is only revealed; it is only seen and heard to those who belong to Him.  He has opened our eyes.  Now, can you see this world?  It is all around us.  We are part of this story of imagination.

            The battle is won.  This new world is imagined.  Now we are left in awe as He prepares us to do more.  In the story, we saw Clara drift to sleep, full of despair; but awakened with hope, joy, and awe.  We are awakened in much the same way.  Christ calls us to not only see his fantastical kingdom and to just live in it… He calls us to help serve this Kingdom.  This sense of awe that we have can do nothing but cause us to share this joy with those around us… to awaken others to see the imagination of Advent.

            If we again look at the types in these two stories, we tend to see that we are Clara and that the Nutcracker points to Jesus – but again, I believe there is one piece in the story we are overlooking… The tree.

            In the story, the tree is the central focal point.  Everything revolves around and comes from the tree.  This focus on the tree is a beautiful reminder for us about the advent narrative.  In one story, another legend surrounding Martin Luther, we can see the importance of the Christmas tree.  It is believed that of our modern tradition of getting an evergreen tree, bringing it indoors, and decorating it was begun by Luther and his family.

            The reason he began this tradition was to remind us through placing candles in the evergreen, that Christ has come to bring light… His light, to a dark world.  He has come to bring life to our death.  Just as the evergreen lives through the winter, we are reminded of our new life and joy… our sense of awe.

            If the tree played such an important role in the story and acts as a reminder for us in the advent story, one question remains; how will we share our trees?

            With our renewed imaginations in what Christ has done and continues to do for us, we are to show our trees of hope, joy, and awe to all we meet.  Reminding all that even in advent, the battle has been won and His Kingdom that is beyond all imagination – is already here.

- KC