On Guilt: Advent

Many of us spend a lot of time feeling guilty — except for politicians, some of whom seem to have no sense of guilt at all — but what is actual guilt? There seems to be a distinction between feeling guilty about something, and carrying guilt for some crime actually committed.

            The heroes of antiquity, like Agamemnon and Orestes, responded to the anger of gods who demanded explicit recompense for insults against them: Agamemnon’s sacrifice of his daughter, Iphigenia, leads (not amazingly) to his own murder by his wife, Clytemnestra, who then dies at the hand of their son Orestes, avenging his father. Such antique domestic violence here, but also national violence, where kings and rulers are involved. These people carry actual guilt for deeds done, as commonly in Greek tragedy, under compulsion from the gods. The consequences for themselves and others are typically severe.

            What, then, is ‘feeling guilty’ about our real or imagined misdeeds? First of all, how important do we think we are? Secondly, is our sin, crime, or mistake real, or is it imagined? Obviously something imagined requires a different approach for our healing than something having consequences in the real world.

            Advent is a season of repentance. All around us the secular world jingles, croons and crows about everything Christmaslike from reindeers to drummer tunes. Traffic rushes hither and yon, banking up and barking, while trains close their doors stuffed full of package-carrying maenads. No matter what the weather is, it adds to our woes. Schools and workplaces, in this part of the world, pack on closing concerts, parties and entertainments, plus lists and events towards next year’s demands, while adults struggle with extra workloads, financial burdens, general complications and dramas. Everything is folding up and caving in.

            Do we get to ‘look forward’ to a spectacular day at Christmas, or do we ‘feel guilty’ about ‘not making it’ with the right behaviour, expenditure, excitements, family bliss, vacation plans? Do we have any family to have bliss with; is anybody really speaking to us by now, is our money dire, our health dodgy, our temper short? Do we feel guilty?

            Christ comes as a human being to share our human limitations. These are many. More than you think. Almost certainly, more than you think should apply to you and me. The Gospels don’t discuss the general health of Jesus, but given prevailing patterns in the first century, it seems likely he would have suffered sickness from time to time. He does require rest and respite, rather often, going into the desert with a few friends for prayer, and one hopes, sleep.

            At Christmas, despite the New Year rushing towards us filled with regrets for the old, we have a glimpse of a new life. Sadly there’s too much feeling of personal guilt, anxiety, depression, anger turned outwards or inwards not only throughout Advent but for the whole Christmas season. Perhaps we know that we have an old life, and must learn to live with it. For that reason, Advent is a season of repentance. As John the Baptist cried: ‘Repent, and believe the good news!’ That news is good, and not fearsome. When the haunting emotions arise, blessed is the one who can say, “I have repented!” and for the lucky ones among us, as Luther has it, ‘In spite of everything, I have been baptised!’ You can feel guilty if you must, but your guilt has been washed away.