In less than a week - next Sunday - the season of Advent begins. For a lot of people, myself among them, I look forward to this with much anticipation. But it was not always that way, and for many, it is still not that way.
Advent? "Bah Humbug"...Why Celebrate it?
I was raised in a family
of eight and as a kid Christmas was my favorite time of the year. Not only did we get vacation from school, but
we knew there were going to be presents under a tree. What I remember the most about December was that it was a busy time of shopping, decorations, family
parties and Church pageants.
Yet, for me, there were
two days that we kept our eyes focused towards:
Christmas Eve and Christmas day.
The
other days in that month seemed to drag on endlessly awaiting Christmas Eve and
Christmas Day. We filled that time
shopping for presents and Christmas gatherings at school, or relative’s
homes.
On Christmas Eve our Lutheran church’s children's program meant I stood up in front the congregation nervously
trying to remember the passage of scripture I was assigned to say. Christmas Eve couldn't get over fast enough, because back home presents had mysteriously appeared under the tree.
Christmas
Day was bedlam with presents to use and more to open; a meal that was second only to
Thanksgiving, and visits to and from relatives. Once the
meal was finished and the relatives gone home, life returned to normal. This was Christmas for me year after year
until my very late teen years.
As a young adult I
gave my heart and life to serve Christ.
It was not indicative of the way I lived my life as a teen, but an
encounter with scripture aided by a faithful witness and the work of the Holy
Spirit pointed me back to Jesus. God
drew me to himself, and I fell headlong into the life of a Christ-follower. I entered that life with passion and a desire
to learn all I could so that I could live my faith with all sincerity before
Christ, my Lord.
Interestingly, not
much changed in relation to Christmas. The
church I became part of didn't do much different with Christmas than the one I
was raised in. I was a young believer
and the church’s message was Jesus Christ died for your sins, and this is why
he came.
Every year Christmas was
celebrated one Sunday before Christmas with carols, and the kids put on a pageant;
but most of the emphasis was on “why” Jesus came – to save us from our
sins. Since the major emphasis was on
salvation, the majesty and mystery of the Incarnation was left out.
I went to a Seminary
to follow God’s call to serve in vocational ministry. The Seminary I attended did not mention the
season of Advent. The Incarnation was a
topic for Biblical Theology, but not the mystery of God of the Advent season. Advent was for the “high church” folk (which by the way I was told may not really be believers). The
liturgy of seasonal celebrations was deemed to be inappropriate for a real “Spirit-led”
ministry.
I majored in Church
History. As I became steeped in the
story of the church – its beginnings, persecution, growth and development – it gave
me a broad brush to see how the church worshiped Christ. My perspective on the
contemporary church that I was part of changed as I saw what Christ was doing in
the Church’s history – “I will build my church…”. It was here that I entered into my first Advent
celebration of Christ’s Incarnation. I
was hungry for a richer experience in celebrating Christmas. I had little experience, but I was persistent
in reading as much as I could. As I read
the Church Fathers, the Scholastics, the Reformers, and Pietists, I began to
see something of the rich diversity these spiritual fathers of the faith saw in
Christ’s Incarnation.
I graduated from
Seminary and began to pastor a small Congregational church in a rural farming
community in Wisconsin. It didn’t take
long for old patterns to return. The
first Christmas seasons were filled with planning services, choral programs,
children programs, the usual Christmas decorations, family shopping and
gatherings…busy things. I was returning
to the Christmas of my childhood.
A few years into my
first ministry I began to loathe the Autumn, because I knew it meant a lot of
busy days ahead, with little personal fruit to enjoy. It wasn’t the fault of the church, or
ministry, it was my own spiritual laziness that made me accept the
busyness.
Again, after several years, I
wanted Christmas to be more than what I had made it into. I knew that I was missing Jesus among all of
the good church and family things.
I returned to
Advent.
I came to the season
of Advent deliberately, intentionally. I
began to include Advent as a season-long celebration. Advent meant that Christmas became a
month-long celebration: more reflective, prayerful, worshipful!
Eventually, my family joined in, not because I compelled
them to, but because my wife saw what Advent did for me.
We incorporated Advent candles around an
Advent wreath. Every evening we had brief
nightly readings, simple reflections which our children embraced and year after
year they looked forward to Advent, and not just the presents at the end.
My quiet times were reflective, prayerful,
and worshipful. I read Advent books from
many different sources. The reflections,
thinking, pondering, and musing made my journey through the season something I
anticipated for weeks before it occurred.
In our Church
community I introduced elements of Advent slowly. I did not attempt to “force-feed” what I
wanted and needed for myself upon others.
Our worship services had Advent themes, and I shared the importance of
breaking free of the world’s patterns for a consumer Christmas in favor of one
that was more Christ-honoring.
Some came
along and embraced the season making a part of their own traditions. Simple readings, the kids lighting candles
each week, and incorporating Advent into weekly messages brought the
congregation into the season “softly”.
I have a deep
passion for Advent. I am an evangelical
pastor who loves God’s word and seeks to preach it faithfully. I see in Advent a place of wonder, mystery,
fulfillment, anticipation, spiritual “waiting”, and expectation – a few of the
words that accompany this season.
If you
are a believer in Jesus Christ, Advent is for you. Maybe you thought it was for “those others”,
but it is not.
If you have never taken
time to journey through an entire Advent season, let me invite you to come
along with me. I promise, taking time to
prayerfully journey through the “Advent season” will make Christmas much more “wonderful".
What is Advent & the Advent Season?
The word "Advent" means "arrival" or "coming" in Latin and celebrates the mystery and the wonder of the first “coming” of Christ Jesus in his birth.
The word "Advent" means "arrival" or "coming" in Latin and celebrates the mystery and the wonder of the first “coming” of Christ Jesus in his birth.
Theologically, the
Incarnation and the Trinity belong together.
Jesus is God in flesh, and yet truly human. John 1:14 (NIV)
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
1 Timothy 3:16 (NIV)
16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
16 Beyond all question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body, was vindicated by the Spirit, was seen by angels, was preached among the nations, was believed on in the world, was taken up in glory.
Advent begins the Christmas season and as well, the Church
year for many churches in the western world. Advent is a seasonal celebration, a tradition that
goes back through the Church’s history to the early centuries of the
church.
For centuries before Christ Jesus, faithful Jewish believers
waited for God to send His Messiah. When
Jesus asked his disciples who they believed him to be, Peter answered: “You
are the Christ (Messiah), the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus’ followers were first called Christians
in the early church era (Acts 11:26). The early church’s teachers saw in Christ’s
first Advent a fulfillment of the Older Testament’s prophecies concerning the
Messiah’s coming. But, for the early
church, Advent meant not only the celebration of Jesus’ first coming; but also the
expectation and waiting for Christ's second coming.
The exact time when the season of Advent came to be
celebrated is not precisely known.
It is composed of the four Sundays before Christmas day, and
can be as early as November 27th, or as late as December 3rd. This year, it begins on this next Sunday, Nov. 30.
For Christians, Advent is a time of
reflection about the amazing gift that God gave to us in the person of His Son
who came to live among us, and who someday will return to us – a second Advent.
Advent is an opportunity to restore
Jesus to His rightful place as the center of, and reason for, Christmas as a
holiday.
What do you do in the Advent Season?
We'll revisit this the next post:
Peace
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