From the Preface of my Christmas Devotional book on Amazon: "An Advent Sojourn"
Advent or
Christmas? My Story
Advent reminds me that to know God I must begin where God began –
where the “eternal word became human and lived for a while among us” (John 1:14,
The Message). I do not celebrate Advent
because I have nothing else to do around the Christmas season. I celebrate Advent because I want to be
immersed in the story that reminds me over and over again that God saw in us,
his people, the beauty and wonder of His “image” - so much so that he entered
into redemption through the act of the Incarnation – Jesus, the Word became
flesh.
Why I wanted Advent instead of just
Christmas?
My own journey to embrace Advent began late, in my adult years. I was raised in a family of eight and Christmas was my favorite time of the year. Not only did we get vacation from school, but we knew that with Christmas came presents under a tree. Most of what I remember about December was that it was a busy time of shopping, decorations, various parties and Church pageants. 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 as we waited for those two days to arrive.
On Christmas Eve our church’s Christmas Eve service was a pageant, which meant that I, along with my peers, stood up in front the congregation nervously trying to remember the passage of scripture we were assigned to recite. That done, we hurried home to wait Christmas Day. Christmas was bedlam as we opened presents – which was the goal of what Christmas was about for me. Our family ate a gigantic meal that was second only to Thanksgiving. Once the meal was finished and the relatives gone home, life returned to normal. This was Christmas for me year after year until age 20.
As a young 20 year college student, I encountered faith in Christ all over again and I gave my heart and life to 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 towards Jesus. God drew me to himself, and I fell headlong into the life of a committed, passionate believer. I entered that life with a desire to learn all I could so that I could live my faith with all sincerity before Christ, and others. I grew in my faith, and eventually decided God wanted me to serve Him full time in ministry.
Interestingly, not much changed in relation to Christmas. The church I became part of didn’t do anything different with Christmas than what I was raised in, even though I was immersed in expositional preaching and discipleship. As a young believer the church’s message was that Jesus Christ died for your sins, and this is why he came, so trust Him as your Savior. There seemed little interest in celebrating his arrival - just the purpose of His coming was important. Since the major emphasis was on salvation, the majesty and mystery of the Incarnation was ignored.
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 the mystery of God that marked the Advent season was not a focus for celebration. Advent was for the “high church” people. The liturgy of seasonal celebrations was deemed to be inappropriate for a real “Spirit-led” ministry.
In Church History I studied the story of the church – its beginnings, growth and development – and it gave me a broad brush to see how the church worshipped Christ through the two millenniums. My perspective on the contemporary church I was part of went through a change as I witnessed the Church’s history unfold. Jesus said, “I will build my church…”, and I could see that change over the 2000 years of growth. My perceptions of the church broadened as I saw how God moved through faithful men and women from many different streams of church life. I hungered for a deeper experience of God’s life at work in me.
I graduated from Seminary and began to pastor a small 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 that a Pastor of a small church did. I was repeating, as an adult, the Christmas of my childhood.
A few years into this first ministry I braced myself for autumn, because I knew it meant a lot of busy days ahead, and not a lot of personal fruit to enjoy. With a family to raise and a ministry to preside over, I longed for Christmas to be more than busy days of church pageants and presents to shop for. After several years I wanted Christmas to be more than what I had allowed it to become. 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 made a decision (now, almost 30 years ago) to take time during the season before Christmas to prepare my heart and soul for the miracle of the Incarnation that leads up to Christmas Day. I started by including Advent readings and meditations in my quiet times and began a season-long celebration. I found books, devotional and theological ones to read and ponder. Over time Advent meant that Christmas became a celebration: more reflective, prayerful, and worshipful!
At first I did this on my own, but eventually my family joined in, not because I compelled them to, but because of what Advent did for us. We began to incorporate Advent candles with an Advent wreath on our dinner table. We lit the Advent candle(s) and read briefly a passage of scripture, giving simple reflections that for our children which they could embrace.
As a family we sojourned through Advent, taking our time to savor the season and not just Christmas day. As a result, Christmas became a culmination of a celebration – much more than the presents at the end.
In our Church community I introduced elements of Advent slowly. Our Church was Evangelical, and Non-Denominational. I was a Pastor/teacher who loved exposition of Scripture. Our congregation loved God’s word and hungered for the teaching of the word, and were less than enthusiastic with Advent as a season. They either did not have a liturgical background, or had left one because “it was dead” (their words) in terms of worship and the word.
I did not attempt to “force-feed” what I wanted (and needed for myself) upon others. As we came to Advent each year, I would incorporate into our worship services Advent themes. I spoke of Advent as something to embrace – a way to break free of the world’s patterns of a “consumer” Christmas, in favor of one that was Christ-focused. Soon I was being asked “how” to personally do Advent? Many came along and embraced the season making a part of their own traditions.
As time went along children and parents were included during Advent worship times – reading scripture, lighting candles, singing songs of worship that celebrated Christ’s coming for each Sunday of Advent. I taught messages with Advent themes in our worship services during Advent. We created a community environment that gave an “invitation without expectations” of conformity. I’ve witnessed our church - that loves God’s word and loves worshiping God “in Spirit and in truth” - to also love the season of Advent because it brings them closer to the real reason we celebrate Christmas.
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