Advent is a season of preparation. Preparation for what? Ostensibly, it’s for an event that happened two millenia ago: the coming of Christ. But more, it’s preparation to celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas, to receive faithfully the risen Christ who comes to us in Word, and Spirit, and to await with hope Christ’s coming in final victory.
The word advent comes from the Latin, “advetus”, which means coming. Whose coming? Not ours, certainly not Santa’s, but His. Like the Psalmist, we wait patiently for the Lord.
Our greatest challenge at Advent is to accept it as a time of patient waiting, not of running around. We wait in hope for Christ’s coming into our lives, something that’s hard to do if we’re frenzied by the demands of the season. We’re emphatically NOT waiting for cyber deals, or secular celebrations, or for an unknown savior. We are waiting for our hearts to be made ready for the coming of the Messiah, and we are waiting for Jesus to come in His own good time.
One way to prepare meaningfully at Advent is to use a wreath. Galilee recently distributed “Advent in a Box” kits that included a wreath and candles to about 170 people. The wreath’s circularity reminds us of the continuous power and love of God which has no beginning and no end. The wreath’s evergreen branches are a sign of everlasting life. The four candles represent hope, love, joy and peace, with a white candle in the center being the Christ candle lit on Christmas Eve.
These lights are important, because Advent comes when the days are shortest. Before modern times, lighting candles would crystalize a person’s hope for the return of warm sunlight and, by analogy, their anticipated joy at Jesus’ coming to bring God’s light to the world.
The Advent wreath candles are a witness to the light that cannot be extinguished. But, we’re not celebrating Advent. From Advent we move to Christmas, and we must remember what we really celebrate.
Max Lucado in “The Night Jesus was Born” tells the story this way:
“The sky was ordinary. An occasional gust stirred the leaves and chilled the air. The stars were diamonds sparkling on black velvet. Fleets of clouds floated in front of the moon.
It was a beautiful night – a night worth peeking out your bedroom window to admire – but not an unusual one. No reason to expect a surprise.
The sheep were ordinary. Some fat, some scrawny. Some with barrel bellies. Some with twig legs. Common animals. No fleece made of gold. No history makers. No blue ribbon winners. They were simply sheep – lumpy, sleeping silhouettes on a hillside.
And the shepherds. Peasants they were. Probably wearing all the clothes they owned. Smelling like sheep and looking just as woolly. They were nameless and simple.
An ordinary night with ordinary sheep and ordinary shepherds. And were it not for a God who loves to hook an “extra” on the front of the ordinary, the night would have gone unnoticed. The sheep would have been forgotten, and the shepherds would have slept the night away.
But God dances amidst the common. And that night he did a waltz.
The black sky exploded with brightness. Trees that had been shadows jumped into clarity. Sheep that had been silent became a chorus of curiosity. One minute the shepherds were dead asleep, the next they were rubbing their eyes and staring into the face of an alien – an angel. The night was ordinary no more.
God’s most powerful tools are the simplest – sheep, shepherds, angels and a baby boy.”
Brenda and I pray that during this different Advent season and Christmas you find the true meaning of the season. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
May 2021 be the answer to our prayers.
