There are many things I enjoy about Advent:
Firstly, there is the theatre.
As each candle is lit our anticipation of what Jesus brings at Christmas is dramatically intensified. Likewise, as each window of the Advent calendar is opened revealing the chocolate inside, we have the sense that the countdown has begun.
When our children were young, we had 25 tiny green and red stockings hanging up on the stars. Each stocking contained a chocolate and a Bible verse from the Christmas story. The children would take it in turns to read the verse and eat the chocolate. It was a fun way to prepare for Christmas Day.
Secondly, there is the sense of anticipation.
Advent is a season that speaks to a world which has many longings, sighs and tears. Many of us find ourselves waiting for life to change, a test result or a loved one to come home. Advent reminds us that after a long period of waiting Jesus was finally born as the fulfilment of the promises of the Old Testament. In the same way we look forward to the blessed hope that Jesus will return in glory to transform our world so that there are no more tears, suffering or death.
The neglect of the traditional Advent emphasis on the so-called “last things” is a great loss to us.
The four last things: Death — Judgement — Heaven — Hell are a reminder that this world is not our home we are just a passing through. This is a counterintuitive message for a world that is obsessed with Now!
God has place eternity in our hearts, and we are restless until our hearts find rest in the eternal God, who is revealed to us by Jesus.
Thirdly, there is a sense of stranger things.
Tish Harrison Warren reminds us of one of the reasons we observe Advent:
“Part of why we observe Advent is to make Christmas weird again, to allow the shock of the incarnation to take us aback once again.”
The biblical message of Advent and Christmas is weird! A virgin conceives, angels fill the skies and appear to humans, a star guides wise men to the place where Jesus was born. This is not everyday life in Lancing, I can assure you.
Christmas stretches our sense of credulity. Yet we must not assume that it would have been any easier to believe these things if we had been Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth or Zechariah. Mary has her faith in God’s action confirmed by two things, the statement that: “Nothing is impossible with God,” and the unexpected pregnancy of her elderly relative Elizabeth.
Neither Mary nor Luke made heavy weather of the idea of a virgin conceiving. It stands in the flow of biblical revelation where God has done things that exceed all human expectations. The statement “Nothing is impossible with God,” was one of the reassuring words that Abraham and Sarah received concerning the promise of the birth of their son Isaac.
Happy Advent!
May you be helped to enter into the drama, anticipation and wonder of who God is and what he has done in sending Jesus to our world.
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash