The word ‘Advent’ means ‘coming’. The Church observes this season to help enhance our wonder at the truth that God comes to us. We spend time remembering the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, but also anticipating the second coming of Jesus in power to make all things new.
Christmas is a time of remembering and celebrating that God took on human form to come save his people. Traditionally, Christmas has been celebrated starting on Christmas day and for the twelve days following. The season of Advent has been used to help prepare the church to celebrate Christmas well. Covering the four Sundays leading up to Christmas day, Advent is a season of eagerly awaiting the promised second coming of our King as a way to prepare our hearts to celebrate the fulfilled promises of the first coming of our King.
SEASONS
Christmas is a time of remembering and celebrating that God took on human form to come save his people. Traditionally, Christmas has been celebrated starting on Christmas day and for the twelve days following. The season of Advent has been used to help prepare the church to celebrate Christmas well. Covering the four Sundays leading up to Christmas day, Advent is a season of waiting, hoping, and longing that heightens our awareness of God’s promises and actions. While Christmas has merged with and sometimes replaced Advent in modern times, making space for some of the traditions of Advent can still serve us well.
COMING
The word ‘Advent’ means ‘coming’. The Church observes this season to help enhance our wonder at the truth that God comes to us. We spend time remembering the first coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, but also anticipating the second coming of Jesus in power to make all things new. Advent is a season of eagerly awaiting the promised second coming of our King as a way to prepare our hearts to celebrate the fulfilled promises of the first coming of our King.
TENSION
Advent is a season where we try to walk in the “already/not-yet” tension of the gospel. Jesus has already come in the fulfillment of God’s promises and to establish his gracious reign as King. But the final fulfillment of the promises and the completion of his kingdom has not yet arrived. We can celebrate and enjoy the good things in life now, while knowing the best is yet to come. And we can be honest about the hard, broken, and unfinished nature of our lives by patiently awaiting what is to come. In the Season of Advent our souls wait in stillness, our minds anticipate the future, and our hearts begin to long for our coming King. In the Season of Christmas, our hearts rejoice, our minds remember, and our souls rest assured in the already-come King.
PREPARATION
The Season of Advent is not about itself. It is about God coming to us. By spending the Advent season waiting and hoping and longing for the second coming, we prepare ourselves to celebrate the first coming. We are able to more fully understand the passages of the Israelites waiting for their coming king when we have spent time waiting for our coming king. We are able to more fully love and cherish the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah’s birth when we have spent time praying for the New Testament promises of the second coming to be fulfilled. When we spend time crying out “Come Lord Jesus!”, the incarnation becomes an assurance to us that the promises are true, Jesus has come to us, and will again. We want to embrace the tension we live in by spending this season waiting, hoping, and longing together.
RECOMMENDED ADVENT DEVOTIONALS:
• Jonathan Gibson - ‘O Come, O Come, Emmanuel: A Liturgy for Daily Worship from Advent to Epiphany’
• J.C. Ryle: ‘The Coming of the King: 25 Readings for Advent’
• Tim Chester: ‘Fixated: Advent Meditations From the Book of Hebrews’
Advent Schedule:
Week One: The Advent of our propitiation
November 26 - 1 John 4:7-12
Week Two: The Advent of our reconciliation
December 3 - Colossians 1:19-20
Week Three: The Advent of our Justification
December 10 - Romans 3:21-26
Week Four: The Advent of Our Adoption
December 17 - Galations 4:4-5
The Advent of our Salvation
10:00am Sunday Morning, December 24 - 1 Timothy 1:15