There is probably no more frustrating or misunderstood time for Christians than the season of Advent. We tend to be an impatient people by nature; and when your pastor continually tells you that it’s not time to sing Christmas carols yet, most of us think that the theological splitting of hairs has gone too far. After all, everyone else is celebrating the Christmas season – Why can’t we? Why spend four weeks talking about the coming of Christmas, rather than just celebrating it like the secular world does? Why don’t we just put the baby Jesus in the manger, sing about that blessed morning until we’re tired of the same old songs, and then move on to the New Year and the rest of our lives?
The longer I do this, the more I come to appreciate the theological reasons and meanings for the things that we do, especially when it comes to the liturgical calendar. While the secular world sees the Christmas season as the end of the year; for us it is the beginning of a new year of hope and promise. We look forward to the coming of the Christ child, because it reminds us that God has visited us once and will do so again. In fact, our recognition of the Advent season begins with the realization that we are living in the in-between time: after the first coming of Christ and before the second coming of Christ. It is a time to be celebrated, but also a time for introspection and preparation. After all, the second coming of Christ means judgment and the end of this world – not very happy themes for most people, but causes of joy for those who are expecting the promised conclusion of history. Early Christians waited with eagerness and expectation for Christ to return in their lifetime. They spent their time in prayer and worship, sharing the time together and being with one another when at all possible, teaching, preaching, healing, and spreading the Gospel to anyone who would listen.
The difficulty for modern Christians is how do we occupy this in-between time? Do we go about with business as usual, trusting in God’s grace that we will be ready when Christ does return? Do we spend our time putting our affairs in order, so that everything is neat and tidy when the inevitable happens? Do we live life to its fullest, knowing that the ultimate Christmas gift is that our salvation has been granted by the baby whose birth we now celebrate? And what do we mean by living life to the fullest? Perhaps we should take our cue from those early Christians, and at least for four weeks, we should live our lives as if we expected Christmas Day to be the second coming of Christ, rather than focusing on celebrating the birth. After all, we have all of eternity to do that!
Yours in Christ, Pastor Dave
