This Sunday (December 2, 2012) is the First Sunday of Advent, the beginning of the Church Year. It begins on the fourth Sunday before
Christmas Day, which is the Sunday nearest November 30, and ends on Christmas
Eve (Dec 24).
The Meaning of "Advent"
The word Advent means
"coming" or "arrival." The focus of the entire season is
the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the
anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus,
Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is
celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of
creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process in which we now
participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Scripture readings
for Advent reflect this emphasis on the
Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His
coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.
In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes
the spiritual journey of individual and a congregation, as they affirm that
Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come
again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for
holy living arising from a profound sense that we live "between the times" and are called to be faithful
stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people. So, as the church
celebrates God’s in-breaking into history in the Incarnation, and anticipates a
future consummation to that history for which "all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption", it
also confesses its own responsibility as a people commissioned to "love
the Lord your God with all your heart" and to "love your neighbor as
yourself."
The Spirit of Advent
Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, of anticipation, of
preparation, of longing. There is a yearning for deliverance from the evils of
the world, first expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out from
their bitter oppression. It is the cry of those who have experienced the
tyranny of injustice in a world under the curse of sin, and yet who have hope
of deliverance by a God who has heard the cries of oppressed slaves and brought
deliverance!
It is that hope, however faint at times, and that God, however
distant He sometimes seems, which brings to the world the anticipation of a
King who will rule with truth and justice and righteousness over His people and
in His creation. It is that hope that once anticipated, and now anticipates anew,
the reign of an Anointed One, a Messiah, who will bring peace and justice and
righteousness to the world.
Part of the expectation also anticipates a judgment on sin and a
calling of the world to accountability before God. We long for God to come and
set the world right! Yet, as the prophet Amos warned, the expectation of a
coming judgment at the "Day of the Lord" may not be the day of light
that we might want, because the penetrating light of God’s judgment on sin will
shine just as brightly on God’s people.
