Advent

Advent began last Sunday, which was the fourth Sunday before Christmas day. I have a few comments to make about Advent.

First of all, Christmas is a 12-day holiday, starting with December 25 and ending on January 6. Perhaps our Amish friends are not so far off in their observance of Christmas on January 6. Perhaps also we are remiss in wishing one another "merry Christmas" before December 25.

As I understand, Advent includes remembering the events preceding the birth of Jesus - the visits by the angels, the stories of Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and Elizabeth. Reading these stories in the Biblical accounts is always inspiring and quite awesome when one considers the reality of such events in the lives of ordinary human beings.

Advent is also recognizing the reality of God's presence with us in the present. The risen Christ sent His Holy Spirit to live within the lives of believers, in itself quite an awesome thing. Living in the light of God's presence and His kingdom within us is humbling, to say the least. Rethinking this concept should be enough to cause anyone to stop and "ponder these things" in his/her heart.

And Advent is a time for anticipation - waiting, watching, praying for the "parousia," the coming or appearance of our Lord Jesus. It is this aspect of this season that somehow seems to get lost in the shuffle of Christmas "stuff." Some folks tend at times to get all wrapped up with the subject of prophecy about Christ's return to the neglect of other important aspects of our faith, but keeping this in the Advent season is something I would like to see more of.

During a large part of my ministry as a pastor I never led the congregation in the observance of Advent. It wasn't something that I even thought about or had interest in. I'm glad that I finally recognized that Advent was important and worthy of observance by God's people and began to observe it in our congregations. There are varieties of ways to do this and variations always make it an interesting thing to do in the worship services during these four Sundays.

I trust that you have a blessed Advent season and find ways to remember, live by the rule of God in our daily lives, and anticipate Christ's coming "with power and great glory." Maranatha - even so come Lord Jesus!

Pilgrim on the way