Advent People
(To see the earlier Blogs, Page Down)
Today we lit our first purple candle to begin the Advent Season. Advent is a short season of waiting, anticipating, prior to the Christmas Season when we’ll celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. An event that happened long ago, so why are we waiting now? In a simple analogy, don’t children wait every year to celebrate their own birth-day that happened previously? Of course. And we are all children of God; we all anticipate and celebrate birthdays.
Throughout our lives we wait and anticipate: our birthday is probably the earliest event. Then maybe, vacation, school, holidays – Halloween, the costume; Easter, the egg hunt and chocolate. Championships, prom, graduation, college; job interview, engagement, wedding; the birth of children…we could go on and on with this. As I said, we are waiting, anticipating, all our lives for major events to occur or reoccur. And with every life-changing event, didn’t the waiting and anticipating make the event that much sweeter? When the tiny baby is placed in our arms, it is the moment we’ve anticipated for nine months, planning, hoping, praying, and waiting. For momentous events, it’s important to wait, anticipate, and focus, and be ready.
What makes waiting in Advent different is that it’s a rehearsal for something greater that we’ve not yet experienced. The very word Advent is Latin (ad venire) meaning to come.
In Advent Season we are practicing, how to pray, how to worship and praise, how to address our Lord and Savior so when that day does eventually come, we might be ready. And we don’t know that date; it’s not on our busy calendar. So, every year, for four weeks before his birthday celebration, we concentrate on just that, being ready. We try to not get caught up in the wrapping paper and colored lights just yet. We try to keep our focus on the waiting, the coming. At the end of the four weeks, we will celebrate the Christmas Season knowing that the anticipation of Advent heightened the glory and the joy of Christmas.
When we meet our Lord, face to face, it will be the greatest Christmas morning ever, and because of the Advents, we will be better prepared for that most wonderful gift.
Wishing you a blessed Advent Season.