advent 2018
Sunday marked the beginning of Advent. I have a real heart for this season, which you might recall I wrote about on the blog last year- here and here.
I grew up in a family that recognized and celebrated this part of the Christian calendar, with weekly readings and candle lightings. Many years passed before I understood the significance and beauty of the Advent tradition. Today, cherish the desire my parents had in creating space in our schedules and home to point our hearts to the true celebration and joy of Christmas- the coming of our Lord Jesus.
Although Advent is increasingly observed in new, creative and alternative ways, it traditionally involved the lighting of five candles, week by week, which each represented a Sunday leading up to the 25th. The flames alluded to the Light of the World, Jesus, approaching - and bringing hope in the darkness.
By intentionally waiting to light an additional candle week by week, the Church symbolically embodies the longing and aching of Israel, God's people, before the coming of their promised Messiah.
This year, I will go on a month-long hiatus of my study of Hebrews, to delve into She Read Truth's Advent 2018 reading plan, titled "Until the Son of God Appears." I have loved their Advent plans in the past.
Yesterday, I was sipping an eggnog latte and listening to Bing Crosby's Christmas carols (a cliche, I am) when my sweet (and very pastoral) dad pointed out that Advent invites us into uncomfortable patience and slowing down in this season.
As our culture tells us to drink all the Christmas-y drinks, buy all the Christmas-y decorations, bake all the Christmas-y treats and do alllllll the Christmas-y things, our schedules and hearts so easily become as crowded as the streets of Bethlehem on that holy night.
In the process, we get so preoccupied with festivities that we miss the point, forgetting to make room for the awaited King.
Of course, I do not contend that the weeks leading up to Christmas must be stripped from any cultural understandings of Christmas cheer- I like festive lattes and decorated trees, you know? In fact, the invitation to wait goes beyond the idiom of keeping "Christ" in "Christmas." Even well-meaning churches and devout Christians face the temptation of saturating this month with religious initiatives and activities (nativity pageants! coat drives! community dinners!).
No matter our priorities, may we as God's people ask ourselves if our hearts are aligned with the true hope of this season. May we be people who yearn and eagerly await Christ's return.
Candle by candle, verse by verse, let us anticipate the coming of Christ, our Messiah.
O Come- Emmanuel, Light of the World, Thou Long Expected Jesus.
This, today, is my whispered prayer.
I grew up in a family that recognized and celebrated this part of the Christian calendar, with weekly readings and candle lightings. Many years passed before I understood the significance and beauty of the Advent tradition. Today, cherish the desire my parents had in creating space in our schedules and home to point our hearts to the true celebration and joy of Christmas- the coming of our Lord Jesus.
Although Advent is increasingly observed in new, creative and alternative ways, it traditionally involved the lighting of five candles, week by week, which each represented a Sunday leading up to the 25th. The flames alluded to the Light of the World, Jesus, approaching - and bringing hope in the darkness.
By intentionally waiting to light an additional candle week by week, the Church symbolically embodies the longing and aching of Israel, God's people, before the coming of their promised Messiah.
This year, I will go on a month-long hiatus of my study of Hebrews, to delve into She Read Truth's Advent 2018 reading plan, titled "Until the Son of God Appears." I have loved their Advent plans in the past.
Yesterday, I was sipping an eggnog latte and listening to Bing Crosby's Christmas carols (a cliche, I am) when my sweet (and very pastoral) dad pointed out that Advent invites us into uncomfortable patience and slowing down in this season.
As our culture tells us to drink all the Christmas-y drinks, buy all the Christmas-y decorations, bake all the Christmas-y treats and do alllllll the Christmas-y things, our schedules and hearts so easily become as crowded as the streets of Bethlehem on that holy night.
In the process, we get so preoccupied with festivities that we miss the point, forgetting to make room for the awaited King.
Of course, I do not contend that the weeks leading up to Christmas must be stripped from any cultural understandings of Christmas cheer- I like festive lattes and decorated trees, you know? In fact, the invitation to wait goes beyond the idiom of keeping "Christ" in "Christmas." Even well-meaning churches and devout Christians face the temptation of saturating this month with religious initiatives and activities (nativity pageants! coat drives! community dinners!).
No matter our priorities, may we as God's people ask ourselves if our hearts are aligned with the true hope of this season. May we be people who yearn and eagerly await Christ's return.
Candle by candle, verse by verse, let us anticipate the coming of Christ, our Messiah.
O Come- Emmanuel, Light of the World, Thou Long Expected Jesus.
This, today, is my whispered prayer.
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