Advent

This past Sunday I greeted the three services I led with "Happy New Year!" I've done that for three years here now at McEachern so some people caught on to what I was saying. This Sunday was the first Sunday in Advent; Advent is the beginning of the Christian Year, so this past Sunday was the first Sunday, so I greeted everyone accordingly!



But you know, even for us who know this tidbit, sometimes we don't "get" Advent. And our culture doesn't help, does it? It's hard to stick with Advent in the midst of a culture that thinks Christmas starts with Thanksgiving (okay, Halloween if you're a retailer) and ends with the stroke of midnight on December 24th. For the Christian, Christmas doesn't even start until Christmas Day, then goes on for 12 days (remember the song?) until Epiphany.



Too often our congregations get enculturated into the prevailing culture of celebrating instead of preparing, which Advent is all about. I mean, think about it. If we really followed Advent, we would only be singing Advent hymns, focusing on John the Baptist, and the only real decorations would be the Advent wreath!



I encouraged our folks to think of Advent as an alarm clock. Once a year this alarm goes off, wakes us from our stupor, and reminds us that Jesus came, and will be returning, and we had better be ready! That is why so many of our scripture lessons are apocalyptic - Advent is about both remembering that Jesus came, and that he will come again in power and in glory. We keep one eye towards the past and one eye toward the future - kind of a cross-eyed season, huh?



So, what am I doing to prepare this year? Well I am reading James Moore's study "What Do You Want for Christmas?" for my daily devotional time. I have made it a habit through the years to do something different in my devotional life during Advent. There are plenty of guides and books out there, especially at cokesbury.com. I am also rereading the Gospel of Matthew. Both Matthew and Luke give the stories of Jesus' nativity, so I thought that would make some good reading this time of the year. We have also published an Advent devotional guide at McEachern that I am reading.



I think of Advent and Lent as "sister seasons". In both cases we are preparing for something and paying more attention than usual to spiritual matters. Maybe this year if we spend a little more time preparing we will have the Christmas we have always wanted.