Advent is an intriguing season. In the midst of a world where we expect things instantly, and where technology has made it so waiting can feel obsolete, in comes this time where the church says to us, “Stop what you’re doing. Lay down your burdens and those things weighing upon you, and spend some time thinking about the coming of the Christ.” And so, each year that is precisely what we try to do.
Advent this year is December 2–24. This season is the start of the Christian year. Among other things it is a wonderful reminder that, while other aspects of our lives may well begin on January 1 or with the start of the school year, our faith life begins at another time. Our liturgical year begins with this anticipation of the birth of Jesus.
Of course, we celebrate Advent secure in the knowledge that the birth of Jesus is a historic event that is long past. However we understand the birth of Jesus, and the various elements the gospels give us about it, two facts emerge and stand hard and fast: Jesus was born, and that happened a long time ago.
So, given that, what are we waiting for in this Advent time? Hope, perhaps? New life? A renewed and strengthened awareness of God’s presence in our lives? A new heaven and a new earth?
It has been said that Advent is not just a preparation for the celebration of Christmas but rather is a preparation for the rest of the year that follows. We commemorate the historic reality of the birth of Jesus so that we can let that change us completely.
As the magi “went home by a different path,” we, as Christians, are invited to encounter the Christ child and then move forth on a new and different path as people transformed once again by the presence of Jesus the Christ in our lives.
In Advent Waiting,
Candice
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