Are we ready yet?
Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent.
You’ll often hear Advent described as a season of preparation for the coming of Christ at Christmas.
It is, but that’s only part of the story.
The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming.” Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of Christ.
But not just at Christmas. Advent is a three-dimensional season.
Remember how it goes in the Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol? Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by three ghosts: the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present and the ghost of Christmas future.
Those are the three dimensions of Advent: Christ’s coming in the past, in the present, and in the future.
The first dimension the easiest to grasp. During Advent we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus more than 2,000 years ago. We prepare by considering the familiar stories leading up to Jesus’ birth, the scriptures and the prayers that can open our hearts for the coming of Christ anew in our lives.
The second dimension is the celebration of Christ present at Christmas. We celebrate by decorating our homes, getting together with family and friends, exchanging gifts, worshipping with others and continuing to celebrate in some way during those fabled Twelve Days of Christmas.
If we celebrate well enough, we can feel the presence of Christ renewed in us. It’s as if Jesus were being reborn in us every year. It’s a wonderful feeling, the most magical of all the joys of Christmas.
The third dimension of Advent may be hardest to understand. This is preparation for the return of Christ in the future – the Second Coming, as it were. Despite the ravings of those who claim to know when this will happen, in truth we do not know. All we know is that Christ will return, and he said we ought to be ready.
We ready ourselves by living in obedience to Christ’s direction for how we ought to behave day by day by day. As hard as it is to practice, this is really quite simple. We are given no timetable for when anything will happen because the point is that it could happen at any moment and we ought to live always in anticipation of that moment.
So Advent is a time of anticipation and celebration and deeper anticipation. We look forward to celebrating the first coming of Christ and the renewal of Christ’s life in us, and we look forward to receiving Christ when he returns at the consummation of history to renew the promises of God for all creation.
Scrooge feared what the ghost of Christmas future might bring. If Christ lives in us, we need not fear the third dimension of Advent. It’s another thing to celebrate this time of year.
One of my favorite sayings of advent comes from Gertude Muller Nelson, author of To Dance With God. She says: "It is Advent, and we the people of God are pregnant.” We are pregnant three ways: pregnant with anticipation of the celebration of Christmas, pregnant with the renewal of Christ within us and pregnant with our hope for the future.
Have a blessed Advent!