In our family, we recognize and observe the Advent season — the days leading up to Christmas Day. As we decorate our house and put up the lights, I count it all as part of the Advent season. It is a beautiful season of preparation, cultivating a delight in the true Light of the world.
Advent is a time of waiting as we look forward to celebrating the coming of the Christ child. God incarnate. Savior, born to us.
From the Latin, advent literally means “coming”. As Christians, we know that there are actually two “comings” of Christ — two advents, if you will. During the Christmas Advent season, we can celebrate both.
The first advent was when Christ came as a baby. That’s what we celebrate at Christmas! The second advent is when Christ returns to rule and reign in the new heavens and new earth. This hasn’t happened yet. But we certainly look forward to the glorious day!
So Advent season is a time when we look back and remember with gratitude and awe that …
“… unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”
Luke 2:11
And, …
… being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
Philippians 2:8
It is also a time when we look forward with anticipation to the day when we can say with the heavenly host:
Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready;
Revelation 19:7
And, as prophesied, …
… the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one.
Zechariah 14:9
How amazing!
Well this year, advent comes with a new and different weight than we are used to. We are all — Christian and unbeliever alike — looking back and looking forward. We are longing for the days that were, before the world changed. And we are looking forward to the day that we can return to “normal.” What a blessed opportunity we have as Christians to celebrate advent and share it with those around us. We can focus on the One who truly is able fulfill all of our longings.
Traditionally, the four weeks of advent walk through four ideas. They differ depending on who you ask. But as we walk through this season in the midst of a pandemic, I want to focus on how these ideas can help us parent our children with a gospel focus. We can point our eyes, and our children’s eyes, toward Hope, Joy, Peace, and Love — all of these coming from, and fulfilled in, Christ.
May this season be refreshing for us all as we try, by God’s grace, to focus on what is eternal rather than what is temporal. Because we all know that this year, the temporal is vying for our attention like never before. May this season be hopeful, joyful, peaceful, and running over with love.
