Advent is a
season of waiting. For the first two
weeks, the focus is on waiting for Christ to be born. The last two Sundays in Advent focus on the
whole world, including creation, waiting for the second coming of Jesus Christ
when everything will be made right ( Romans 8: 18-22). Advent is the beginning of the church
calendar, so it launches a new year.
What is the
best way to begin a new year? What about
taking inventory of your soul? The color
of advent is purple signifying penitence and fasting. The celebration of Christ’s birth is made
more joyful with a clean heart.
It’s hard
to take a good, long look in the mirror.
No one wants to do that. Perhaps
that is one reason the Christmas season has drifted so far from a focus on waiting,
anticipation, and penitence and certainly not fasting. Rather the first glimpses of Christmas appear
just after Halloween; commercials broadcast great ideas for gifts and engage in
rationale about why you deserve to indulge in your pleasures. Rather than fasting, the season is known for
decadent eating.
Advent
brings us back to the reason for Christmas.
The season of Advent begins with Hope.
While hope alone does not replace the greedy, over-indulgent,
materialistic season that we have made into Christmas, it does bring
soul-refreshing focus to the spiritual preparation of Christmas.
Christmas
is, after all, about hope. The hope that
anchored a nation is the same hope of Christmas. The hope that keeps creation groaning for
things to be made right was birthed at Christmas. Hope is connecting the heart’s longings past
the harsh realities to the promises of greater glory. Waiting in hope is what the life of a prophet
was all about. That is why the first
candle of advent is called the Prophet’s candle and why it burns with the light
of hope.
Tennyson
said: Hope smiles from the threshold of
the year to come, whispering it will be happier... As a new calendar brings hope about the
unwritten, unlived days ahead, so the season of Advent brings hope. Because the first coming of Christ was
fulfilled; we can be certain His second coming will happen when the time is
just right.
In the
meantime, we are gifted with the season of Advent to focus our heart, mind and
spirit on the work of God through Christ.
Eager to wait through each Sunday before Christmas, we have much to fill
the time. We have a lot going on in our
souls that needs to be examined and considered.
In contrast to the joy of the birth of Christ is the reality of our sin
that provoked Him to leave heaven and take on the form of a newborn baby
claiming the boundaries of human flesh.
Our sin is the reason He chose to stoop so low to become one of us and
even showed more humility and determination to save us by drying on a shameful
cross. It’s not enough to celebrate the
joy of Christmas without considering the reason for Christmas.
The hope of
God for each sinner to come to faith in Jesus Christ becomes our hope. As God waits for all souls to put their faith
and trust in Him, we wait with hope on God to make everything right through
Jesus Christ. The Lord
is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is
patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to
repentance 2 Peter 3:9. May this
season fill you with hope as you wait on the promises yet to be fulfilled.
Copyright © 2014 Deborah R Newman teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights Reserved.
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