Before the last Thanksgiving plate was even washed, I immediately began preparing for Christmas. It seems as though Christmas starts earlier every year. What was happening at Halloween last year seems to be backing up to the Fourth of July for next year. Sure, it’s good to have lots of time to prepare for a special season (and even better to give one’s self more time to prepare the heart).
What am I talking about? … preparing for Advent.
Advent is a season marked by expectancy and preparation, and, not unsurprisingly is the beginning of the Christian calendar. In the church, the year does not begin with “Happy New Year,” but with the great anticipation of the birth of a little baby who came to make all things new.
Advent lasts between 20 to 28 days (depending on the year), but it always ends on December 24th. Christmas is an entirely separate season that begins on December 25th and lasts until January 6th (Epiphany). The twelve days of Christmas (are certain songs making more sense now?) are set aside for a new kind of gentle joy in the arrival of the infant King.
Are you tired and worn out?
Well, we live in a restless world … in a world that prizes hurry and noise. News headlines stir fear and promote division. Even Christmas can leave us feeling anxious; but Advent tells a different story … a peace that isn’t found in the world, but found in the only One who came into a world to save it. Advent exists to remind us that, while darkness surrounds us and troubles exist, the hope of Christmas isn’t far away. It may seem distant. It may even seem impossible this year for you to feel hopeful. You might have lost your job. Or maybe you’re feeling isolated from those you love. You may have even grieved the loss of a family member or friend.
Looking around, all you might be able to see right now is darkness.
If you try to adjust your eyes, blinking into the night, there seems to be no light. The weight of sickness, death, injustice and pain seems too heavy. Or maybe you’re just tired. Numb. Ready to pull the covers over your head and try this whole Christmas cheer thing again next year. Don’t feel guilty. Instead, acknowledge the very real darkness of this world and you’ll have eyes to see Advent through the same lens as the people waiting for a Messiah thousands of years ago.
For 500 years from their last prophet, Malachi, the people of Israel hadn’t heard anything from God about their redeemer. God’s chosen people must have cried out to him, asking how long it would be before their hope, their salvation, would arrive. It was too dark, and God seemed to be silent. Has he felt that way to you this year? Though he may have felt far away to them, God was so much closer than his people knew — gently planning Jesus’ entrance into the world in the most unexpected way.
Don’t search for hope where it does not live … it’s not in your next job, your next purchase or your next relationship. Find hope in the fact that the Jesus Child never left the race he entered. He lives in you today. He redeems every problem and pain you trust to him, levels every playing field you face, and still guides you safely home – as long as your hope is in Him.
Meanwhile, redeem this Advent season by living it for his Kingdom in heaven.
Seek ways to share his hope, his joy, his help with the hurting and lonely hearts you meet. Ask God each day to make you his instrument of life-giving hope. Be John the Baptizer to your Jerusalem. Announce the coming of the Lord, until he returns. You will find no greater significance or joy than in giving the gift of Jesus, in this the season of his birth.
“A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes – and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “God Is In The Manger”
Tagged: Christmas, hope, patriotic holidays
