Thoughts on Advent

The human race has always lived according to the seasons. As spring comes, we plant. Then summer arrives, and we tend the fields. In the fall we gather the harvest. And in the winter, we live off of the year’s bounty, and prepare for it to happen all over again.

Although this seems like a never-ending cycle, we should also note that we humans mark out certain days and seasons of feasting to remind us of events that happened at one singular point in history, and which forever changed the future. We call these days “holidays” (from the marriage of the two words “holy” and “day”). The word “holy” means “set apart,” and hence we can see that within the never-ending cycle of seasons, we set apart certain days as unique and worthy of being noted and remembered.

Not surprisingly, we Christians inherited this practice from our forefathers, the Hebrews. Ever since the Exodus out of Egypt, the Hebrews set apart special days in the spring to remember their salvation from exile and slavery. This holiday is known as the Passover. And every time we Christians celebrate the Lord’s Supper, we remember that Christ took that Passover meal, and transformed it into the meal that it was always meant to be: a meal that looks back at Christ’s act of atonement for sins, and looks forward to His redemption of the whole universe.

Another great time of remembrance is upon us even now, and so we set apart a season of anticipation; of Advent. The word Advent means “coming,” and we are reminded each year at this time, that we await the Savior of the world, not only in remembrance of His first coming, but also that we are living in the time between His first and second Advent. As we prepare for the wonderful holiday we call Christmas, let us realize that in similar fashion to the Lord’s supper (and its attending holiday, Easter), we are looking back at that pivotal moment when God became flesh in the birth of Jesus, and we are looking forward to that glorious moment when He returns, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.