Advent is coming! This is a true statement for two reasons. 1) The Season of Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas until Christmas Eve, after which the Season of Christmas officially begins on Christmas Day. In other words, this year the Season of Advent begins on December 4th, which is coming up soon. 2) “Advent” literally means, “coming.” Therefore, Advent is coming.
All jokes aside, it’s unfortunate that among many Christians the Season of Advent has been all but lost. As soon as the Thanksgiving meal is over, the Christmas decorating abounds and Christmas music is blasting, unless you’re like me, then you probably have Christmas music playing long before Thanksgiving. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with an extra dose of the Christmas Season, celebrating the coming of Jesus, the Word who put on flesh and dwelt among us, is certainly a joyous time and ought to be celebrated, but skipping over Advent comes with a cost.
For those who have participated in observing the Season of Lent, you will understand this all the better. During the Season of Lent, 40 days before Easter, we take the time to have an additional church service where we focus specifically, even more than usual, on our sin and our need for a savior to save us from our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Sometimes during the Season of Lent, we even fast or follow a specific devotional calendar that leads up to Jesus’ crucifixion, death, and resurrection. One benefit of observing Lent is that it helps prepare our hearts for Easter, and when Easter comes, we are that much more excited and thankful for Jesus.
The Season of Advent acts in the same way. Advent is not found in Scripture and so not observing it is not a sin, and yet there are great benefits. Just as observing the Season of Lent prepares our hearts for Easter Sunday, observing Advent prepares our hearts for Christmas Day. To skip over the Season of Advent may not have a clear cost, but for those who have observed the Season of Advent in the past, its benefits are undeniable.
Advent is a marvelous time of year. As we observe the Season of Advent, we are looking forward to, we are focusing on, we are anticipating the coming of our Savior-King, Jesus Christ. And as we focus on our coming King, it builds our anticipation and excitement for Christmas Day. We greatly anticipate the coming of our King because we know it is the next step in the salvation story.
After the fall into sin, Adam and Eve were promised a Savior would come to crush the serpent’s head. As time went on, the prophecies of the coming Savior became more and more specific, not just from which people this Savior would come, but from which tribe and even which house in the tribe. But eventually, the prophecies stopped…for 400 years there was silence. But then the prophecies started coming true! After thousands of years since Adam and Eve, and after hundreds of years of silence, the anticipation is starting to build once again! The culmination of hundreds of promises was beginning!
And so I want to encourage you to observe the Season of Advent. You may notice your church has the tradition of lighting the Advent Candles during the Church Services on Sunday mornings. You may notice that they don’t kick off Advent by singing solely Christmas songs, but start with Advent songs, songs not about the fact that Jesus has come, but looking forward to Jesus coming, as is appropriate for the season - this is to intentionally help observe Advent as a church. One way to observe Advent as an individual or as a family is instead of starting with Christmas music immediately after the Thanksgiving meal is over, perhaps turn on some Advent music. Another option is to find a devotional calendar in which the Scripture readings follow along with the Season of Advent.
Whatever method you think of and whatever it is you do to observe Advent, I encourage you to do so not simply out of tradition, but because of all the other reasons, which has helped solidify observing Advent as a tradition. May you be blessed by the building up, by the excitement, by the anticipation of our Savior-King during this upcoming Advent Season.