What Exactly is “Advent”?
The Incarnation and the Season of Advent
So what exactly is “advent”?
Well, it’s probably best to begin by talking a little about the Incarnation and what that has done to the world in which we live. When God entered into the world that he created, everything changed. Everything. Just allow your imagination to run with this for a moment. The Creator himself enters into his creation which he spoke into existence, now not only as Creator (still that), but as a member—the “firstborn” of all creation. Christ is the beginning of a new creative work that God is doing. In the beginning God created all there is, but that creation in its frailty went wrong. Creation began moving, with humankind at its helm, right back into nothingness from which it was created at the first. Man, even in his innocent state, proved intrinsically weak, and therefore unable to perform that which God desired of him. So what was to be done? Destroy God’s work? Leave one righteous man and his family to start over again after a catastrophic flood wiped away an incessantly wicked humanity? Even that re-creation proved of no avail. Man’s flesh is simply intrinsically weak. Once again, we end up with a man in a garden, drunk and naked, followed by a curse. As they say, history repeats itself.
So how will God’s purposes in creation be established and finally fulfilled? There is only one way if annihilation is to be avoided: the Incarnation. There has always only ever been one way, the Man Christ Jesus. And it is at that moment—that appointed moment in time when the universe is altered—permanently. There can be no going back. The infant in the manger is not merely an addition to the created order, or, plan B—he is the inauguration of a New Day, a New Creation, in which all the old creation will finally be reworked and made right, and finally brought to completion (which it has never reached). The infant in the manger is the dawning of a New Age, the “self-same Word” who spoke it all into existence has now taken bodily form, descending down—down—down until he gets to the bottom of things, and then like a tender shoot, sprouting forth as the first Life, the first living tree in a barren, deserted wasteland. The waters part, dry ground appears, and God walks once again with man in the Land of Promise.
Is all this just the language of poetry? Is it mere metaphor? Just symbols speaking of a “spiritual” reality that doesn’t quite reach into our normal, physical world? Hardly so—and thanks be to God! The very nature of the Incarnation, God becoming Man, requires that the physical universe, humankind and all nature, be touched to their very core—the very depths of their essence remade—transfigured. Listen! The very Creator from whose power nothing and the absence of existence took body, shape, and breathed has now entered into it. And the Apostle Paul tells us he’s done so to the end that he might “fill all things”. He’s not just looking to make repairs, he’s tearing down the strongholds and leveling the kingdoms of this passing age to rebuild from the ground up, himself, the very cornerstone, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, the church being built upon them and upon him into a Holy Temple which will house He who is everywhere present, but whose fullness is contained only in the Man, Christ Jesus. The infant in the manger.
This is the reality that you and I live in, church. And I would venture a guess that most of us move through each day, week, month and even year, hardly attuned to such a magnificent song. Let’s face it, the constraints and demands of society pull us in every direction, so it’s easy to forget.
Enter Advent.
Actually, it would be more accurate to talk about Advent being part of a larger gift handed down to us from Christian brothers and sisters of long ago. Over time, and not long after Jesus’ first advent and life during the first century, Christians began establishing landmarks throughout the year upon which they would remember important and essential hallmarks of their faith. (A common thing for human beings, and we need go no further than our Old Testament to see examples of it.) We still have vestiges of it in our own calendar, the most obvious examples being Christmas and Easter. These holidays (or, “holy days”) are part of a fuller calendar established by Christians from very early times. It is patterned on the life of Jesus. It begins with “Advent”, the expectation of the Christ-child, it then moves to the season of Christmas (You’ve heard of the Twelve Days of Christmas? Well, here’s where that came from.). From there it moves to the season of Epiphany, Christ’s appearances, from his manifestation (“epiphany”) at his baptism to his presentation in the temple as a boy, and other important appearances which span a few years of his life in the gospels. From there it moves to the pre-Easter season, which has historically come to be called Lent. It is a time of intensity as we remember the road Christ traveled to the cross. Luke says, “he set his face toward Jerusalem”, and so as we remember what he endured on our behalf, we take time to reflect on our lives, to repent of sin, and to prepare our hearts for the death, burial, and (thanks be to God!) the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It is a season of “bright sadness”, the light growing ever-darker until the sun is blackened out and it seems all hope is lost in the grave, but suddenly bursting forth in light as the year climaxes in the celebration of the resurrection! Following Easter is the season of Pentecost, and following that is what has been called, “ordinary time”. The cycle begins again four weeks before Christmas, the season of Advent.
Of course, this “Christian Calendar” is not an essential aspect of the faith in the sense that if you do not follow it you’ll be a bad Christian. This is by no means the case. But—(there is a, ‘but’)—a good Christian will certainly strive to “make the best use of the time, because the days are evil”. And in doing so it is not uncommon for Christians to set up their own patterns and practices to follow. The challenge is coming up with how to structure one’s life according to the gospel of Christ, and then comes the additional challenge of maintaining those practices and patterns as an individual. And so, many Christians have found that this ready-made structure handed to us from Christian brothers and sisters of bygone ages (who are still alive, by the way) is helpful. It is a way for them to move to a different rhythm than the one our culture and society sets for us—or more accurately, demands of us. You see, there is a collective wisdom of centuries of people who have lived godly lives, having walked closely with Christ, and that collective wisdom has been accumulated over time, and put into developing a yearly cycle that will help Christians to be conformed to the image of Christ by ordering their lives according to the pattern of his as demonstrated in the gospel accounts. So when the rest of the world begins their year in January, we begin with eager anticipation of the arrival of God on planet earth, in the humble form of a servant.
And this is the value of Advent. It helps us begin our year by examining our lives. By preparing for the coming of the Christ-child, upon whose shoulders the government and all the Kingdoms of the earth shall rest. It reminds us that we are always in need of a Savior. It helps us enter into a different orientation of time, it helps us redeem the time. And why? Because as we said at the beginning, the Incarnation changes everything. Time and history hinge on that appointed moment in history. Creation knows when her Creator has entered her. Stars change their course. Rulers fear their thrones will be cast down and overturned. Angelic messengers carry glad tidings of immense joy for all people with great speed, trumpeting their gospel with shouts of acclamation to the humble and poor, and suddenly, the night sky is peopled with a multitude of heavenly host singing, “Gloria!”. The womb of a virgin is inhabited with a child, in whom all the fullness of God dwells. The Creator-Child grows, and coming up from the waters of baptism the skies part, the Spirit descends, and a voice from heaven proclaims the Divine Pleasure over his Son. Water is turned to wine. Thousands are fed with a few loaves of bread and fish. Sickness and disease are healed, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dumb speak, the blind see. Fig trees wither at his word. The torrential waves of the sea and mighty gale are calmed at his voice. “Thus far shall you come and no further!” A man walks on water just as his Master did, as though on dry ground. Demons bow before their Maker in fear that the time of their rebellion has come to an end. They know who he is. Tombs are emptied and the dead come to life. The sky is blackened at his death, the heavens threaten to fall into the deep sea as the earth is shaken in its heart and tombs crack, dead men walking out of their graves. And as he is raised to life, he brings Adam’s race up from the grave with him; the firstfruits of a New Creation spring forth in glorious and eternal Day.
Yes, the universe has been altered. Time itself has been redeemed, and creation waits with eager longing the revelation of the sons of God. The question? How do we live in this knowledge? How do we remember, not only with our minds, but with all our being? How do we enter in? Well friends, we are in, if we are in Christ. But if we are in Christ, we are part of a New Creative work of which he is the first. Our world has been altered along with that of the universe, and when he comes, we should not be found sleeping. We should be found as those who have cast off the works of darkness, having put on the armor of light—Christ himself. We should be found as those who imitate young Mary and respond to these holy mysteries, “Behold, the servant of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word.” We should be found ready, having walked the path of repentance which leads to purity of heart, whose eyes will look upon their Maker. Brothers and sisters, something will shape your day, your year, your life. You will be conformed to some pattern, pressed and squeezed into some mold—that is decided. It is part of being human and living in this world. But one way or another, the Christians’ world must be transformed. Here is a proven path which remains a gift for those who desire it.