Advent is a holiday season on the church calendar which intentionally and contemplatively observes the coming of Christ. The easy way to think about it is: a whole month of setting our minds and hearts on Jesus! I know, as believers, we think about Jesus all the time, right? Well, that may be true, but Advent is designed to take us deeper, just like all of the holidays!
I grew up attending an Anglican church. We followed a liturgical church calendar, observing and contemplating the LORD, according to a set rhythm. It was ordered and structured in form and sometimes felt a little dry-until I met Jesus.
I remember…
When I was a little girl I looked forward to Advent and all its traditions–the wreath and candles at church, and the candy count-down at home! I remember our minister always included the children of the congregation in the lighting of the wreath candles. The designated reader would read aloud the advent scripture reading while a child would carefully take the seemingly gigantic candle lighter complete with snuffer and telescopic wick and light the hard to reach candles. I can still see our minister, tall and lean dressed in his robe and stole, reaching over the crowd of little people under him, with long finger directing young inexperienced clumsy hands with open flame to correct candle. There was a way it had to be done, but he did his best to draw in the children. As the candle was lit, the entire congregation spoke a scriptural response.
I loved this time of year, but what kid doesn’t, right? I loved the holiday so much that even the snow didn’t bother me. Our church was old and ornate. I remember how the Women’s Auxiliary would carefully adorn the altar with purple linens–the color of advent. They would set the large advent wreath, complete with thick candles (purple, pink and white) and then two large ever-green trees flanking the big wood pulpit. The Quilter’s changed out the banners that hung on the walls of the sanctuary–beautifully hand quilted works of art all pointing to Jesus. It was breathtaking and everything was intentional and symbolic, even as a child I understood that.
I went away to college when I was 19 and the practice of Advent got a little lost for me. December was always full of exams, final assignments, shopping, and traveling. The evangelical churches I attended while away did not observe Advent the same way. I felt lost and out of sorts, but I didn’t understand why. I always attributed it to the craziness of college, but then I graduated, got married, and took a position leading worship in a church and that feeling of being lost only seemed to intensify.
Advent is…
Advent is all about Jesus. Advent is a beautiful contemplative discipline that helps center the heart and it’s very helpful in a season that ramps up our already busy lives. My Mom always says, “It’s about preparing your heart.” I’ve got the lyric from “Joy to the world” running through my head: “Let every heart prepare Him room.” Let me tell you a little secret…it’s hard to prepare your heart when you busy up!
“It’s about
preparing your
heart…”
So go ahead and still your heart. Take a deep breath and exhale. The LORD wants to share his heart with you. He wants to speak and reveal and heal. I invite you to come and journey to Bethlehem with me this Advent. Let’s intentionally hit the stop button and contemplate the story of Christ and how we fit into it all. Let us press in and behold the LORD. Let us remember story and the context. Let us remember our story and context. Let us consider what is yet to come.
Did you know that the color of purple, which is traditionally the primary color of Advent, is symbolic of repentance, fasting, and the sovereignty of God? Symbols and rituals can help us just as much as they can bind us, which is why we need to learn that we do these things to align our hearts with the LORD not simply as ritual rote tradition. Just an interesting side note: Purple is also the color used in the Lenten season. You cannot celebrate Christmas without remembering Easter and what Christ did on the Cross. You see, Advent isn’t about compartmentalizing the testimony of God it is about bringing us back into the story. We get lost-easily. These traditions and rituals are a signal to stop and breathe, to remember, and to hope. Advent is not a count-down to Christmas, it is an intentional choice to walk through as we remember, contemplate and hope.
The first week of Advent is all about Hope. (Sigh)
Breathe—I know hope can be hard. When did we decide that hope was a fool’s quest, and that it was just for kids? I mean, we all want to hope, but most of the time we reject this practice and settle into attitudes of cynicism and outright disbelief.
Hope means: to believe, desire, or trust (according to dictionary.com). We have become lazy, refusing to dig in and stand firm when there is not enough proof to support our hope–so we opt out. Hoping for things we cannot see or explain feels foolish, so we settle for less and agree with the cynics.
Don’t do it! Don’t opt out, because hope opens the door for more. What would it look like for you to assume the posture of hope this week? What would you say if I told you that hope is not only possible, but actually doable? Hope isn’t a feeling, it’s a choice. It’s a shift of attitude that surrenders the desire to see, and agrees with the promise. Hope gives way to faith, in other words, it activates faith.
As we walk the days of December, let’s consider how we might activate our faith toward the promises of God. What hinders our faith? Are there attitudes of the heart, or behaviors of the flesh that need to be flushed out? Maybe the starting place today needs to be an honest assessment of the heart. Consider the symbolic nature of the color purple: repentance and fasting. Are there issues of the heart that need to change in order to experience breakthrough and healing? Let’s move beyond the surface issues of hope and dive into the deep, because that’s where He is. Deep calls to deep (Psalm 42:7) drawing us into places where only faith can keep us afloat, and hard as it may feel it IS the way to the heart of the Father.
The journey to Bethlehem–the manger–is a hard one. I think just as Mary and Joseph took their fateful trip two thousand years ago, so it goes for us today. There will be challenges and obstacles but the process of the journey will prepare us for what comes next. God always reveals when we press in and hope.
“I publicly proclaim bold promises.
I do not whisper obscurities in some dark corner.
I would not have told the people of Israel to seek me if I could not be found.
I, the LORD, speak only what is true and declare only what is right.”
Isaiah 45:19 NLT
So today, why don’t you decide to choose hope and let Jesus reveal what comes next.
Come back and share what you see and learn along the way, because testimony is one of the most powerful things we have. Let’s encourage and cheer one another along as we make our way to Bethlehem this Advent season.