Advent Reflection

There are some people who started playing Christmas music on November 1st, or maybe even in October. But even for those who resisted such temptation, by the time this is read in The Voice the Christmas season (as the wider culture defines it) will be in full swing. It has been called “the most wonderful time of the year.” Mariah Carey’s “All I want for Christmas” will be playing everywhere. Trees will have been bought, buildings will be glittering with lights, presents bought and wrapped, more parties and festivities than we have time to attend. And of course, there’s the family Christmas gathering to plan.

Long before December 25th it will be Christmas everywhere. Everywhere except in the Church. Because Christmas in the Church doesn’t begin until December 25th. (Side note: the twelve days of Christmas do not lead up to Christmas Day. The twelve days begin on Christmas Day and go until the feast of the Epiphany on January 6^th).

In fact, in Anglican churches across The Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands, we’re going to behave very differently from the surrounding culture on December 1st, 2024. The flowers will disappear. The celebratory white/gold of All Saints, Harvest, and Christ the King Sundays will be changed to a sombre purple. The Gloria will not be said or sung at our services, and very few, if any, Alleluias will be heard. This is the season of Advent, a season of preparation for the coming of Christ. (“Advent” is from the Latin Adventus, meaning ‘coming’)

The ‘coming’ which most of us probably think of first is the birth of Jesus Christ, God coming to earth in human form, as a baby. This is understandable since Advent precedes Christmas. But there is another ‘coming’ to which Advent calls us to pay attention: Jesus’ return to earth (sometimes called the Second Coming).

Of these two ‘comings’, the latter gets rather more attention in Advent than the first. In churches that use an Advent wreath, during the lighting something is usually said about hope, peace, joy, and love (the themes typically associated with the wreath). But even though Jesus absolutely brings all those things, and more, they are not the focus of the scripture readings. From week to week the scripture readings call us to prepare ourselves for the coming Jesus:

Advent I – “And may [God] so strengthen your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless before our God and Father at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints” (1 Thess. 3:13)

Advent II – “And this is my prayer, …that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God” (Phil. 1:9a, 10b-11)

Advent III – “Bear fruits worthy of repentance. …for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (John 3:8-9)

It’s not until the Fourth Sunday of Advent that we hear anything at all about Mary being pregnant.

The collects for the four Sundays of Advent (pages 157 to 158 in the prayer book) point in the same direction as the scripture readings: Jesus coming in glory as judge, the need for us to repent and turn from our sins, and a call for preparing our hearts to receive him.

Even the Advent hymns we sing speak about this.

Verse two of “On Jordan’s Bank”:

Then cleansed be every breast from sin;
make straight the way for God within;
prepare we in our hearts a home,
where such a mighty guest may come.

In the hymn “Lo, he comes with Clouds Descending” we find some imagery from the book of Revelation (1:1a, 7) “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place; Look! He is coming with the clouds; every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.”

Lo, he comes with clouds descending,
once for favoured sinners slain;
thousand saints attending
swell the triumph of his train:
Alleluia!
Christ appears on earth to reign.

Every eye shall now behold him
robed in dreadful majesty;
those who set at naught and sold him,
pierced and nailed him to the Tree,
deeply wailing,
shall the true Messiah see.

Advent is not a quieter version of Christmas. It is not a pre-celebration. Every year it comes to remind us that the same Jesus whose life we trace from manger to cross to resurrection will, as we say in the creeds, “come again to judge the living and the dead”. Advent is a call for us to live lives of holiness and righteousness, to the honour and glory of God.

This doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy all the things that come along with this time of the year. By all means, enjoy the parties, have fun decorating the trees, marvel at the light displays. I have some wonderful childhood memories of doing just that.

But amid the hustle and bustle, let’s not forget what our priority should be. Or to use the common phrase, don’t forget the reason for the season.