What are we celebrating during the season of Advent?

The English word Advent is derived from the Latin advenire, “to come to.” Advent has to do with the Lord’s coming to us. The Lord has come to us (at the birth of Christ), regularly comes to us (especially when we gather together for worship), and will come to us (at the end of this age).

Advent season, then, is a time to reflect upon all the ways—past, present, and future— in which the Lord comes to us. Many advent devotional schemes ask us to pretend that we are living before Jesus’ birth. They ask us to act as if we ourselves are expecting the birth of a cute, little baby. I mean, who doesn’t like babies? But we must remember that Jesus also comes to us a man, as a sacrifice, as a king, as a judge, and in many other roles that make our redemption possible.

There is certainly merit in celebrating the birth of the Christ child, but we have to remember that Advent is so much bigger than this one event in the life of our Savior. We would be remiss if we did not celebrate the ways that Christ comes to us now, particularly in our Lord’s Day worship, through Word and Sacrament (Matt. 18:20, Heb. 2:12, 1 Cor. 10:16). We would be remiss if we did not celebrate the hope of His final coming when all sin and wickedness will be finally undone (Rev. 21). So let us keep all of these “comings” prevalent in our corporate and private worship this season.

The songs we sing during Advent are often songs we usually associate with Christmas, but if we inspect them closely we will find that many of them make a point of connecting Christ’s first coming with his present and future comings. The traditional Advent hymn, “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” exemplifies this multifaceted season.

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s Strength and Consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear Desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a King,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

When we understand and celebrate all the ways the Lord has come, is coming, and will come to us, we can more readily make this the cry of our hearts: “Come, Lord Jesus!”

(Parts of this essay were adapted from an article by Rev. Jeffrey Meyers)

In September we will begin our next sermon series entitled Follow Me: The Gospel According to St. Matthew. In his eyewitness account, Matthew writes mainly for the Jewish people of his day. He presents Jesus as the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures and the answer to every promise that God has made to his people. Jesus makes it clear that he is leaving the old world and beginning a new one. To all who would come with him he says: “Follow me.” There is great reward in this new world, but there will be much opposition in getting there. Jesus calls his disciples to walk that road with him and he promises to be with them always.

As we apply this truth to our own lives, we too will find that Jesus is everything for which we’ve waited. Because of this, we will respond to his call, even when it costs us, so that we can enjoy life with him in his Kingdom, both now and forever.

Home Groups are our attempt to flesh out what “All of Christ for All of Life” looks like. Weekly worship shapes us for the development of generous community experiencing Gospel movement toward lives lived on robust mission in the name of Jesus Christ.

If you would like to join a Home Group, contact Pastor Chad at chad@tpckearney.org