This week many Christians around the globe begin the process of participating in Advent. The English word “Advent” comes from the Latin word “Adventus” which means “coming.” In a way, it has a dual meaning that includes both remembrance and anticipation. Advent includes recalling the Incarnation, the first “arrival” of Christ as a suffering servant. But today, we think of Advent in terms of “anticipation” when Jesus returns as a conquering King.
This two-fold understanding of Advent leads to a two-fold emotive response:
Horror and Hope.
The tension of Advent is so real and it finds itself squeezing into our lives in the most unexpected ways. We look forward to a relaxing weekend that suddenly becomes complicated by a relationship crisis. Picking up a loved one’s phone call expecting to catch up like normal, only to find out you’ve lost yet another family member. The text from a close friend from a past season who you’ve lost touch with, only to finally catch up and find out their seemingly indestructible marriage ended recently in divorce - Horror.
But mixed into these moments are celebrations of friends that welcome a new baby home. The joy of an engagement and the anticipation of a new life together. The simplicity of a weekend on the couch cuddled up with your spouse watching your favorite show. Watching your children face the challenges of childhood (the bully, the hard subject in school, the chaos of learning) and seeing them take each day at a time and make progress. All the while learning life lessons that will aid them for a lifetime - Hope.
Advent is a season of honesty. Of learning to live as those who love Jesus who are “in between the times.”
This line by Fleming Rutledge struck me as profound and incredibly important for us to consider as we venture into the first week of Advent. She says:
“The church can’t survive on sentiment and nostalgia. Sentiment, nostalgia, optimism - these are weak thin fuels.”
Advent is a time to reflect deeply on all that is hard and holy. To face the tension of our fears and not cover them up with Christian platitudes. During Advent, we ask real and hard questions. Where is Jesus in the midst of my suffering? Does God care or is this life a sick and cruel joke?
Our hearts want to rush to the answer. Advent invites us to wait with patient endurance to grasp the true magnitude of the pain. As we do, we will experience the full weight of God’s response - The cross of Christ. As we journey into this week let’s reflect on these words by the early church father, Athanasius.
“For only upon the cross does one die with hands stretched out. Therefore it was fitting for the Lord to endure this, and to stretch out his hands, that with the one he might draw the ancient people and with the other those from the Gentiles, and join both together in himself.”
“When I am lifted up, I shall draw all to myself” - John 12:32
St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation