What is Advent?

Advent is the season four weeks before Christmas during which we prepare for the coming of Christ. The season proclaims Christ’s anticipated coming again in the fullness of time, as well as the coming of Christ as infant Savior whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.

The word Advent comes from the Latin word adventus and means “coming” or “arrival.” The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in His First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in His Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000-year- old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Because the season emphasizes Christ’s comings and not merely His birth, it is not enough to use the season merely as a preparation for Christmas. Instead, the time is appropriate for preparation for the second coming of Christ and the inward soul searching that should mark that preparation.

In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live “between the times” and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people. So, as the church celebrates God’s “in-breaking” into history in the Incarnation, and anticipates a future consummation to that history for which “all creation is groaning, awaiting its redemption,” it also confesses its own responsibility as a people commissioned to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Advent is a season full of promise and rejoicing in the comings of the King, but it is also a time that marks the coming of judgment. This judgment will come first on the house of God and then on the world. So, while there is great promise in the Advent, there is also a somber tone as the theme of threat is added to the theme of promise. This is reflected in some of the readings for Advent, in which there is a strong prophetic tone of accountability and judgment on sin. But this is also faithful to the role of the Coming King, who comes to rule, save, and judge the world.

The spirit of Advent is expressed well in the parable of the bridesmaids who are anxiously awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom. There is profound joy at the Bridegroom’s expected coming. And yet a warning of the need for preparation echoes through the parable. But, even then, the prayer of Advent is still:
Come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel!