Ramping up to Advent

We hear the term “Advent”, and we know it. In the Church, we know that it is the season leading up to Christmas—The Nativity of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though in general terms it just means “the coming,” in Christian terms it references the coming of the Messiah. The coming of God’s Anointed was anticipated in the Writings and Prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures. In the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, we recognize the coming of Christ. With his return to the realm of heaven, we anticipate his Second Coming, in which God will consummate the divine plan for the cosmos—heaven and earth.

The liturgical year of the church helps us to think through all the major themes of Christian thought. The four Sundays before Christmas make up the Season of Advent. It is a time of anticipation, and preparation: an awe-filled and joy-filled expectation of God’s power. This year it begins on the last Sunday in November and extends through the third Sunday in December.

Notice this, however: carried within the scriptures of the three Sundays before Advent begins the themes of the season are already swirling like leaves of yellow, orange, and brown.  Can you  find in the following lines the approach of purging, cleansing judgment:

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. (Malachi 4:1-2a)

Here we are warned to repent of arrogance and evildoing that makes us vulnerable to the judgment that burns off stubble, branch, and root. It is an encouragement to revere the powerful “sun of righteousness” arising with light that can bear us up in its healing flight. That is a phrase that foreshadows our worship at Christmas—the last half stanza of Hark the herald angels sing—

Risen with healing in his wings, light and life to all he brings,
hail, the Sun of Righteousness! Hail, the heaven-born Prince of Peace!
Hark the herald angels sing glory to the new-born King!

Do you recognize Advent in this Letter of St. Paul? He is speaking to a community so sure that the Second Coming is upon them that they have all stopped working,

Beloved…keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone's bread without paying for it; but with toil and labor we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. Even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. (2 Thessalonians 3:6-8 10-12)

We can keep a lively, eager expectation of Christ’s return without turning loose of the responsibilities that come with life as we know it.

Finally, do you recognize the Advent language in this portion of Luke’s Gospel?

Jesus said, "As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down." They asked him, "Teacher, when will this be, and what will be the sign that this is about to take place?" And he said, "Beware that you are not led astray; for many will come in my name and say, `I am he!' and, `The time is near!' Do not go after them…Then he said to them, "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven. But before all this occurs, they will arrest you and persecute you; they will hand you over to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to testify…and they will put some of you to death. You will be hated by all because of my name. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your souls." (Luke 21:6-8, 10-13, 16-19)

This is the startling language of the “end times”, the apocalypse, and the principal urging is to stay loyal to Christ, come what may. Friendship with Jesus leads to hostility and enmity with a great many entities in the world. With our eyes on the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, we remember how he came to us in Bethlehem, he comes into our hearts, and he shall come in the final things of God’s redemptive work. It is helpful that we have three Sundays before and four Sundays within Advent to ponder these strong messages. We must be ready, so we must prepare by practicing loyalty to the one who comes into our lives in so many ways.