Merry Christmas, er, Advent!

Merry Christmas, er, that is, Merry Advent! I’d wish you a “Merry Christmas!” but it’s not Christmas yet . . . even though all the stores and online advertising seem to think otherwise – except for the one that has Easter candy out already! Just kidding (maybe).

This Sunday, December 3, is the day we enter a new church year and a new church season, namely, the season of Advent. Advent means “coming” and refers to someone or something that is approaching us or arriving. It is applied to the four weeks leading up to Christmas as we anticipate the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The season of Advent is a time of preparation, prayer, and pondering about Jesus’ birth and why he came to earth to become one of us. It is a time to consider what his coming means for our lives, both here now on earth, and in eternity.

The season has been observed at least since the Middle Ages, when it was treated as a somber season of repentance before Christmas, the way Lent is before Easter.

Today, Advent is a season with its own special traditions: special songs and hymns like “Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel,” the Advent wreath, special wall banners, Advent calendars to mark off the days until Christmas, and in some churches, midweek Advent services. Advent is not just four weeks to get through before the real celebration of Christmas.

At the Eddy home, we have a few Advent traditions. First off, we hang a lighted, 26-point Moravian star from our front porch. It’s called a Moravian star because it is popular among members of the Moravian churches. In fact, our star was a gift from a Moravian family Karen provided child care for in Indiana. We also hang an Advent buzzard, either a full-size one made of black cloth and a white sock with buttons for the eyes, or two miniature ones I made out of paper, which we hide on the Christmas tree for people to find. The tradition calls for striking the buzzard as you walk past, saying with force and determination: “I renounce the powers of darkness, and put on the armor of light!” (Romans 13:12). Then there’s the beautiful wooden Advent calendar Karen gave me one year, with little doors hiding scriptural quotes and tiny gifts. Maybe I’ll ask her to put that up for me again this year!

Unfortunately, in our culture around us, Advent has totally disappeared and been replaced by the season of “Let’s shop and party and get stuff.” To our society, the Twelve Days of Christmas are the last twelve shopping days before Christmas, rather than the real twelve days that begin on Christmas and last until January 6, the Epiphany,  when we celebrate the arrival of the Wise Men. Even in many churches, Advent is squeezed out as they move straight from Thanksgiving to Christmas in decorations, song choices, and programs. (And yes, we do some of that, too!)

Advent is an important time for Christians because we know that the true meaning of Christmas is more than parties, decorations, gifts, and songs about grandmas getting run over by reindeer. It is about more than even the sentimental “family-discovers-the-true-meaning-of-Christmas” TV specials this time of year (none of which actually gets around to mentioning the name of Jesus!). Advent reminds us each year of just who Jesus is and why we needed him to come to us. We are reminded of the prophecies that foretold His birth and sacrifice for our forgiveness. It truly prepares us to celebrate His birth with our eyes and hearts and minds wide open to the wonderful life-giving miracle of God becoming man.

Advent is about more than just pre-Christmas preparation, because during Advent we recognize that Christmas is only one of three ways that Jesus comes to us. There are actually three Advents:

1. Advent #1 – Christmas, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, when the eternal Son of God took on flesh and became one of us. We call this miracle of God becoming man the Incarnation. It was essential for our salvation that the eternal Son of God came to earth in order to live a sinless life and become the pure sacrifice for our sins. By his death our sins were paid for, and our punishment canceled. Paul tells us in Romans 5:19, “For as by the one man’s (Adam’s) disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s (Jesus’) obedience the many will be made righteous.”

Jesus became true man, able to suffer thirst, hunger, pain, sorrow, and death; he also remained true God, able to forgive sins, do miracles by divine power, and provide a sacrifice great enough to atone for all the sins of every human being. As Martin Luther stated in his explanation of the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, Son of the Father from eternity and true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.”

2. Advent #2 – the Return of Christ. Christ’s return is sometimes called the Parousia, which is the word used in the Greek New Testament for his Second Coming. Our word advent (actually, adventum) is the Latin translation of that word.

But, whatever you call it, the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus is coming back, visibly and physically. As our Creed states, “He will come again to judge the living and the dead.”

Christ will come with a shout, descending to us in heavenly glory from the clouds. He will bring with him all who have died in him, and at his return resurrect them. We who are still on earth at that moment, will be changed and receive our resurrection bodies. And we will be with him forever.

Christ’s return will set all things right. All authorities will be deposed and all evil and wickedness removed. Those who are in Christ will rejoice and receive their rewards, while the unrepentant unbelievers will face everlasting judgment. All prophecies of Christ’s return will be gloriously fulfilled,

3. Advent #3 – Christ Comes to Us Personally. Besides the other two Advents which have world-wide, even cosmic impacts which affect everyone, there is an Advent in which Jesus comes to us personally to redeem, forgive, indwell, and give us new life. Christ comes to us in the written words of Scripture, when his Spirit moves us to believe and draws us to God. He gives you and me new life in the waters of baptism, and he nourishes us spiritually by his own true body and blood given in, with, and under the bread and wine of Holy Communion. He comes to us daily through prayer and works to change our lives that we might be transformed to become more and more like him. This is the individual Advent each of us needs.

In Revelation 22:20, the Apostle John wrote about Christ, “He who testifies to these things says, ‘Surely I am coming soon.’.” Then John added, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

We join that chorus and say, “Amen! Come Lord Jesus to us at your birth, at your triumphant return, and to each of us personally through your means of grace.” And to all of you I say, “May Christ come to you powerfully this Advent season.” Amen and Amen!

And now, may the Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you, the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.

Read: 1 Corinthians 15:51-58, Matthew 28:16-20