Advent is a Latin word meaning “coming”. We do not
use this word in normal speech. No one
says, “This Friday is the advent of my sister, who will be visiting from
Rochester.” One does not say to a
potential guest, “When shall we expect your advent?” The arrivals gate at Philadelphia airport
does not announce the advent of flight 5143 from Phoenix. No, Advent is a church word. And a very good one at that. A word that ought not to be relegated to the
church’s ancient past, to the history of our religion, or to the catholic and
apostolic churches like ours who stubbornly insist on following this old
calendar of seasons and feast days. It is the beginning of the church’s year,
the four Sundays before Christmas, December. This word, Advent, is a Christian
word, part of the Christian lexicon. It
is part of our speech because it describes a particular event or events to
which we find ourselves inextricably bound as believers. “Advent” is always and forever pointing us to
the story of a peculiar coming, an extraordinary arrival, a surprising
visit. For the Advent that we announce
to the world is the Advent of GOD. The
divine creator, YHWH, the LORD, the Savior of Israel, comes. GOD comes to us. Once, long ago, in the town of Bethlehem of
Judea, a son was born to a Virgin named Mary and her betrothed Joseph. His birth marked the Advent of GOD. And of course, one must ask a good question;
from whence did he come? Where was GOD
before the Advent of this child? What about
this particular moment establishes God’s Advent in a way that distinguishes it
from God’s coming before or since? For
surely, Christians have proposed that this Advent was exclusive, unique,
special, and unequivocal (a word which here means, without equal
comparison). According to the Gospels, the birth of Jesus
marks the Advent of God’s coming to God’s people in an unprecedented way. This” Advent” was anticipated by Israel,
God’s chosen people, and announced by the ancient prophets. We must acknowledge that the Advent of God in
the birth of Jesus was, at least initially, an exclusive Advent. God came to God’s own people, in a way that was anticipated by their prophets. And
yet God’s own people failed to recognize it.
(So said someone who had not
failed to recognize it.) Certainly, some
people recognized Jesus as God’s Son, as the Messiah, as the Savior long
promised. Failure to recognize God in the Christ, we are told, was a sign from
God that validated the Advent experience, precisely because the coming of God
in Jesus was NOT globally decisive. One
did not expect the Messiah to come in the vulnerable form of an infant. One did not expect the Messiah to die on the
cross at the hands of the very government Messiah was supposed to usurp. God’s Advent was hidden and revealed in the
flesh of a man. Advent was subtle, yet
not totally unnoticed.
God’s coming to us in the infancy of Jesus gives us
due pause; not in the powerful storm or the mighty army does he come, but in a
baby boy wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in an animals’ feeding trough. In poverty. In vulnerable mortality. In human family and political
controversy. In Israel, but to the
earth. God’s Advent requires a context,
a container, a place. But it is not
containable or limited to that place.
God’s Advent became a global reality over hundreds of years. Because God’s Advent in Jesus Christ
continues…it happened once and continues to happen. Because somehow, some way, during this season
of the year, God makes His way to you and me. The peculiarity of Advent, the unprecedented
and divine nature of it as that one cannot predict what it might do to
you. This year, perhaps, you may
experience Advent in a way you have not before.
As if something new were about to begin, as if a birth was about to
occur in your own life. This Advent may
mark a beginning for you, a way of experiencing God that you have not had
before. It is forever possible that
Advent might happen to you or for you this year. We anticipate, we hope, we expect. We worship.
We give. We receive. We celebrate.
We sing. We pray. We wonder.
Advent is so much more than a countdown to Christmas. It is the announcement of God’s arrival in
Jesus of Nazareth. It is the
announcement that God has come for you and for me. God has sought us out. God has invaded our privacy. God has visited our homes. God has met us on the road. God has shown up, disguised as one of
us. This Advent we will hear the
remarkable story. We will travel with
Mary and Joseph. We will gather with
shepherds and angels. We will witness
the birth. We will tell the good
news. God will come to you. May you readily receive the one who comes in
the name of the Lord. Amen.
