Advent Season: Living In Between
Our King and Savior draweth nigh: O come, let us adore Him.
As I write this, it is Christmas Eve. In a few hours I will go to church, where we will ring in Christmas Day with a joyful celebration of the Incarnation, of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
The weeks leading up to this blessed night have been full of anticipation. On the surface, they have been of anticipation of the secular “holiday” celebration: food, family, gifts. All good things, to be sure, but in themselves not the reason we celebrate. We gather to celebrate not love and peace in the abstract, but the Prince of Peace in the flesh, the love of God made manifest in the birth of His Son.
In the ancient Christian liturgical calendar, the four weeks preceding Christmas are the season of Advent. Not the commercialized “Advent” of Advent calendars (cute as they are) with their pieces of chocolate hidden behind little paper doors labeled with the days of December. No, the ancient Christian celebration of Advent is a penitential season: a season to reflect on our sins, on the reason that we need a Savior, on the fact that the joy of Christmas Day contains within it the sorrow of Good Friday before we come through to the new day of Easter. We must remember that between the baby Jesus in the manger and our Risen Lord stands the Cross, where He suffered and died for our sins.
“Advent” literally means “coming” or “arrival,” and so in the season of Advent we look forward to the arrival of our Lord on earth, His birth to Mary in the stable in Bethlehem – the beloved Christmas story. But while the first Advent of our Lord is an event of history, His second Advent lies in the future.
It is easy to forget – or perhaps never even to realize, as I didn’t before I became a Christian – that the Christian faith does not promise a disembodied life in heaven with an equally disembodied God. No, the Christian creed has been clear on this from the beginning: Christ will come again, bodily, to judge the living and the dead. There will be a new creation – a new heavens and a new earth, and a physical resurrection of the saved. Jesus, who was bodily raised from the dead – not spiritually in the hearts of his disciples, not as an inspiring memory, but physically and bodily, with the marks of the nails in His hands – is the firstfruits of that new creation of which we will one day be a part.
While we celebrate the Savior’s birth, the season of Advent calls us also to look forward to that day of judgment and new creation.
When will that day come?
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus offers us this stern warning: “Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come. It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to stay awake. Therefore stay awake – for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning – lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.” (Mk 13:33-37 ESV)
Every day becomes a day of repentance, a day of thanks, a day of relying on God’s grace and mercy. He might not come today – but then again, He might. We do not know the hour. We cannot presume to guess the hour. When that hour comes, will we be able to greet it with joy?
And so now, this night, this Christmas Eve, I feel the tension of living in between the times. Sometimes this world is so beautiful, life is so good, that I want to cling to it, keep it forever. Other times the world is so obviously broken, the pain and tragedy around us so terrible, that I want Him to return now, right now! to set the world to rights.
Like a child longing for Christmas morning, my heart this night longs for His coming.
Until that day – what to do?
Paul reminds us in Philippians to:
…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (2:12b-16 ESV)
May our Lord Jesus Christ grant us the grace to stay awake and in readiness for His Second Coming in power and great glory; may our Savior whose death on the cross redeemed us from sin and death give us the grace to keep our hearts turned to Him in love and obedience; may our Risen Lord grant us the grace to let His light shine through us this day and every day until we see Him face to face.
Related posts:
Dr Holly Ordway came to Christ through reason, in the pursuit of truth. "In your hearts honor Christ as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 15).
She writes about her journey from atheism to orthodox Christian faith in her book "Not God's Type: A Rational Academic Finds a Radical Faith" (Moody Publishers).
