What is Advent?

We live in strange and messy times.  We are still challenged by the pandemic.  We remain anxious at the inadequate responses to climate change.  The victims of war are abandoned.  We need God to lead us from this troubled world to his promised land of freedom and peace.

What is Advent?

The church’s year follows a familiar pattern.  Starting with Advent Sunday, the cycle moves through the events of the life of Jesus leading to his death and resurrection.  This cycle covering half of the year culminates in Pentecost Sunday, the empowering of the church through the Holy Spirit. The second half of the year then focuses on the living out of the Spirit in the life of the church.

The word advent means ‘the coming’ and it anticipates the birth of Jesus.  But it has more than one meaning. It begins on Advent Sunday with the anticipation of a final coming of Jesus.  The scene is set for a dramatic intervention of Christ in moments of apocalyptic catastrophe for humanity.

The drama continues throughout the season as we recall the grand narrative of the Bible, from the Patriarchs and the Prophets through to John the Baptist.  All of these were obedient to God’s call for justice and freedom and the restoration of faith in God.  They remind us that the coming of Jesus was not the sentimentality of most Christmas celebrations but earthy, real and messy.

Just before the birth story, we are told of Mary, the Theotokos – God bearer.  Her humility and strength in accepting the Christ child into her own being a model for our own acceptance of Christ.

One of the great themes of advent is the return of exiles. It celebrates how our freedom loving God restores his people and brings them home.  God does this by making humanity his home and as the great prologue to John’s Gospel says ‘the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’.

We live in strange and messy times.  We are still challenged by the pandemic.  We remain anxious at the inadequate responses to climate change.  The victims of war are abandoned.  We need God to lead us from this troubled world to his promised land of freedom and peace.