Advent: A time to wait and listen

For most Americans, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is marked by a marathon of Christmas preparations and celebrations. There is a tree to put up and decorate (including the traditional untangling of the tree lights), presents to buy, wrapping and mailing to get done. There are Christmas mission projects such as Operation Christmas Child, collections for a children’s home or Angel Tree. And that’s not to mention the marathon of Christmas parties, luncheons, get-togethers and gift exchanges. With our church activities plus my husband being in retail, I confess that I sometimes want to shout, “Wait! We might miss the joy that comes with expectant waiting if we keep charging ahead like this!”

I think this is why I so appreciate the season of Advent. Advent begins four Sundays prior to Christmas and does not always begin the same weekend “Black Friday” does. It represents a time to focus on Whose arrival we are anticipating and to get our spiritual affairs in order through a season of repentance and watching for signs of the Kingdom.

Advent means “arrival,” or “coming,” but it doesn’t just refer to the coming of the baby Jesus; it refers also to Jesus’ second coming and keeps that arrival foremost in our minds as we live in between those two times. Christians today rightly celebrate the victory of the resurrection of Jesus, and thus our victory over sin and death through him. Some even refer to Christians as “An Easter People.” I say that, more than An Easter People, we are An Advent People. The mystery of faith that we proclaim is that “Christ has died. Christ is risen. Christ will come again.” To call ourselves an Easter people leaves out the future tense of Christ’s saving work in the world: Christ will come again.

As much as we are remembering the expecting Virgin Mary and Joseph having to go to Bethlehem to be counted for a census, we are, in our own time expecting his final arrival on earth. I’m not going to debate about pre- post- or a-millennialism, but we are in agreement that Christ will come again some day and that this spiritual generation (so far it’s been 2,000 years and it may be 10,000 + more) is in the last days and we are in agreement that once Christ’s kingdom is established on Earth, peace will reign.

In these days of economic turmoil, a presidential change, military conflict, and unrest, we can understand what it is to long for our Savior’s arrival. We really don’t want to learn war any more! It’s on all of our lips to want to cry out like the Prophet Isaiah, “Tear open the heavens and come down!” (Isa 64:1)

When we focus on the end, we focus on the wrong thing. As an Advent People, we can rest assured in God’s very real presence with us as we wait. He has brought us through so many things! When we focus on faith and watchful waiting, we have a profound hope. I invite you to think to yourself, “Have I ever been in a place that God couldn’t get me out of?” “Have I or any of my loved ones had an illness – no matter how it turned out – where God was absent?” “Did God get us through the Great Depression?” “Is our nation still intact after all our wars?”

I believe God will see us through this anxious time, too. Our lives are lived in Advent; in our pre-Christmas rushing around, set time apart to listen for God’s voice, to see the presence of the Savior, and to humble ourselves before him.

Sally Oakes is pastor of Bethany United Methodist Church, 607 Rivers Road, Fayetteville, GA 30214. Phone: 770-964-6999 or 770-964-6992, or e-mail bethanymnc@bellsouth.net.