Adventus

Stories invite us into a world larger than ourselves. 

God invited mankind into His story of the universe when He created Adam and Eve.  The narrative recorded in the Old Testament is primarily interested in God’s revelation of himself to mankind and begins an unfolding revelation of His plan to accomplish this.

This plan centers round God’s presence – God continually says, “I am with you.”  He longs for relationship with us and in Jesus He physically entered our world.

Like the people of the Old Testament we recall the many prophecies of his coming.  As they waited so we wait. Advent slows us down. It makes us think. It makes us look beyond today.

Advent reminds us what we are waiting for as we go through this busy season. Advent did not end with the coming of Jesus in Bethlehem 2000 years ago – Advent welcomes us to participate in the continuing story of God as we learn to wait for the second coming of Jesus, the Messiah.

When the first flame of the Advent wreath lights up in our homes and our Churches, we begin a new liturgical year.  Christmas is four weeks away and as we travel through these four weeks the light increases and we are reminded through the story of others why Jesus was born.

Advent, from the Latin word Adventus, means “coming.”   This season focuses on preparation and joy as we look forward to the coming of the Messiah. We rejoice as we begin our journey to the manger in Bethlehem to witness the birth of Jesus.

Our preparations for Christmas reflect this as well. It is a time when we clean out our houses to make way for the coming company and celebration… John the Baptist called people to consider their souls and called them to clean the sin out of their lives in preparation for the coming of the Christ.  We clean things away both physically and spiritually to make way for the coming of Jesus.   

This is also a time of year when nature begin to move from darkness to light. Indeed, in nature, this is the darkest time of the year – I love the moment we crest the longest night to turn our path to longer days. Advent looks towards that moment.

For many years we as a family have included in our seasonal preparations the custom of the Jesse Tree – a tree or branch decorated with ornaments or symbols signifying individuals in the genealogy of Jesus through the line of David, son of Jesse. The symbols also symbolize God's ongoing presence and covenant with mankind.  In this way we celebrate how God With Us, El Shaddai, welcomed humanity to walk the journey with Him in Jesus and how we now look forward to His coming once again.  How blessed we are to have a place in the story of God.