It's Advent! Hurry up and Wait!

We have now entered the season of the Church year we call Advent.  This is part of the Christian tradition to which I belong.  It marks the beginning of the year for us faith-wise.  It's significant because it reminds us of the years/decades/centuries where God's people waited for God to send the promised Messiah.  So during this season, we hear the promises that God made, and we see how God patiently waited until the time was just right.

I don't know about you, but waiting isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world to do.  The thing is, I am actually a fairly patient person a good portion of the time.  However, it is far too often that I get impatient.  I want things done and don't want to have to wait until I have the time, or until others get the idea and do it.  My impatience drives my life far too often.

Yet, God waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Fulfillment of a promise rarely happens immediately.  If it did, there would be no need for the promise.  The reason we have to make a promise in the first place is because it's not happening right now, right away.  It will happen, but until it does, waiting is called for.  Patience is called for.

In some ways, our current society life reflects this.  It's the time when many are buying gifts, putting up trees, and wrapping up presents for the tree and the stockings.  Yet, we wait until the time to open them. If you have kids, you get to teach patience (and believe me, they don't want to wait!). Even for you, you might be driven to distraction by the unknown thing(s) sitting in a brightly wrapped package, just beckoning to you.  Yet, we wait.

The season of Advent is a season of waiting.  God's promise will be fulfilled, which began with the sending of His Son, who would be born of a human woman and become a human being. Even then, though, redemption would wait.  It would be thirty or so years before the action of redemption occurred.  Even then, waiting was called for, as the tomb and grave seemed too much to defeat.  But the promise was fulfilled as the giver of life came back to life, to give new life to all who believe it was done for them.

So wait.  Take a few deep breaths when you find yourself impatient.  Relax, close your eyes, count slowly to ten, and then remember.  Waiting is a challenge, but God is growing you in that challenge.  

What it means to be a child

Yesterday I spent a few minutes thinking about this coming Sunday.  In my congregation, we will be observing All Saints' Day.  It's a day that is set aside to remember those who have gone before us in the faith, and who have now received their eternal inheritance with God in Jesus.  In many ways, this is a very moving day to observe, as many churches will read out the names of those that have died to this life and to sin, and now live with God.  Those names bring back memories of dearly loved ones, of people that we knew well, and with whom we get the joy and privilege of spending eternity.

Part of my reflection for this day came from the words of 1 John 3:1-3.  In there, John refers to believers in Christ Jesus as "little children."  It's a very endearing term to use, especially with the pictures and images that come along with it.  We are the children of God.  We are the people who are loved by God.

As you think about the life of a child, we see some of those same reflections in our lives as Christians.  A child is (usually) pretty proud of his or her parents.  A child doesn't want someone talking bad about the parents.  A child is happy to see parents, and looks to the parents to care for them, to give them what they need, and to provide for their well-being.  In all of these, the reflection of God should be pretty obvious.

Being a child also means that you find a lot of joy in life.  For many children, the world is simply filled with wonders that are out there to discover.  I would even say that it's kind of sad when we lose our sense of wonder in this creation of God's.  When we cannot find joy, is it because we have become too focused on our self-importance?  Do we risk losing the joy and wonder of seeing God's handiwork if we're too focused on our own stuff and life?

Being a child means that you are dearly loved.  It means that you have "Daddy", who is there to take care of you and to stand up for you.  And here is where we see that God is the best "Daddy" imaginable.  Not only has He provided for all that we need in life, He even goes so far as to give up His best in order to make sure that we belong to Him.  That's what Jesus and the cross and the resurrection is all about.

In the end, being a child means that we are loved.  Even though that love may not be revealing its complete form among us now, it still spills over into this life.  And so, in our interactions with one another, it would be great if we could all see each other as little children, children who are dearly loved by the Father.

Easter Letdown

It's a strange phenomenon that sadly takes place practically every year.  We come to the Easter celebration, and churches are filled with people celebrating Christ's resurrection.  We sing our festive hymns with large numbers of other Christians, and leave the church building with joy in our hearts as we head off to our family get-togethers.

Then, the following Sunday arrives, and it's not merely business as usual, but it's almost as though many people need a week to recover from Easter.  So, what is the solution?  Stay home, and don't go worship.  Sure, Jesus is alive and has made us right with God.  Sure, our eternal life is secured, as is the forgiveness of our sins.  But our response is to worship at St. Mattress and St. Pillow alone, rather than going to join our brothers and sisters at our local gathering place.

Now, a little bit of this is understandable.  Christmas and Easter tend to be the two holy days where people feel they must make their religious obligations and attend church.  Maybe it's to check in with God, or maybe they feel that it's their "duty".  And I'm not going to get into that discussion today.  The lack of presence of these individuals is something to be expected.

 But what about the people who are fairly faithful in their worship time together?  Do we so lightly take account of the Lord's day that we fail to recognize that God still does His work through the Gospel message every time we come together?  Now, I'm not going to pretend to be some kind of worship Nazi, saying that you have to be there every single week or else.  But I will say, what does it say about our faith when we intentionally put ourselves first rather than our time with God and with others?

I'm pretty sure that my thoughts here won't change the minds of any of those who may engage in such behavior.  Who knows, there are some who may even read what I write, and then get angry that I even say something about it.  It is funny, though, how we get angry at those who remind us that we have done wrong.  It's as though we want others to simply overlook our sins and ignore them rather than lovingly to bring them to our attention in order to bring us more in line with what God's will and desires are.

So tomorrow, I will be sharing God's good news once again.  I may feel a little let down that all of those people who gathered to hear of Jesus' resurrection aren't there to receive God's gifts again the following week, but that does not stop the proclaiming of God's good news.  The message continues to go forth, no matter how many or few may gather together.

Candles: An Advent Tradition

Lots of people like candles.  These days, you can get candles of all shapes, sizes, and scents.  While in the past candles were used for light, these days candles are used for so many other reasons than to provide light.  In the time before electricity, the only real means of lighting a house after the sun had set was to use candles.

Candles have also played a fairly major role in the Christian church.  Many of the large cathedrals and churches in Europe were built prior to electric light, and so candles were used to light the sanctuary when people would gather for worship.  You could always know when a time of worship was being observed by the light filtering through the windows, cast from the many candles throughout the building.

As the church celebrates the season of Advent, we also make use of candles.  A traditional part of the season of Advent is the Advent wreath, in which four candles are placed around the outside, with a fifth candle at the middle of the wreath.  Three of the outer candles are purple, and one is pink.  The center candle is white.  While there are many explanations as to what the four candles symbolize, as well as their colors, the matter of importance for us is that the prepare us for the time when we light the central candle.

Why is the central candle so important?  In the Advent wreath, this candle is known as the Christ candle.  It is lit on the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  The other four candles are all in preparation for the time when we light the white central candle.  Just like the season of Advent is a time of seeing God's preparations for the birth of Jesus, the four other candles prepare us for our yearly celebration of Jesus' birth, which began His journey to the cross and the open tomb.

Starting the first week, one purple candle is lit.  The second week, an additional purple candle is lit.  On the third week, the two purple candles are lit along with the pink candle.  The fourth week, all four exterior candles are lit.  And then, on that holy day of Christmas, the entire wreath is lit up as the Christ candle shines its light, symbolic of Jesus, who is the light of the world.

If you don't already mark the season of Advent with an Advent wreath, maybe it's time to start seeing how God prepares us for our yearly celebration of Jesus' birth.  I encourage you to either buy an Advent wreath, or make your own. 

Advent, Christmas, and Traditions

If I were to simply ask how many of you are aware that we are in the season of the church year called Advent, how many would have a positive response?  If ever there was a season of the church year that seems to get overlooked, Advent would be that season.

Part of the reason for this lies in how many Christian churches approach the various seasons of the church year.  To many, following the seasons is too much like the "Catholic" way that so many broke away from in the 1500s.  Observance of seasons and the like are seen as remnants of the past, and tie the hands of their pastors too much in terms of what they would like to preach on.  So many Christian churches have simply dropped their observance of the various seasons that have traditionally been part of the church year.

We are also in a society that places far less emphasis on things Christian.  If you were not raised as a Christian, what would be the point of observing a season such as Advent?  In many ways, special holidays would be for others to observe, and so you might be ignorant of the fact that Christians celebrate specific holiday seasons.

And then, you get to the massive influence of marketing and economics.  Even as early as Halloween, Christmas things have started to appear in stores.  Once Thanksgiving passes, all restraint is released.  The blitz toward Christmas begins, and the whole focus is on getting those deals for those Christmas presents, even though Christmas is still four full weeks away.  So, from a marketing and economic standpoint, there is no point to Advent.

And yet, Advent remains a significant part of the church year.  For the Christian church, it is actually the beginning of a new year.  Since Christmas is the observance of Jesus' birth, we back up four weeks to see and hear about God's careful preparations for that birth.  That is what the season of Advent is all about.  It is about preparing for our celebration of the birth of Jesus by hearing about God's preparations for that birth.  In that time, we see God's patience as He arranged the world so that His own Son would be born at just the right time, in just the right place.

There are a number of traditions that are related to the season of Advent.  I'll be sharing a few of them over the next few days.