Advent

Christmas was magical until my grandpa died when I was 14. Up until that point Christmas had been the highlight of every year. But something seemed to die when he died. Several years another tragic death hit us. After that, Christmases were never the same. It was more a season of ache than joy.

All through my twenties, the Christmas season sometimes seemed to mock me with all its giddiness when I felt so broken. Unfulfilled desires, chronic illness, separation from loved ones and homesickness were unwanted guests that exposed brokenness especially at Christmas.

Enters Advent- the 4 week period in the church calendar, right before Christmas that both remembers Christ’s birth and anticipates His second coming. I grew up as an evangelical in Roman catholic country. We didn’t practice anything that hinted at Roman Catholicism. Observing the church calendar or its liturgies was not a thing I was aware of.

But the truth is observing Advent has been a game changer for me. It has taught me to live in paradox. It has freed me up to treasure the joy of Christ’s first coming while also mourn that He hasn’t come back yet.

Advent enables me not to resent that the Christmas season is polluted with grief. It heightens the reality that I am a woman in waiting – waiting for consummation & for the return of my bridegroom. The small story of my life is simply joining the history of the world. I am doing what history has always been doing: groaning as it waits for one of the two comings of Jesus.

Paradox at Christmastime is just as it should be. Christ’s first coming was filled with paradox. When Simeon saw Christ in the temple, he both rejoiced and prophesied sorrow. Even as he praised God when he saw the long awaited salvation of God’s people, he also told Mary that this baby that she had just delivered, and who would deliver her, would do so at a great cost to her. “A sword will pierce through your own soul.” The same baby would bring judgement to some and exaltation to others (Luke 2: 34-35).

His second coming will also be filled with paradox. What will mean glory for all those who have longed for his appearing, will mean wailing for those who pierced him. While His children sing, His enemies will bow in terror (Rev. 1: 7).

For me, the difference between simply celebrating Christmas and practicing Advent has a lot to do with how I face December. I am not only looking forward to Christmas day (or Noche Buena in Hispanic countries). I am not only just going to (or hosting) parties. I no longer expect myself to just be happy.

No, I allow time every day to both remember Christ’s birth and anticipate his second coming. I give space to sit in my grief, in my current unfulfilled longings & fears. I bring them honestly to my Father. I don’t try to mask them or stuff them down “because Christmas!” I am OK with the tension – Yes, Praise God, Christ was born! AND Life is not what it should be.

The point is not exactly how you observe advent. I don’t always do the same thing every year. Some years I read through a devotional during Advent. Last year I read through Isaiah using Tony Reinke’s #isaiahchristmas plan. We light candles at dinner with the kids: keeping it very dark at the beginning of December and then making it brighter the closer it gets to Christmas day. We have used Ann Voskamp’s Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, adding ornaments to a Jesse Tree every day. Other years we have focused on a name of Christ a day as a way of counting down to Christmas. This year I am going on a journey through the Scriptures in Handel’s Messiah every day, as well as reading Gentle Leading’s daily devotionals.

I think the point has far more to do with the paradigm you have for this season. Are you ok with living in paradox? Are you aware that you are a woman in waiting? do you believe your unfulfilled longings, brokenness and grief fit perfectly with this time?

Practicing Advent has helped me to fix my gaze – and my hope- past Christmas to the Resurrection and the return of my King and Brother.

Christmas is a joy not because it is filled with undiluted joy. It is a joy because it testifies that just as the Incarnation truly happened, He is certainly coming back again. Because of Christmas, I am waiting for and hastening the coming of Resurrection in clouds of great glory. Then, at last, everything sad will be untrue.

O Lord Jesus, come! We miss you so.

Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash