Celebrating Advent

Sunday was the first Sunday of Advent.  Advent, of course, is the time of preparation before Christmas.

We tend to want to rush past Advent.  We want to get right to the payoff, to get right to Christmas.  We all know a dozen or more Christmas hymns--there are maybe two Advent hymns that we know.  There are any number of Christmas movies--the Hallmark Channel has been running them for over a month already.  Have you ever seen an Advent movie?  I’ve never even heard of one.

If we rush past Advent and go right to Christmas, though, we miss out on a lot.  We cheat ourselves.  We don’t get the chance to fully appreciate what a miracle the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus truly is.

You see, as Christians, we sometimes take the fact that Jesus is our Savior for granted.  But humans lived for hundreds, thousands of years before Jesus was born.  For much of that time, they had no idea that there would even be a Savior.  Then, when there finally were prophecies of a Savior, the people had to wait hundreds of years for those prophecies to come true.  They had to wait hundreds of years for the Savior to be born.

Think about that.  Waiting hundreds of years for the prophecy of the Savior to come true.  Relying on a promise made to your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents.  Trying hard to keep the faith.  Trying to fight off the doubts that inevitable crept in.  Sometimes giving in to those doubts.  Wondering--is this really going to happen?  Is there really going to be a Savior?  Or is this just a story the old folks tell to try to give us hope?  Being tempted to give up that hope.  Hearing all the nay-sayers, all the doubters.  Having to always struggle to keep your faith strong.  It would be a really hard thing to do.

But then, think about the joy when it finally happened!  Think about the incredible feeling when the Savior finally came!  Yes, salvation is available to everyone, and if those who gave up changed their minds and accepted Jesus they would be welcomed.  But think of how much more intense the joy must have been for those who had not given up, for those who had managed to keep their faith through all the years, despite everything.  Think of how it must have felt to have that faith finally rewarded.  It must have been incredible.

That’s the joy we miss out on, too, if we skip Advent and go right to Christmas.  Christmas is still a wonderful thing, of course.  But going through Advent, thinking of the years of waiting, thinking of the miracle that this truly was, makes Christmas even more wonderful.

So this year, take some time to celebrate Advent.  It won’t take away from Christmas.  It will make Christmas even better.