I belong to a few online groups and forums related to my work as a parish priest. Recently, there was a conversation in one of these forums about how clergy might maintain the distinctive character of the season of Advent in their churches. I didn’t comment, but it did make me smile.
For readers who don’t know, Advent (from the Latin for “coming”) is the season of the Church’s year running up to Christmas. The popular Advent Calendars start on 1st December and run for 24 days (sometimes 25) but Advent itself is a season of varying length which can start as early as 27th November or as late as 3rd December. It always starts on a Sunday (Advent Sunday) and includes three more Sundays and then however many days are left in the week after that fourth Sunday before Christmas Day.
Traditionally Advent has been a period of looking forward. Firstly, we look forward to the joyful celebration of Christmas, which is itself not a single day, but a season of twelve days of feasting running up to 5th January (Twelfth Night) when most people used to take down their decorations. We should perhaps pause to wonder what magnitude of good news might warrant twelve days of feasting – surely only the best kind of news! Indeed, it is the news which caused the angels to sing and has brought lasting comfort and joy to billions of people from all nations, tribes and tongues. If you might be interested in hearing about this news instead of the fluff that often gets bandied around at this time of year, do come to one of our services, or consider joining our discussion series “321” in the New Year.
Secondly, the Advent season is a time for looking forward to the promised return of Christ and all the blessings that come with that – the answer to our pleas in the Lord’s Prayer that God’s kingdom would come and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.
However, it seems that people today are incapable of waiting. I understand why traders include Christmas themes in their adverts from late October onwards, but it seems so many other aspects of Christmas must be brought forward, too. I am writing this in mid-November, and I heard a Christmas song on the radio this morning! The pressure on the church to bring aspects of Christmas forward is also intense (and even our carol services have crept forward to the fourth Sunday of Advent). Like some in my online forum, I want to resist. Learning to wait patiently reminds us that some things are out of our control – we just can’t have everything we want when we want it. And whilst we might all pray for God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven, if God were to answer that prayer today would you actually be ready? Do you know what the implications of that would be?
May God speak to you in the waiting and fill you with joy at Christ’s coming.