The word advent comes from the Latin word “adventus” which means coming. The Advent season usually begins the fourth Sunday before Christmas. The purpose of observing the advent season is very similar to the reason we have the “Fall Festival.” We do not celebrate Halloween. Instead, we actually go head to head with it to provide a positive alternative and to reach out to the community. Think of the Advent Season as our effort to go head to head with the commercialization of the Christmas Season. It is so easy to get lost in the hustle and bustle of Christmas and lose the wonder of the event, the Reason for the Season, so through a series of messages from God’s Word, select readings about the prophecy of Christ’s Coming (his advent), the visual of lighting a candle to represent Jesus as the Light of the World, and the singing of beautiful hymns and songs, we celebrate the Advent Season.
Someone once asked me if celebrating Advent was a Catholic observance and if it was somehow connected to paganism and idolatry? That is an interesting question. The Church of Jesus Christ has been observing and celebrating the birth of our Lord from the very early days of Christianity. We have records of the first celebration of the Nativity from A.D. 386. It is very probable that followers of Jesus celebrated his coming before that date. The celebration of Advent can be traced easily back to the 4th Century. That is almost 1, 500 years of history. Of course, over the years, a simple celebration became more and more elaborate as the Church tried to honor Christ is more glorious and majestic ways. The desire to honor Him was good even if the excess went to far at times.
We Baptist come from a long line of Protestant history. The very word protestant symbolizes our willingness to protest, to be protestants, about traditions that substitute anything for true faith and the Word of God. But even our leader of the protestant reformation, Martin Luther, loved the Christmas season and seemed to revel in the opportunity to build anticipation concerning the Christmas day celebration. He did this by teaching a series of Advent sermons.
So we join the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ, who for at least 1,500 years, have sought ways to exalt our Risen Savior, give honor and submission to the Word of God, and lead the people to experience Him through the use of various media. Don’t let the over commercialization of Christmas rob you and your family from the joy of anticipating the Yahweh God, lifting up His Son and our Savior Jesus Christ, honoring the Bible as the written Word of God using a rich variety of godly traditions.
See you this Sunday, the Second Sunday of Advent.
Pastor Tom
