Advent 3: Waiting for Jesus’ Birth

Yesterday was the third Sunday of Advent. Here is a short piece I wrote for our church. It’s the third of four pieces that I’ve written that seeks to answer the question, What is Advent? (Here you can read the first and second installments.)

The most common way the season of Advent is celebrated is as preparation for the birth of Jesus.

We understand what it means to wait.  Usually, waiting is a very frustrating process.  We know what we want, but we know that we can’t have it yet.  We have to wait until Christmas before we can open our presents.  Anticipation is built in to the holiday season.  But the anticipation of Christmas we experience every year is different from the anticipation the season of Advent invites us to experience.

In the season of Advent, the thing that is coming is not gifts and music and family and food.  The thing that is coming is relief, redemption, salvation.  Just as Christmas is more than gifts and Santa Claus, Advent is more than waiting for the gifts and Santa Claus.  During Advent, we join with the ancient people of Israel, waiting for the one who will redeem not only Israel but the entire world.

We wait like Simeon was waiting (Luke 2.25-35).  The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the Promised One.  He waited with eager anticipation for the coming of the one who would be salvation (2.30), a light to all the nations and the glory of the people of Israel (2.32).

We wait like Anna was waiting (Luke 2.36-38).  She, like all Israel, was waiting for their holy city Jerusalem to be redeemed (2.38).  Redemption means that God is choosing to be family to his people once again, to relieve their suffering, to save them from their oppression.

There is a lot of hurt and pain in the world today.  And so we wait as well for the coming.

Outside, Christmas decorations are going up: Christmas trees, lights, candy canes, Santa Clauses, nativity scenes.  We have a lot to get ready for.  But nothing is more important than preparing for the coming of the Christ Child.  And the only appropriate way to prepare is to wait with eager anticipation for the redemption of the world.