Anticipating Advent

Anticipation. We see it everywhere. It’s probably most alive and sparking in children as they anticipate absolutely everything about the holiday – vacation, cookies and candy, parties, pageants, and Christmas morning. We sometimes see it in the tired faces of merchants, teachers, and parents. It’s also seen in the care-worn lines and wrinkles of those who’ve lost much over the years. We all anticipate something.

For many, yesterday was the beginning of Advent.

Dictionaries define advent as “the coming or arrival of something important, the period of preparation for Christmas, the coming or birth of Jesus Christ.”

The Holman Bible Dictionary notes the celebration dates back to the fifth century, soon after the origin of the celebration of Christmas, but its primary definition states, “Advent designates the coming or second coming of Christ.”

How often do we relegate Advent to just Christmas?

As we anticipate celebrating our faith on a day-by-day basis, what better way to begin than by remembering Advent as looking toward the second coming of Christ? That should give us more than a small measure of joy, not only during December but also throughout the year.

For as the lightning lights up the entire sky, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. And they will see the Son of Man arrive on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with the sound of a mighty trumpet blast, and they will gather together his chosen ones from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven. Matthew 24: 27, 30-31, New Living Translation

Christmas Blessings, Francine

1 comments:

    On 9:16 AM Anonymous said...

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