Advent
Sermon Notes
What is Advent?
For centuries, the global Church has relied on the liturgical calendar to interrupt the cadence of life in the empire and to draw followers of Jesus up into the rhythms of the King and His Kingdom. Observing the dates and seasons on the Church calendar is how God’s people living in exile maintain and grow a distinctly Christian identity in the middle of a decidedly non-Christian context, how we remember who we are, where we came from, where we’re going, and what we’re doing here. These holy habits ground us in God’s story and the part we play in it and, in so doing, cause us to move through the world differently, at a different rhythm and tempo.
Tragically, one of the pillars of the Church calendar, the Christmas season, has been so co-opted by mainstream culture that it has been drained of much of its power. It has, by and large, ceased to be even remotely Christian. Traditions that were established to serve as signs pointing to the One for whom the holiday exists have themselves become the main event. The great themes of Christmas, words like hope, peace, joy, and love, have been domesticated and emptied of weight and impact. And so, Christmas, as we have come to know it, has lost its holiness. It has become another institution of the empire and, therefore, has lost much of its capacity to enrapture us into the vibrant life of the Kingdom.
Fortunately, the Church anticipated this possibility and built a safeguard into the liturgical calendar. This safeguard is known as Advent. From the Latin word, adventus, meaning, “arrival,” Advent is not the beginning of Christmas but a distinct season of preparation that precedes Christmas. It is a time during which Christians around world prepare themselves to celebrate Christmas, prepare themselves for the King who has come and is coming again. In other words, Advent exists to help us keep Christmas holy. It is the answer for everyone who has ever wondered, “How do we keep in view the real meaning of Christmas?” Advent is the pathway to Christmas, and if we walk it with intentionality and discipline, we will unlock the power of the liturgy and discover anew the wonder, the magic of this season.
Central to our celebration of Advent will be reclaiming the power of the Christmas words: hope, peace, joy, and love. In the world’s context, these themes—if they are present at all—are seen as something akin to naïve optimism that are good for holiday décor and greeting cards but cannot bear the weight of real life. As soon as the lights come down and the gifts are returned, reality rushes back in, and hope, peace, joy, and love wilt like the trees on the curb. But, Advent gives us the opportunity to enter into these words differently. Advent grounds Christmas in reality: it is not simply about the past but, because of the past, about the present and future as well. Jesus has come. He is with us. He will come again. We are quite literally surrounded by the arrival of Jesus—His arrival in Bethlehem, His arrival daily in our lives, and His arrival in glory at the end of the age. And, because of this, hope, peace, joy, and love are not fleeting but are both present and guaranteed. Advent is not about optimism; it is utterly realistic. It is not a time for denial, escapism, or saccharine sentiments. It is a season in which we look, with clear eyes at the world as it is but do not settle for leaving it as it is. Instead, we unleash on the world the Christmas themes of hope, peace, joy, and love in their full weight and power. Jesus has come, and we prepare our hearts to remember. Jesus is with us, and His is presence changes everything. Jesus is coming again, and we cry, with all of creation, “Come, Lord Jesus!”
How do we celebrate Advent?
The real magic of the liturgical calendar lies in the liturgy, traditions and practices endowed with power by the presence of the Holy Spirit and the sincerity of the saints. There is no one correct way to observe Advent, but there are several sacred practices that we can incorporate as a community that will help us together walk this path to Christmas. Over the next four weeks, let’s commit to celebrating Advent together through prayer, Scripture, and engaging in weekly practices as individuals and as communities.
Prayer
Throughout this Advent season, let’s commit to beginning and ending our days in prayer.
Start your day by inviting the Holy Spirit to fill you with His presence and to make you aware of what He wants to do in and through you. Spend some time listening to what He might be saying. It may be helpful to journal what you hear. End your time by praying for your day: for your family, your friends, your school, your job, and your church. Specifically, ask God to show you the ways He is already working in those spaces and how you can partner with Him in that work.
At the end of your day, spend some time reflecting. As you look back on your day, be aware the emotions that arise, and turn those emotions into prayers. Take care to notice God at work in your day. Where do you see Him? What was He doing? How can you join with Him? End with gratitude. Whether your day was delightful or difficult or anything between, God was with you, so there is reason to be thankful.
Scripture
There are many ways to read the Bible. Some readers focus on progress through the text, utilizing tools such as one-year Bible plans, and others focus on intensive study, using commentaries and Bible dictionaries to dive deep into chapters and passages. Both are extremely valuable and necessary in the life of any follower of Jesus. But one of the most underutilized ways of reading the Bible, at least in many Protestant traditions, is meditation. Rarely, does the Bible talk about reading the Scriptures; instead, it uses words like “meditate,” “consider,” “consume,” “long for,” and “delight in” to describe the relationship we are to have with God’s Word. An ancient practice called Lectio Divina (“divine reading”) facilitates this kind of relationship.
Lectio Divina exists to facilitate communion with God through mediation on His word. In Lectio, we are not trying to get through a large amount of text, nor are we attempting to analyze and exegete. Instead, we are seeking to abide with God by immersing ourselves in a short passage of Scripture for an extended period of time. Traditionally, Lectio consists of reading the same passage four times in one sitting, with each reading focusing on a different prayer exercise. These four readings are called lectio (read), meditatio (meditate), oratio (pray), and contemplatio (contemplate). Don’t be scared off by the Latin names; they are simply guideposts through the meditation.
Lectio: in the first reading, we still ourselves in the presence of God and invite the Holy Spirit to speak. Then, we read the text slowly and deliberately, taking note of any words or phrases that stand out.
Meditatio: the second time through the text, pay special attention to those words or phrases that the Holy Spirit highlighted for you. Feel free to stop on these words or phrases, to read them multiple times if necessary. Don’t try to interpret or apply them right now. Just ponder them, soak in them, and ask the Holy Spirit to invite you into them in new ways.
Oratio: read the passage a third time, and at the end of this reading, spend some time in prayer about what the Holy Spirit is calling to mind. A journal may be helpful during this time.
Contemplatio: one more reading of the text, and then sit in silence in the presence of God. This isn’t a time to pray (that is, speak to God) but rather a time to be with God. If you find your mind starts to wander during this time, have some grace for yourself. It happens to everyone. Just gently bring your mind back to quiet and stillness.
We will provide three passages each week (one from the OT, one from the Psalms, and one from the NT) that focus on the Advent theme for that week. Engage these passages as the Holy Spirit leads you. You may want to read all of them in a week, or you may find that Jesus directs you to the same one over and over again. Take your time. Remember, the goal is not achievement but abiding.
Practices
Each week, we will also suggest individual and family/community practices that will help you more fully enter into the Advent themes. Receive these practices not as prescriptive but as invitational. They are not a means of earning grace but rather of more fully participating in the grace that we have already received. And, with each practice, feel free to experiment. There is no one-size-fits-all discipline; they must be tailored to the individuals and communities by which they are being practiced.
Week 1 – Hope
In modern parlance, the word hope is pretty innocuous. It is used to describe something that isn’t likely to happen. “I hope I do well on this exam (despite the fact that I didn’t study).” “I hope my team wins the championship this year (despite our obvious lack of talent). “ “I hope this lottery ticket is a winner (despite the fact that I have a better chance of being struck by lightning).” But, this couldn’t be further from the biblical understanding of the word. There are two words translated “hope” in the Old Testament. The first, tikvah, is related to a noun referring to “a strong rope” that tethers us securely to a fixed object. And, its counterpart in the New Testament, the Greek word, elpis, means “a strong expectation; something that you expect to happen and are sure will satisfy your needs.” Thus, Paul’s assertion in Romans 5:5 that hope will not put us to shame and the claim by the writer of Hebrews that hope is “an anchor for our souls” (Hebrews 6:19). The second Hebrew word translated “hope” is, yachal, which literally means, “to wait.” When we put those two words together, we come to a clear understanding of the biblical definition of hope: we await something that is guaranteed. As we celebrate Advent, we are not placing our hope in something that is uncertain. Jesus has come, and He is coming again.
Readings
Isaiah 40:25-41
Psalm 130
Romans 8:18-25
Practices
Week 2 – Peace
Peace is one of the most used yet most misunderstood words in the Bible. We tend to think that peace simply means an absence of conflict, but the Bible’s version of peace is much more robust. The Hebrew word for this is shalom, and “peace” is not the best way to translate it. A much better word to describe shalom is “wholeness.” In other words, peace is not about absence but presence. It is not what happens when conflict is absent but rather what happens when everything that is good (as God intended) is present. So, when Jesus said to His disciples, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27), He was not simply extending positive wishes for their emotional health and well-being. He was making a promise. He was guaranteeing that they would experience His wholeness increasingly here and now and completely when they entered into the full realization of His Kingdom. He makes the same promise to us today. This is the promise of Christmas. A King has come and is coming again, and He is called, “Prince of Peace.”
Readings
Isaiah 9:1-7
Psalm 91
Ephesians 2:11-22
Week 3 – Joy
Joy is among the more difficult words to define. As many have pointed out, the Hebrew word simchah does not mean happiness (neither its Greek counterpart chara), but knowing what it isn’t not does not tell us what it is. Joy is so difficult to define because it is a complex emotion, whereas happiness is a simple emotion. Simple emotions are one-faceted, always the same, not adaptable. Therefore, they are dependent on circumstance. But, complex emotions are multi-faceted and able to adapt to circumstances. In other words, happiness is present only when the circumstances are right, but joy can be present in any circumstance. Joy is the feeling that accompanies shalom. It is our emotional response to wholeness. Therefore, in circumstances where wholeness, flourishing happens (God, self, others, world), we naturally feel joy. However, this is not always the case. Often, we experience situations that are not whole but are broken, places where shalom is absent. And, yet, the Bible says joy is possible even in these circumstances. How? Because it is a complex emotion that adapts to the circumstance of brokenness. In wholeness, it is a spontaneous response to goodness. In brokenness it becomes a faith-filled, deliberately chosen response to the One who is able to bring goodness out of badness, who is able to redeem all of our pain, who is able to make something beautiful out of the broken pieces. The feeling is different in brokenness than in wholeness, but it is the same emotion. This Advent season, we participate in a joy that does not end with Christmas but persists into the brokenness of everyday life and, by persisting, redeems it.
Readings
Isaiah 61
Psalm 126
1 Peter 1:3-9
Week 4 – Love
This is the most powerful of the Advent words because it is the source from which the others flow. Our hope, peace, and joy all come from being fully known and fully loved by God. In both Hebrew (chesed) and Greek (agape), the words translated “love,” connote permanence. In fact, both words only exist and make sense within the context of the covenants that God initiated with His people. The Hebrew, chesed, can also be translated as “loyalty” or “steadfast love,” and the Greek, agape, is well-known to mean “unconditional love,” a love that is not dependent upon the worthiness of the object of that love but rather the worthiness of its subject. These words describe the very character of God. And, this is what we celebrate during this season. He is a God who, out of the overflow of His nature, chose to draw near to us when we could not/would not draw near to Him. As Paul writes in Romans 5:8: “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” And this love that caused Him to come for us, caused Him to die for us, still rests upon us. He is unconditionally loyal to us, and He is coming back for us. So, we enter Advent assured of and enjoying His love and giving it freely to everyone we meet.
Readings
Isaiah 62
Psalm 103
Ephesians 3:14-21