This Season of Advent

by Elsie Iudicello

“The Advent season is a season of waiting, but our whole life is an Advent season, that is, a season of waiting for the last Advent, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth.” ~ Dietrich Bonhoeffer

There is no opting out of Advent. Whether you acknowledge it or not, we are all in it. We are waiting. We don’t get to choose how long we wait, but we do get to choose how we wait. We are pummeled daily with stories of sin, decay, ruin and disaster. The temptation to despair, to feel that the sin of the world outweighs all else, looms heavy. We must purposefully remember that nothing will ever be weightier than the act of Jesus enfleshed, bound by skin and sinew, yet fully God, coming to earth and living a sinless life so that He might take the punishment for our sins, so that we might be restored to God and live with hope. When we remember the Advent of the incarnation, we fortify ourselves in this Advent of the second coming. We remember that God’s story is not merely this present moment. 

One simple way to remember Advent is by making use of the centuries old tradition of the Advent wreath, using it to establish a pattern of family worship where truth is proclaimed and upheld over the worldly din around us. Open God’s word with your family. Hear the ancient words foretell the coming of Christ as it falls on ears that have already heard the good news. There is power in remembering together the monumental truth that God always keeps His promises. He is imminently trustworthy. He does what He says He will do and He does it to the letter.  He will deliver. He will redeem and restore. He will come again. We behold and rejoice, joining our voices in song with the echo of countless hallelujahs spanning centuries and resounding from the heavenly realms. We remember, we receive, we rejoice, and we continue to wait with hope for the glorious day when the heavens resound once more, proclaiming His return.