Grace and peace to you this Advent season.
Next to Lent, Advent is my favorite season of the church year. Admittedly, it’s a bit flashy, with bright colors and cheer and joy and happiness and lots and lots of frosted cookies.
I was driving home last night, thinking of what to write about Advent. As usual, I was paranoid while driving, thinking at any given second a deer would fly out of the woods and take a torpedo nose-dive into my windshield. It was typical northern Wisconsin weather: dark at 4 PM, snow caking everything, icy roads, and fog on top of everything else. I was scared. But I didn’t have to be, for Christ was with me and will be forever.
The word Advent means “come” or “coming.” Indeed, this is not a past tense verb for our Lord, although during Christmas, we hear the story about the nativity which was an event in history. This was an innocent child born in the most humiliating way, and still God in human flesh. Someday, the child would grow up to redeem the world of sin voluntarily by means of crucifixion. In Isaiah it is appropriately worded, “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter…” Why must a baby be born in the world if He is doomed to die? But Christ was no ordinary human. He suffered unimaginable pain on our behalf, and yet rose on the third day after His death. Only God is that powerful and loving.
“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” Christ comes to us helpless sinners and we receive Him. A great model of this helplessness is a human infant, unable to speak or act on their own behalf. And yet Christ, in His infinite wisdom, comes to the baptized and gives to them a most precious gift: The Holy Spirit. He or she is claimed by Christ. Christ has come to them.
“Take eat, this is my body. Take drink, this is my blood.” We are invited by Christ to His table, and he gives us His very own body and blood. We receive forgiveness, without end and without payment from us. Christ looks on us, clothed in His righteousness, and loves us. Christ comes to us at His feast.
“I am coming soon.” Through His Holy Word, we learn and are reminded that He is always with us, and will come again. Next time, he won’t be a baby grown up to die. Sin is already dead. What comes next is our direct route to heaven, and the end of a mixed-up world. Christ, transcending time, comes to us.
Jesus told his disciples, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). It might have been helpful, at the time of my drive, to remember that my life is eternally sealed in heaven. Nothing on earth, regardless of what happens, should ever matter compared to my eternal salvation in faith.
Okay, so I enjoy the cushy aspects of Christmas, with cheer and good will and yes, even the snow. I enjoy the decorations and listening to Christmas carols. I enjoy the blue paraments, and watching the culture war over Christ in Christmas. Christians are on edge around this season, along with being excited over the holiday. Yes, Christmas has been secularized, and Santa is no Jesus. Christians urge everyone to especially remember the “Christ” in “Christmas”…But stop there. The agitated hype around the church vs. commercial world is certainly a good way to increase awareness of the good news, but Christ comes always, not just at Christmas. Christ gives his gifts without restraint.
I support, then, the enjoyment of everything traditional about Christmas. It’s wonderful to be closer to family and friends, and to have that extra hair of increased happiness. Know always that Christ is continually with you, presenting you with priceless treasures of forgiveness, love, and life forever.
Come, Lord Jesus.
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