Great Expectations

We are in the season of Advent.

Advent means "coming" or "arrival". In the traditional church calendar, the season of Advent is divided into two halves - the first period through Dec 16, the second from Dec 17 to Dec 24. The focus of the first period is the anticipation of Christ's second coming; the second period, the focus is on his birth on earth. It is a season full of anticipation and longing for Christ's coming and subsequent redemption from sin, tragedy and pain.

In the words of a well-known Advent hymn, the cry of our hearts is "O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here, Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel." Of course the meaning of "Emmanuel" is "God with us" - God with us; God becoming man; God walking among us; God throwing his lot with us, suffering and dying like us, for us.

Advent is a season pregnant with emotion. For one, Christ has not come in victory - there is tragedy everywhere - and the longing for him hurts because the time of perfection seems so far off and illusory, a wisp of dream. Yet, we celebrate him being born on earth 2000 years ago, and just the thought of God becoming man bewilders and exhilarates the soul. Remembering his birth is also remembering that he promised to come again.

Therefore, jumping to the insular here, we should try not to sing Christmas Carols during Advent. We tend to have a fast food mentality, even about things of the heart - we don't want to wait to celebrate. But it is through the waiting and the longing and the crying that his coming to earth makes the most sense. Who would care whether God came to earth if everything on earth was fine and dandy?