o come, o come Emmanuel...

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.

O come, Thou Day-Spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel
Shall come to thee, O Israel.


Yesterday was the first Sunday of Advent and also the first day of the new year in the Christian calendar. Unlike the rest of the world, the Christian new year doesn't start with celebrations, but with penitence, prayer, and solemn preparation for the entrance of a savior.

I know for myself that I've never paid much attention to advent preparation and have focused more on the celebration of Christmas. But yesterday it struck me that advent is arguably a more solemn time than Lent. With Lent, we know that salvation is already here, there is instead a focus on seeking forgiveness and embracing the cost of sacrifice.

During the time of advent, we remember what the world was like before God sent salvation. A dark time heavy with anticipation and anxiety. The Old Testament scriptures are full of what biblical scholars called the "messianic expectation." The messianic expectation is characterized as a longing for salvation and for a reparation to the covenant that had been broken between God and his people. The poets and prophets of old set forth these worries in words like these from Isaiah:

Since ancient times no one has heard,
no ear has perceived,
no eye has seen any God besides you,
who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.
You come to the help of those who gladly do right,
who remember your ways.
But when we continued to sin against them,
you were angry.
How then can we be saved?
All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
No one calls on your name
or strives to lay hold of you;
for you have hidden your face from us
and made us waste away because of our sins.
Yet, O LORD, you are our Father.
We are the clay, you are the potter;
we are all the work of your hand.
Do not be angry beyond measure, O LORD;
do not remember our sins forever.
Oh, look upon us, we pray,
for we are all your people. (Isaiah 64:4-9)


What a dark time to be present in. How lucky we are to be on this side of the story and to already experience the hope and reconciliation! And yet, we still find ourselves at times in our lives where we experience darkness and do not know where to turn or how to proceed. Maybe it's then that we are in the advent of our lives.

Advent stems from the Latin word adventus which means "coming." As we experience advent seasons in our lives, we can follow the scriptures of old and learn how to wait on the Lord and for the outpouring of his mercy. He has already promised us that hope is coming and we continually celebrate the entrance of that hope each year at Christmas.

During this season of Advent, I plan on paying more careful attention to the time of expectancy,introspection, and submission to the will of God as I wait for the light that he brings. I hope some of you will join with me as I prepare.

We can join in this prayer I found for the lighting of the first advent candle...

Jesus, as we wait for your coming, help us not to be afraid and to trust in you. As we light this candle, we remember that you bring the light of hope into our lives. May your Word be always in our minds, on our lips and in our hearts. Amen