What is Advent?
Parties and shopping, decorating and baking, tree lightings and traditions, family and friends. The Christmas season is cherished, and for good reason. You attend events and mark them off your mental checklist. You wrap presents, cook Christmas dinner, and visit loved ones. Before you know it, the Christmas season has flown by. You wake up on December 26th and realize, with a sinking feeling in your chest, that you celebrated Christmas but missed Christ.
Once again, you sped through the holiday without giving much attention to the very One whom Christmas remembers. What if there was a way to intentionally honor the miracle of Christ’s birth?
Enter Advent.
Advent is a season on the church calendar that spans the four Sundays before Christmas, anticipating and celebrating Jesus’s birth. In fact, the word “advent” simply means “coming” or “arrival.” In this sacred season, believers choose to wait—to imagine the longing Israel felt for its coming Messiah and to sit in our own longing for Christ’s return (the second advent). To remember that while we receive gifts during this beloved time of year, the greatest Gift has already come.
And yet, at the same time, Advent reminds us that this world is not our home.
Advent postures our hearts in hopeful trust that just as Christ came once before, He will return again.
History of Advent
Advent has been celebrated for centuries, but its exact origin is unknown. The tradition is first mentioned in documents from a church leadership meeting called the Council of Saragossa in AD 380. As we venture forward in history, evidence of a more established Advent tradition can be found in the fifth and sixth centuries (AD 400s and 500s). The storied history of Advent, spanning generations and generations, teaches us that when we participate in Advent today, we join together with the saints of old to corporately celebrate Christ’s coming and His promised return.
To celebrate Jesus’s arrival, many Christians partake in a candle-lighting tradition in which each week, one candle is lit on each Sunday of Advent, culminating with Jesus’s birth, or Christmas Day. Candle-lighting can be traced back to 1839—when a Lutheran minister from Germany placed twenty white candles and four red candles around a wreath to teach orphan children about the coming of Christ. He would light a white candle each weekday, and red candles on each Sunday leading up to Christmas. Though modified over time, the tradition held strong throughout centuries. Today, most Advent-celebrating families light only one Sunday candle per week. This meaning-packed tradition holds space for Christians to turn their attention to Scripture, prayer, and ultimately, Jesus.
The entire candle-lighting tradition is symbolic. Candles are typically placed in an Advent wreath, decorated with evergreen branches that remind believers of the eternality of Christ. As evergreen branches are full of life, even in the dark winter months, so too is God everlasting, never fading nor faltering. He gives us everlasting life in the name of His Son. Additionally, each of the candles lit throughout Advent is symbolic. Each week of Advent a candle is lit to remember Jesus as our hope, joy, peace and love. These practices help us to marvel at who Christ is and what He’s done for us in fresh, unique ways. Even the candle itself is meaningful. By observing the flickering flame of each candle we light, we remember that Jesus is the true Light of the world.
How to prepare for the Advent Season
Now that we know the history behind Advent, how do we prepare for Advent? After all, Advent is far more than lighting candles. The Advent season invites us all to readjust our heart posture during the Christmas season. Rather than consuming our minds with presents to purchase and events to attend, Advent prompts us to consume our minds with Jesus—it invites us into a posture of worship .
That way, even as the responsibilities pile high in the holiday months, we can be confident in Christ’s abiding presence with us as we continually worship the God who became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14). So often, we are prone to forget. Advent invites us to remember—to remember Jesus.
Alongside candle-lighting, many choose to participate in an Advent Bible study, to cultivate a regular practice of reading Scripture and worship throughout the season. We invite you to join the Daily Grace Co. community and participate in this year’s Advent study, Just As He Promised. This study will journey through the birth story of Christ in a way you’ve likely never experienced. By studying both New Testament narratives of Christ’s birth story and the Old Testament prophecies fulfilled in Jesus’s birth, you will walk away with a rich understanding of God’s sovereignty and His faithful love proven in Christ. Above all, this study will remind you that God always keeps His promises.
We are so excited to gather as a community, posture ourselves in worship, and fix our eyes upon Jesus—together—this Advent Season! Whether it’s your first season celebrating Advent, or your twentieth, we pray that this special time of year would be different for you—that you would find a moments of rest, reflection, gratitude, and worship—that would call your mind out of the hurry and worry of the holidays, and into the peace of God’s abiding love for you—displayed so beautifully in Christ’s arrival. And finally, we pray that celebrating Advent would teach you to posture your heart daily in anticipation for Christ’s Second Coming—the second Advent. Just as Jesus came as a baby in a manger, surely He will come again to establish His kingdom forevermore (Revelation 11:15), just as He promised.
