Why Celebrate Advent (And Not Just Christmas)
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Growing up, we celebrated Christmas, and it was wonderful. Though I had very few “white Christmases” (I’m from Florida), there was still something magical in the air each Christmas season. It wasn’t just the thrill of opening presents, either. As a little kid, I just enjoyed the “feeling” of Christmas.
The first time I heard the word “advent” was in high school, and it wasn’t the church’s “advent.” I loved the Final Fantasy video game series, and they recently produced a movie called Advent Children. Even though I had grown up in the church and was a firmly convinced Christian, I still had no idea there was a connection between the word advent and my faith.
In college, I finally had someone explain Advent to me in a meaningful way. At the time, I thought it was interesting, but didn’t really care much. As far as I understood, Advent was just a way of saying, “Christmas, but all December long.” Okay, great…that’s basically what we already do, right? I didn’t grasp the distinction between Advent and Christmas or the benefits this liturgical season would bring to my life.
A Pattern to Life
In his Cultural Liturgies series, James K.A. Smith points out that all of life is lived according to patterns. To demonstrate this, Smith uses the example of a shopping mall, but I’ll switch it to a restaurant.
When you go to a restaurant, you know what to do: You walk in, wait for the host/hostess to seat you. When you get to the table, you know to look over the menu, first for a drink order, then for your food. You know after your food, the server will eventually bring you a check. We know this because this pattern is the common pattern for almost every restaurant in America.
We do the same thing with our week. At a bare minimum, we know that church will be on Sunday and that the church will let out at X time. We know when to arrive, roughly how long the service will be, and roughly what time we will be home.
If you’re like me, you know (more or less) what the rest of your week looks like, too. I know what I’ll be doing on which days, when I need to buy groceries, when I need to do laundry, etc. Even if you don’t plan things out very meticulously, I would bet that you can find some patterns in your life that you live out week to week.
A Christian Pattern to Life
If we have patterns that govern our day-to-day lives, wouldn’t it make sense to have patterns guide our “Christian lives,” too? Patterns give us certain rhythms to follow and teach us what to do in certain situations. Following patterns to help instruct us about our spiritual lives is something people have been doing for thousands of years.
If you’re unsure, think about your morning routine. What are the routine habits you perform every (or almost every) day? I know my morning: I wake up at 5:15, comb my hair, brush my teeth, read the Holy Scriptures and go through morning prayer. Then I make a cup of coffee and read whatever book I am currently reading. I do this every single morning because I believe the habit helps me. It centers my morning around the Bible, prayer, and study. Why wouldn’t I want to also take a season that is centered around Christ?
But wait, isn’t celebrating Advent Catholic? Perhaps, but only in the sense that “catholic” means “universal.” While it is true that the Roman Church celebrates Advent, so do most Protestant denominations, including Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists, many Presbyterians, and some Baptists. While this practice has fallen out of vogue in some Evangelical circles, it is a far cry from being just a Roman practice.
Part of the reason this practice is so universal is that we find its roots in Scripture. No, Advent itself is not taught in Scripture, but the cyclical pattern of religious life is. In the Old Testament, the nation of Israel was given a yearly calendar marked with religious celebrations and feast days. The Israelite way of measuring time was done primarily through the keeping of Holy Days.
It is not a far stretch to think that early Christians, many of whom were Jews, would seek to emulate this practice. Sure, Christians are not commanded to keep the feast days, per se, but we aren’t forbidden to do so, either. By orienting our time around religious observances, we get to live out a portrait of the Christian story, and we get to orient our lives, day by day, to remembering and practicing the Gospel.
So, What Is Advent?
In short, Advent is the start of the Christian year! More importantly, it is a four-week period during which we celebrate both Christ's first coming and his coming again. It is a season to renew our hope and our joy. It is a time for us to remember the human ministry of Christ and his glorious reign as king over all the earth.
There is much else that could be said about Advent, like why there are blue and pink candles or how it relates to Christmas Day…but that is another post. For now, I simply hope to leave you with this: It is good to celebrate Advent because it is a time of celebrating all that is good about Christ. It is a time to “refresh” and begin another year of faithful service to the King of the Universe. It is a season to reflect on the immeasurable hope and joy that Christ gives us.
In short, we should celebrate Advent, and not just Christmas, because it is good to celebrate these things. Advent focuses us through a season of time in a way that we don’t get by celebrating for just one day.
Take a few weeks and reflect on the new year, celebrate the birth of Christ, and work to be a blessing to your neighbors.
Happy Advent, and Merry Christmas.