Advent: For Those Who Wait and Work and Watch and Weep

As we near the end of the calendar year, many around us are already stringing lights, playing carols, and rushing toward Christmas (I am pretty sure I saw Christmas decorations before Halloween was over). For those of us new to the liturgical calendar — or new to experiencing Advent in a church like ours — it can raise a simple question: What is Advent, really, and why do we observe it?

Advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming” or “arrival.” In the liturgical cycle of the Western church, Advent is the season that begins the new church year, so… Happy New Year! Yes, we keep time differently.

In our life together at Restoration Anglican Church, Advent offers us a sacred space — a season of waiting, watching, and longing. It is not simply a countdown to Christmas, but a time to inhabit the tension between what has been and what is yet to come.

The Three “Comings” of Christ — Then, Now, and Not Yet

Advent helps us articulate the beautiful, soul-stretching vision of Christ’s three comings. Advent begins with the end in mind. Advent is traditionally about Christ’s final and future coming – the victorious return of our conquering King Jesus, when God will make all things new, bring justice, renew creation, and consummate the kingdom. Our church year begins with the ultimate end in mind. 

But Advent does recall that first advent as well, when God entered human history by incarnating himself in the person of Jesus Christ, which we celebrate at Christmas. We live between the two comings of Christ. This is why Karl Barth said, “What other time or season can or will the church ever have but that of Advent?” 

But there is a third coming of Christ as well: The Present Coming — Christ alive now, working among us through the Holy Spirit, Word, and Sacraments. Advent reminds us to be alert to — and open for — God’s presence in our daily lives. Thus, Advent is not just a historical memory-lane or a cozy build-up to Christmas — it’s a theologically rich posture of hope, humility, vigilance, and expectation. 

The Tone of Advent

For most of us, December screams busyness, over-decoration, and early carols — but the church deliberately takes a different rhythm during Advent. Advent invites us to slow down — to focus first on the prophetic voice of the Old Testament, on the call of John the Baptist, and on the longings of God’s people for the Messiah. 

In this time of waiting, we descend into darkness. The days grow shorter and the night increases. Advent is a season of darkness, where we are invited not to pretend the world is fine, but to wait, work, watch, and weep, all for love’s sake.

Special Advent Focuses this Year

When you walk into the Sanctuary this Sunday, you will feel the shift. We move from the liturgical color of White from Christ the King Sunday to the penitent Purple of Advent. You will see the four Advent Candles encircling the Christ candle. But this year you will experience some other things as well.

Art
We will have 12 pieces of Advent Art displayed in the Sanctuary and the music team will be providing live, instrumental music. We invite you to arrive a little early and enjoy the space to wait, work, watch, and weep. You will also get to explore these same 12 pieces of Advent Art in the Fireside Room and Lobby if you have littles that want to talk and ask questions or if you want to process with others. We will begin each service by reading poetry and lighting the Advent Candle for that week.

Advent Resource for Families
Pastor Mady has also prepared a special Advent Resource for families to help your children engage in Advent. Please stop by the check-in station this Sunday to pick up your family’s copy that will help you pray, read scripture, and bodily engage in the waiting of Advent and avoid the Christmas creep in fun ways.

New Prayer Practice
This year, we want to invite you to try a new prayer practice by engaging in Compline Prayer. Compline is a prayer meant to be prayed in the evening as we wait in darkness. You can find Compline in your 2019 Book of Common Prayer (BCP) on pages 57-65. The prayer on p. 64 so captures the heart of Advent, “Keep watch, dear Lord, with those who work, or watch, or weep this night, and give your angels charge over those who sleep. Tend the sick, Lord Christ; give rest to the weary, bless the dying, soothe the suffering, pity the afflicted, shield the joyous; and all for your love’s sake. Amen.”

Other Advent Practices
Use an Advent Wreath
You can purchase a small Advent wreath from Five Tribes Fair Trade in the lobby after the service on Dec. 7 and 14. This rhythm of lighting candles each evening helps mark the passage of the four weeks of Advent, reminding us of waiting and watchfulness.  

Lean into the Scriptures
In our Sunday services, the prophetic voice of the prophets, the call of John the Baptist, and the coming annunciation are primary. The readings draw us back to Israel’s longing and forward to Christ’s return. You can find the scriptures for all four weeks of Advent in the lectionary on page 717 of your BCP. This Advent starts Year A. Don’t know what any of this BCP, Year A, and Lectionary talk means? That’s okay, just grab one of us clergy this Sunday, we would love to help you navigate it!  

Grab an Advent Book or Devotional
Using a guide can be really helpful in experiencing the fullness of Advent. Here are few Pastor Eric likes:

• Advent: The Season of Hope (Fullness of Time), by Tish Harrison Warren: This one is short and very accessible as an intro to Advent.
• Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ, by Fleming Rutledge: This is a tour de force in all things Advent, the introduction is worth the price of the book alone, but you will want to work through this one a little at a time each Advent.
• Waiting on the Word: A poem a day for Advent, by Malcolm Guite: I read this one every year and cry a lot. Guite gives you a poem and then guides you through it to discover the hope of Advent.

The hope is these pieces of art and beauty — song, pictures, poetry, prayer, and flickering flame — will help make Advent not just a prelude to a holiday, but a season of formation — shaping our souls, our hopes, and our community as we wait, work, watch, and weep together with each other and our coming Lord Jesus.

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