The Meaning of Advent
Thursday, December 5th, 2024 | Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Meaning of Advent
The word “advent” seems to pop up this time of year, yet many of us don’t quite know what its meaning or importance is. We’ve heard the term before, usually in a religious context, but we’re still not certain what Advent is exactly. Dictionaries define the advent as “an arrival or beginning.” For Christians, Advent is the four-week period before Christmas, a day designated long ago to observe the earthly birth of Jesus Christ. Advent season has been observed by many different groups, not all Christian, since time immemorial. It is a 28-day period set aside for believers to not only reflect on the Messiah’s long-ago arrival as an infant but also focus on the significant impact of Jesus’s life, His subsequent death, resurrection, and imminent return.
Although Advent is mainly observed in Christian communities worldwide, it is celebrated and observed in a variety of ways. Secular or non-Christians use Advent as a “countdown to Santa” and have a calendar to do just that. Children the world over await Christmas each year with great anticipation, an anticipation that surges with each passing day of the Advent calendar. Puzzle pieces are provided by parents for calendars in hopes their kids mark the passing of time until “The Big Day” arrives when they can finally receive & open their long-awaited presents. Which, brings us to the Big Question we should all pause to consider: “Why are we awaiting December 25 this year?”
As this year’s Advent begins, perhaps we should examine the importance of this season. Is it all just an annual ritual of red-and-green decorations that get brought out after Thanksgiving, set up, and then repacked & returned to our storage areas sometime after “The Big Day”? Or is it a time to remember the very reason for the season – Jesus’s earthly birth? If we perhaps try imagining how the various participants in the original Advent spent their 28-day season, we can see a clearer picture of Advent. Think, if you will, of the wise men who journeyed from a faraway land and followed the Star of Bethlehem; or the curious local shepherd boys; or King Herod who decreed the death of all Jewish male infants; or Jesus’s earthly father Joseph; or Mary, the young, expectant mother carrying the infant Jesus. Meditating on the way they spent their time anticipating and preparing for Christ’s arrival can be a purposeful exercise leading to our own sense of why we are awaiting the anniversary of Jesus’s birth. Such a meditation could produce truly meaningful, intangible “presents” – the type that never needs wrapping, unwrapping, or exchanging.
Throughout December, Pastor Dave Talley will be presenting four messages on Advent, each focusing on a different person or character involved in the original Christmas. We warmly and openly invite you and yours to visit us during the Christmas season and join us in celebration of Advent and the birth of our Savior! Let’s call it “our Advent Adventure”.
FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH OF TELLICO VILLAGE
205 Chota Road, Loudon, TN 37774
(865) 408-0110 | www.fbctv.org
