Longing for Advent
I am looking forward to this coming season of Advent. It sounds a bit odd, if not redundant, to say that I am literally looking forward to a season of looking forward, a season of waiting and expectation. But while I look forward to Christmas itself – the fulfillment of the Advent season – I also can’t wait to dwell in the season God has given us to wait and expect and trust His promises.
Ever since I spent a missions year abroad, Christmas has taken on a deeper meaning in my life. Growing up, I took the Christmas “things” for granted – crisp cold weather and snow, time with family and friends, a hot cup of warm cocoa after a day spent outside, brightly lit Christmas trees and red ornaments, the smells of cinnamon and pie baking… Christmas and the “Christmas season” for me was about the warm fuzzies it brought with it.
Living overseas, those things were stripped away. Christmas season in Ivory Coast was the hottest season of the year, many days reaching farther past 100° than I care to think. Family and lifelong friends were on the other side of the globe. Cocoa powder wasn’t a commodity we could locate so rainy days meant improvising a vanilla milk concoction instead of indulging in hot chocolate. Though we did strive to find a Christmas tree and decorate and bake familiar treats, the sights and sounds and smells I had always associated with Christmas were largely nowhere to be found.
Instead, that Christmas season was a time for me to dwell on the real meaning of Christmas – the incarnation of Christ: what that meant for the world and the people I was ministering to and what that meant for my own life. The deeper understanding of the incarnation I gained from that year was invaluable. Among other theological implications, it meant that Christ had experienced the same longings I then felt in missing home, being separated from loved ones and feeling out of place in a culture that wasn’t my own.
Since that year, I have always looked forward to Advent as a means of dwelling more fully on the reality of Christ’s coming as God in the flesh. This year, in my expectation of the Christmas season, or the season of Advent, I look forward to a time of immersion into a deeper understanding of what it means to wait and look forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises. As we await Christmas, we are reminded of the long-expected incarnate Savior for whom God’s faithful people waited in the first part of Scripture. We are reminded that the season we live in now is no different; we wait for His long-expected return where all things will be made right.
I think it fitting we experience this period of waiting and longing at the end of the year, a time when we are weary, the sunlight hours are short and darkness tends to set in – both literally and metaphorically. It is not easy to look beyond the now to the eternal, but this is a practice that the season of Advent should help us to cultivate.
This year, I enter the season of Advent with heavy heart. This has been a year that has reminded me of the reality of sin and the brokenness it brings with it. Over the course of the past year, I have walked through life with a dear friend struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. I’ve witnessed firsthand ways in which the devil uses mental illness to tear apart relationships and subtly whisper his lies and distort the truth. I have also experienced loss and heartache, stress and lack of sleep, and health problems.
While you may not identify with the specifics of my experiences, I am sure you can look back at your year and recognize many ways that the brokenness of this world has contributed to unfulfilled longings in your own heart. Whether you’ve experienced death or illness of a loved one, dreams and hopes that haven’t worked out, relational tensions, a hard work environment or other circumstances that have caused grief, the reality is that these hardships cause us to question and they cause us to desire something more.
Yet in the midst of the trials this year has brought, I’ve also experienced the joy of new friendships, growth in my walk with the Lord, fun road trips and learning experiences. I would imagine that you have experienced joys amidst your trials as well.
I believe this intricate mix of trials and the joys are a gift of grace to us, allowing us and guiding us to long for more, to hope for something greater. Through trials, we feel the weight of the sin to which this world is enslaved. Yet we also experience joys that offer, even ever so slightly, the taste of glory for which our hearts long.
In entering Advent in this hard season of life, I desire to dwell on the reality of God’s eternal promises for those who love Him. I long to concretize in my heart and in my mind the reality spoken of in Romans 8, “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” God fulfilled His promises to His people in the incarnation of Christ, which we celebrate at Christmas. He took care of the problem of sin once for all at the cross. Yet, the resurrection reminds us that the story is far from over. As my pastor says often, “we live between the already and the not yet.” Christ has already come, yet Christ is coming again. Amen!
I long for a day when all will be made right. Death will be utterly conquered, we will be reunited with those we love who are in Christ, Satan’s lies will be stamped out forever, strife will be silenced…
My heart’s desire for this Advent season is to grieve well over the pain and loss this year has brought, but also to rejoice in hope as I look forward to and long for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises: complete restoration in Christ.
Ever since I spent a missions year abroad, Christmas has taken on a deeper meaning in my life. Growing up, I took the Christmas “things” for granted – crisp cold weather and snow, time with family and friends, a hot cup of warm cocoa after a day spent outside, brightly lit Christmas trees and red ornaments, the smells of cinnamon and pie baking… Christmas and the “Christmas season” for me was about the warm fuzzies it brought with it.
Living overseas, those things were stripped away. Christmas season in Ivory Coast was the hottest season of the year, many days reaching farther past 100° than I care to think. Family and lifelong friends were on the other side of the globe. Cocoa powder wasn’t a commodity we could locate so rainy days meant improvising a vanilla milk concoction instead of indulging in hot chocolate. Though we did strive to find a Christmas tree and decorate and bake familiar treats, the sights and sounds and smells I had always associated with Christmas were largely nowhere to be found.
Instead, that Christmas season was a time for me to dwell on the real meaning of Christmas – the incarnation of Christ: what that meant for the world and the people I was ministering to and what that meant for my own life. The deeper understanding of the incarnation I gained from that year was invaluable. Among other theological implications, it meant that Christ had experienced the same longings I then felt in missing home, being separated from loved ones and feeling out of place in a culture that wasn’t my own.
Since that year, I have always looked forward to Advent as a means of dwelling more fully on the reality of Christ’s coming as God in the flesh. This year, in my expectation of the Christmas season, or the season of Advent, I look forward to a time of immersion into a deeper understanding of what it means to wait and look forward to the fulfillment of God’s promises. As we await Christmas, we are reminded of the long-expected incarnate Savior for whom God’s faithful people waited in the first part of Scripture. We are reminded that the season we live in now is no different; we wait for His long-expected return where all things will be made right.
I think it fitting we experience this period of waiting and longing at the end of the year, a time when we are weary, the sunlight hours are short and darkness tends to set in – both literally and metaphorically. It is not easy to look beyond the now to the eternal, but this is a practice that the season of Advent should help us to cultivate.
This year, I enter the season of Advent with heavy heart. This has been a year that has reminded me of the reality of sin and the brokenness it brings with it. Over the course of the past year, I have walked through life with a dear friend struggling with depression and suicidal thoughts. I’ve witnessed firsthand ways in which the devil uses mental illness to tear apart relationships and subtly whisper his lies and distort the truth. I have also experienced loss and heartache, stress and lack of sleep, and health problems.
While you may not identify with the specifics of my experiences, I am sure you can look back at your year and recognize many ways that the brokenness of this world has contributed to unfulfilled longings in your own heart. Whether you’ve experienced death or illness of a loved one, dreams and hopes that haven’t worked out, relational tensions, a hard work environment or other circumstances that have caused grief, the reality is that these hardships cause us to question and they cause us to desire something more.
Yet in the midst of the trials this year has brought, I’ve also experienced the joy of new friendships, growth in my walk with the Lord, fun road trips and learning experiences. I would imagine that you have experienced joys amidst your trials as well.
I believe this intricate mix of trials and the joys are a gift of grace to us, allowing us and guiding us to long for more, to hope for something greater. Through trials, we feel the weight of the sin to which this world is enslaved. Yet we also experience joys that offer, even ever so slightly, the taste of glory for which our hearts long.
In entering Advent in this hard season of life, I desire to dwell on the reality of God’s eternal promises for those who love Him. I long to concretize in my heart and in my mind the reality spoken of in Romans 8, “that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” God fulfilled His promises to His people in the incarnation of Christ, which we celebrate at Christmas. He took care of the problem of sin once for all at the cross. Yet, the resurrection reminds us that the story is far from over. As my pastor says often, “we live between the already and the not yet.” Christ has already come, yet Christ is coming again. Amen!
I long for a day when all will be made right. Death will be utterly conquered, we will be reunited with those we love who are in Christ, Satan’s lies will be stamped out forever, strife will be silenced…
My heart’s desire for this Advent season is to grieve well over the pain and loss this year has brought, but also to rejoice in hope as I look forward to and long for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises: complete restoration in Christ.
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