What is Advent? What role does it play in the life of the church? Read more to find out.
Happy New Year!
The beginning of a new year? Yes! The first Sunday in Advent is New Year’s Day in the church year. A new year – a “clean slate” is before us – filled with hope and expectation. Advent ushers in a season of anticipation and preparation. As we begin to prepare for the celebration of the birth of the Savior, God’s gift of love, the Advent season also reminds us to wait with hopeful anticipation for the time when Christ will come again in power and glory at the close of the age.
Advent is a term that the ancient Christian Church borrowed from the Latin language and Roman culture. In that language and culture, advenio meant “coming,” or “arrival,” for example, the coming of good news, or the arrival of an important person or special holiday. Since those ancient times, and continuing today, many Christians celebrate Advent as a season of four Sundays that begins a new liturgical year and provides a fresh start for life and faith and worship. The lessons for each of Advent’s four Sundays prepare us for the birth of the Christ Child and the coming of the Messiah, which takes place at Christmas, and also for Christ’s Second Coming at the close of the age.
In this season of Advent we are called to read Scriptures that exhort us to remain alert and faithful as we await our Lord’s return – Scriptures that also teach us how prophets such as Isaiah, kings such as David, and forerunners such as John the Baptist prepared the way for the coming of the Messiah.