Why the Season of Advent?
What is the Season of Advent?
“Advent: the time to listen for footsteps – you can’t hear footsteps when you’re running yourself.”
—Bill McKibben
O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.
—Traditional Advent hymn
The word “advent” derives from the Latin word, adventus, that can mean either “arrival” or “coming.”
Advent is more than anything else, a time of waiting, conversion and of hope: a “waiting memory” of the first, humble coming of the Lord in our mortal flesh; and a “waiting appeal” for his final, glorious coming as Lord of history and universal judge. It’s a deeper conversion, to which the liturgy at this time often refers, quoting the prophets’ expectant hope that the salvation brought by the Messiah, finds its meaning in the coming of Christ in salvation history. It’s understanding that this faith will mature and reach its fullness in the second coming of Christ, thereby granting us what is promised by faith—a new heavens and a new earth.
Thus, Advent is the liturgical season during which the Church prepares for Christmas by penance, acts of charity, and celebration of the sacraments. Though it has similarities to the season of Lent, the season of Advent is often observed in less strict manner than the season of Lent. But the season has a flavor of its own and it isn’t merely “Lent lite.”
To begin with, the Church’s liturgical year starts with Advent. The focus is on preparation for the coming of the Messiah, both in his first coming at Christmas and in anticipation of his final coming at the end of time. Popular piety is particularly sensitive to Advent, especially when seen as the memory of the preparation for the coming of the Messiah. The Christian people are deeply conscious of the long period of expectation that preceded the birth of our Savior.
The faithful know that God sustained Israel’s hope in the coming of the Messiah by the prophets. In its liturgies during Advent, the Church points to the expectation and hope of Advent through its devotions and prayers.
For example, on each of the Sundays of Advent, a candle on an Advent wreath is lit to mark the progress of the season. Three candles are violet to symbolize the penitential nature of the season. One candle is rose and is lit on the third Sunday of Advent, called Gaudete Sunday from the Latin word for “joy.” Rose, a lighter color than violet, represents the “brightening” of the faithful in anticipation of Christ’s arrival.
Similarly, the vestments and altar cloths used during Advent are violet purple or rose in honor of the spirit of Advent.
Advent and Christmas are often confused. The confusion arises because most North Americans, both religious and secular, begin celebrating Christmas before it arrives. Waking up the day after Halloween (it used to be the day after Thanksgiving), many start singing Christmas carols, and putting up Christmas trees. Retail stores begin putting out their “Christmas decorations” and malls start hosting Santa for their annual photo takes. It’s called “the most wonderful time of the year,” and a jolly old time it is with its lights, family times, work parties and cheer.
Yet, Christmas day, the day we the Church celebrate the birth and the incarnation of the Word of God, tends to be celebrated by waking up and opening presents while “Jingle Bell Rocks” or “Santa Clause is Coming to Town” is playing in the background. The day of celebration is more like, the “brief moment of celebration” when gift wrappings are “ripped off” the presents and the kids are sent to play with their toys and meanwhile, Jesus isn’t really the center of attention—maybe not even mentioned—except for a cursory reading of Luke 2 in some Christian homes.
More than that, by this time, Christmas has reached its climax, and most are “exhausted” of hearing the Christmas radio music that’s been playing for the last 60 days. Tragically, many evangelical Christians get caught up into the “hype” and this type of understanding and praxis of Christmas. None of this is a comment suggesting that these things are “bad” in and of themselves, however, “not all things are helpful” as St. Paul says (1 Cor. 6:12).
But, meanwhile, at the local Anglican church, you usually find a different atmosphere.
Suddenly, you have left behind the smell of pine and the celebration of Christmas and entered into a world of Old Testament Prophets, John the Baptist, and powerful angels announcing future events. A subdued tone fills the music, minor keys abound (usually), and a Christmas tree is (often) nowhere to be seen. Advent’s tone and focus, however, is subdued for an important reason:
Each major festal celebration (Christmas and Easter) of the Church calendar year is prefixed with a season of preparation. The movement of the Church Year assumes that we will better understand and experience these “feasts” if we spend time in reflection and meditation upon why we need them in the first place.
We delve into the prophets and John the Baptist because they tell us of a time when the Messiah had not yet come. They take us back to the times of anticipation and longing that was present in Israel for hundreds of years. They remind us of how dramatic and powerful the Gospel story of God becoming a man really is. They prepare our minds and hearts for the joy of the Incarnation.
And so, Advent is necessarily a reflective, anticipatory, and waiting kind of season.
For much of my life, the shape and story of Christmas were formed around readings from the three of the four Gospels of Matthew, Luke, and John. Since Mark doesn’t really mention the birth narrative like Matthew and Luke and doesn’t really expound as poignantly as John does on the Incarnation, Mark’s gospel tends to get left out of the “secular Christmas season” in many evangelical churches.
Like many others of my generation, the non-existence of Advent in the church and tradition I grew up in, ensured that I did not notice Advent until I was in my thirties and then experienced the rhythms and practices of the Anglican Church. Readings from the Prophets were uncommon in my church upbringing, and although I now know that some of my favorite Christmas hymn lyrics have a prophetic grounding, I had no idea of this in my early years. In my childhood church, we seemed to leap into Christmas hymns and sermons from Thanksgiving to Christmas Eve, bypassing the elegant and essential bridge of Advent built on God’s prophetic word.
But since that time, I have discovered and grown close to the words of Isaiah and other prophets whom God called to speak truth and promise to God’s people, even when the people of Israel blatantly and destructively lived outside of their covenant with God. So powerful in message and beauty, the words of God’s prophets shine through the darkness of the people in their times as well as through our contemporary darkness when we, like Israel, continue to stray from covenantal faithfulness to God.
To approach Christmas only by way of the Advent Gospel readings will leave us ill-equipped to live in the post-Christmas world that is not all stars and angels, but is, in fact, rife with both destruction and possibility. Humanity cannot take Advent and God’s coming among us to heart if we bypass the prophets. God’s people struggled mightily with faithfulness and faithlessness. Their struggle and lack of discernment often brought dire and desperate consequences.
Yet, through the tumult of pleas, arrogance, and wars, God’s prophets spoke to the people of a redemptive future of joy, kindness, and peace—all made possible by God’s steadfast love born into the world. When we allow God’s prophets to speak a word to us, alongside those of the Gospel writers (the Gospel readings are also profound and powerful), we discover an even more stellar and glorious gift in the manger: Because of the darkness, the Light comes to us. Because of sin’s death-dealing ways, the life-giving ways of faith in Jesus the Christ and the hope we have in Him, can reassure us that “all things are possible” because God is with us.
For me, Advent’s message finds its integrity and its deepest meaning by placing the Prophets next to the Gospels—darkness against light, despair against hope, fear against love. So, my friends, let’s not neglect the prophets who proclaim humanity’s need for salvation and the expanse of God’s desire for our redemption through Christ. I pray you will find that God speaks to you in fresh, meaningful ways as you enter into this season, which is grounded in and born of God’s holy word for the Advent season.
Ways to Observe Advent at Home
1. The Advent Wreath
The very first Sunday of Advent, we set up our Advent Wreath and put it in the middle of our dining room table. The wreath is such a powerful sign to our family that we are joyfully waiting for the coming of our Savior, the Christ Child, as we light a new candle every Sunday night.
The Advent Wreath is a wreath of evergreens with four candles representing the four Sundays of Advent. There are three purple candles and one pink candle surrounding a white candle in the center. Everything about the wreath is symbolic and is a wonderful teaching tool. The circle represents eternity, the evergreens represent the eternal nature of God, and the candles represent a time of preparation and purification.
The color of the candles is also symbolic.
Violet represents penitence as we prepare our hearts for the birth of our Savior. The rose or pink candle represents Mary, the willing servant of God and the mother of our Lord. The white candle represents Christ and is lit on Christmas Eve.
Every Sunday night, we gather as a family, have our Advent devotion, sing, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” and light the next Advent candle.
It builds such anticipation to watch as every candle burns a little more. I love gathering in the evening, lighting the candles, breathing in the smell of evergreens and reading through the story of our salvation.
For instructions on how to make your own Advent Wreath check out this video: (65) Advent Wreath Instructional - YouTube
2. The Jesse Tree
The basic concept behind a Jesse Tree is that you put up your tree and you hang one ornament for each day in December, and it counts down to the coming of Christ on the 25th. Each ornament stands for a person or event from the Old Testament that leads up to the coming of Christ. Every evening, you hang an ornament on the tree that symbolizes that biblical event and do a small reading or devotional about that Bible story. Ann Voskamp, author of “The Greatest Gift” has a great free resource for this on her website: The Powerful Backstory of How Your Christmas Tree -& Your Christmas- Can Truly Destress You - Ann Voskamp
3. The “O Antiphons”
One of the ways that we “cry out” as the Church during Advent is through the “O Antiphons”. The “O Antiphons” are a beautiful tradition that go back 1,300 years. These prayers or “songs” are founded on Scripture that “shine light” on the titles given to Christ. It is understood that originally, they were chanted in monasteries during the last 8 days before Christmas. The “O Antiphons” were prayed before and after “The Magnificat” during the service of Evening Prayer. One antiphon was prayed each evening from December 17 until December 23. Then on December 24, the Octave (8th day) was completed by chanting all of the Antiphons.
During these last 8 days, our prayers ascend with an ever-increasing crescendo. They are cries from our hearts for the whole world and the Church—cries for the Messiah to come and reign and to set the world to right—to put all things in subjection under Him. We become as it were so eager with anticipation for his coming that with one voice we say: “Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly!”
“O Come, O Come Emmanuel”, one of the Church’s oldest and most beloved hymns is the “O Antiphons” set to music. Each stanza is an Antiphon and was meant to be sung during the octave with a new verse added each day.
I have included this resource for you if you wish to use it for the Advent Wreath and the “O Antiphons.”
4. Advent Music
Advent, believe it or not, has Advent songs! Advent songs are very different from the songs of Christmas.
Think about the words to “O Come, O Come Emmanuel”. That’s a great Advent song and the words are all about our deep longing and desire for redemption. Or listen to another famous Advent hymn, “Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending”. It is all about Jesus coming in glory at the second coming. The song swells and builds until it bursts out with the final stanza:
“Savior, take the power and glory:
Claim the kingdom for thine own:
O come quickly!
O come quickly!
O come quickly!
Alleluia! Come, Lord, come!”
Here are some of the better-known songs from the season of Advent:
Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus – Charles Wesley
Hark, the Glad Sound! The Savior Comes – Philip Doddridge
Imagine – Keith and Kristyn Getty
Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence – Fernando Ortega
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling – Charles Wesley
My Soul Cries Out with a Joyful Shout – Rory Cooney
O Come, O Come, Emmanuel – ancient hymn
Of the Father’s Love Begotten – Aurelius Clemens Prudentius
Savior of the Nations, Come – Ambrose, 4th century; Martin Luther
Yes, it is challenging and even counter-cultural to sing Advent songs rather than Christmas songs during the secular Christmas season, but focusing on the songs of Advent only heightens and emphasizes Advent’s themes of longing, expectation, and waiting.
Yet, let’s consider for a moment the possibility: maybe not singing Christmas carols throughout Advent will only make them that much more powerful when we finally get to sing them on Christmas Eve. When we finally get to Christmas Eve, we are all desperate to sing Christmas Hymns.
When our family stands for the first hymn at our Christmas Eve service, we are so ready to fully celebrate what we have been waiting all Advent long to celebrate, the long-awaited birth of Jesus Messiah and we belt “Joy to the World” out like never before!
However, I understand how difficult this may sound and I know, because it’s difficult for me as well. I grew up singing Christmas hymns and carols during the whole month of December and it’s really significant to make a change like that. Yet it can be done.
So, I hope that you will consider keeping the season of Advent and maybe you will experience Christmas differently this year. Also, in a charitable spirit, I propose this way of keeping Advent but it’s not canon law. You are not required to do any of these devotions and practices for Advent. As we say in Anglicanism, “all can, some should, none must.” But, once again, consider how these practices and this way of leaning into Advent might actually enrich your own spiritual lives by keeping you from the stress that our secular culture throws at you with all the “consumerist liturgies” that are pounded upon you from all sides. By the time you get to the actual 12 days of the Christmas season, you’re likely emotionally, spiritually, and physically exhausted. But secular consumerist liturgies be anathema!
Instead, there is another way. You know, for decades many Christians have been crying out, “Keep Christ in Christmas!” I totally agree! But, if we get sucked into the same ways of doing things that the world proposes in how we celebrate this most important season, we can cry out that mantra all we want, but nothing will change. How can we say “keep Christ in Christmas” if can’t even keep Christmas in its appropriate context? The Christ story is not a part of the Christmas story. That’s backwards. The Christmas story is a part of the Christ story, which guess what that means? It means that the liturgical season of Advent is also a part of Christ’s story. I personally think we would do well to live into Advent just as the ancient Church did as well and who knows, maybe Christmas will actually be a season of Peace and we could then truly, really, know Jesus as the Prince of Peace.
Even so, Maranantha!
- Fr. Pat