Advent: Participation and Anticipation
The integration of the traditional four-week period known as Advent by mainstream evangelical churches represents a notable shift in contemporary church practice. Even churches that have held a pronounced aversion to a formal liturgy and the church calendar have begun to incorporate it.
The common understanding focuses exclusively on Advent as mere preparation for Christmas. This approach significantly overlooks the season’s richer conceptual framework. Etymologically, the term adventus is derived from the Latin meaning “coming”. The Advent season is designed to include focus not only on the historical coming of Jesus but equally on the anticipated, ultimate realization of Christianity’s consummation — the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
The season serves as a profound commemoration of the foundational revelation of the birth of Christ which set the entirety of creation on a new path. It also focuses the church on God’s restorative mission – the ongoing process in which Christians are called to participate. Finally, it invites us to anticipate the future event, which denotes the complete consummation of this restoration.
Consequently, the essential mandates for Advent are active participation in the present mission and anticipation of the final consummation of all of creation. If the season focuses solely on the birth of Christ, Advent loses its identity as a special and crucial time dedicated to all time periods: past, present, and future. Adventus is as much about our present participation in God’s great mission and its future consummation as it is about remembering the birth of Christ.
This year, perhaps we can all anticipate how God will use us to participate in His great mission.
