ADVENT
Ancient Advent BY T HE R EV. PORT ER C. TAYLOR
Every family has special traditions marking the weeks leading up to Christmas. Whether it is making a favorite dish (Nana’s fudge), watching a favorite movie (The Bishop’s Wife) or another seasonal activity (decorating cookies), we celebrate the same rituals every year. Growing up, I marked the beginning of the Christmas season by circling my hoped-for gifts in an archaic publication called a “catalog.” The Christmas Eve pageant brought Jesus in at the last minute, but the rest of my childhood Advent experience was defined by toys, twinkling lights and trees. Taylor
For Christians, Advent is embodied by two drastically different journeys. Media corporations, advertising conglomerates and every toy-andChristmas-accoutrement manufacturing company under the sun narrate and dictate the first. Commercial America tells us parties, traditions, presents and matching family pajamas are the reason for the season. Bombarded with visions of the good life, we drown in enticements to spend money on things we don’t need, toys our children won’t want and gifts we can’t afford. The season ends with the unwrapping of presents, performed in a ritualized ceremony. (I should note that our family celebrates Christmas with presents, lights, a tree and other traditions, but these are not the reason for Advent.) Scriptures and liturgies, some of the church’s earliest and most significant documents, proclaim and embody the second journey. The story our liturgical Advent presents stands in direct contrast to contemporary consumer culture. Scripture and worship proclaim the truth: The Incarnation is the reason for the season. Jesus’ first coming is the in-breaking of God’s earthly dominion as he assumes our humanity
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Advent 2021 CFE
in order to transfigure, transform and redeem it. Rather than ending with the unwrapping of presents, the season culminates in the birth of the incarnate one, the Messiah who has come to restore, rescue and reconcile creation to the Creator.
Ancient Observation Both stories seek to capture and captivate our hearts, but the true Advent is far more compelling than the holiday industry’s offerings. Advent is neither about having the newest, the latest or the greatest, nor does it focus on the unnecessary accumulation of stuff to achieve happiness. True Advent gets to the heart of what it means to be human. It tells us a story at once ever ancient, ever new: the tale of God’s great love for his people made manifest in his covenant faithfulness: God with us, Emmanuel. Christians have observed Advent since the middle of the fourth century, or more than 1,500 years, based on writings from St. Gregory of Tours. Even the word has an ancient feel, derived from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming.” The church has seen fit to set aside a time for annual prayer and fasting, the Feast of the Incarnation, as believers
prepare their hearts for Jesus’ birth. Throughout Advent, the lectionary hurls us backward into Israel’s prophetic tradition and, as author Karen O’Donnell first put it, Luke’s “Annunciation-Incarnation event” narrative. With the prophets, we join a story already in motion. We discover an Israel subjected to exile, captivity and foreign occupation, a people who believe God has forgotten his promises. God sends his prophets again and again to preach a message of repentance and hope, of contrition and expectation. We cannot separate Advent from the rich soil of exilic longing. The lectionary readings, liturgical prayers and hymnody of Advent teem with references to the prophetic period as they anticipate Jesus’ birth. For four weeks, they plant worshippers firmly within this period of Israel’s past, inviting us to step into the narrative and lift our voices with the prophets, crying out for mercy and redemption, asking God to remember his steadfast love. Advent carries a palpable clamor for the arrival of Messiah, the holy one who will save Israel. We cannot separate Advent from the bright future of Messianic fulfillment. cfdiocese.org
