Is there more to advent than this?

It’s December again and I have a confession. I’m 31 and I still get an advent calendar. And yes, I get a stocking as well (don’t pretend that you don’t too!).

December the 1^st signals the beginning of the season we call ‘advent’. Christmas preparations are getting into full swing. I don’t know about you, but I can spend most of my time preparing, not to celebrate the birth of Christ, but to fulfil the demands of the season.

There’s the annual debate – a real tree or a fake one?

And then new decorations because the children broke the baubles (you know, they squeezed them and they look rubbish with dents in)

I am being asked for my present list.

And my wife is reminding me to ask others for their lists.

The songs in the shops are already annoying me.

I can’t decide who to send Christmas cards to this year or whether to even bother at all.

In church we are preparing for carol services.

At work I’m hoping it won’t be too busy so I can book our Tesco Christmas delivery slot

My time is taken up planning, travelling, partying, working… And all the while I  forget what advent is all about.

Underneath all the fun and preparations, there can be a darkness that overshadows Christmas. Because despite all our ‘stuff’, all our songs, our parties, our gifts, our well-cooked turkeys, we know that the world is not right. We are not whole. Something is missing. We long for better days…

A new government

A new manager of my team
A new boss at work
More money
Better health

We may hope for great things, but ultimately they will let us down. And we know it.

Things probably won’t get better.

The government will fail on their promises.

The new boss will soon be gone.

Our health won’t be with us forever.

Our culture has taught us that when we wait for something, it won’t be as good as it promises.

 

The message is loud and clear:

Whatever you do, don’t get your hopes up. Just you wait and see. Don’t bother hoping.

But advent reminds us that we wait for a God who will not let us down. Hope is real. Someone is coming. A new day is about to dawn. The angels are readying themselves. The wise men are on their way. Simeon is waiting for that day when he will hold the baby Jesus in his arms so that he can die happy, because what he’d been waiting for had now arrived.

In this season of advent, we wait for Jesus. We ache, we long, we expect, we hope. Our desire grows for someone who isn’t yet here.

And God does not disappoint. When He comes, we will join the angels, the shepherds, the wise men around a pitiful sight of a baby in a filthy manger in a cold stable.

The King of the World.

Born to die.
To die for me. To die for this world. To bring us back to God.
To bring us all we’ve ever longed for.

To bring us more than this.  

 

A suggestion for advent

 

Focus your devotions on advent themes. Daily think upon what we as Christians are called to celebrate. I have used the free resource that you can find HERE as a helpful way to help me and my family anticipate and prepare for the coming of Christ and to see advent in a whole new way.

I pray that it would be a blessing to you.

 

 

Please do share any other advent-themed thoughts or suggestions

 

 

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, more than those who watch for the morning. (Psalm 130:5-6)

 

Picture: http://www.guy-sports.com/humor/christmas/christmas_advent_calendar.htm