Pastor’s Corner“ Advent Begins in the Dark”

“Advent begins in the dark and moves toward the light—but the season should not move too quickly or too glibly, lest we fail to acknowledge the depth of the darkness. As our Lord Jesus tells us, unless we see the light of God clearly, what we call light is actually darkness: “how great is that darkness!” (Matt. 6:23). Advent bids us take a fearless inventory of the darkness: the darkness without and the darkness within.” (Fleming Rutledge)

This is not a very Christmasy quote to start off December, and it feels out of sync with all the lights and gift-buying and nostalgic music and decorations on display. That’s because the Church keeps time differently. Advent doesn’t close out our year; it begins our liturgical year. And right at the beginning of our year we acknowledge two things:

• Our world, inward and outward, is in a dark place.

• The Light is coming, has come, and will come again.

For generations Advent has pointed Christians beyond Christmas to the Second Coming of Jesus. We definitely rejoice in his first coming in the manger, his bright entry into the very heart of our darkness (John 1:1-9). But we also prepare for his Second Coming. We reflect deeply on the Scriptural story of the Light overcoming the darkness—eternally dispelling death, the devil, and sin—by God-in-the-flesh coming to live, die, live again, ascend, and return. Advent is our season of Hope-Full Waiting for the coming of Jesus, “when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, [and we shall] rise to the life immortal.”

I’ll share more about Advent this Saturday, November 29, when we gather at 10am for our “Welcome to Advent” event, and Melissa Byers will guide you in creating Jesse Tree Ornaments that tell the Story of Light from creation to Christ’s cradle. (Stay afterward and help us decorate the Nave!)

We will experience Advent the following day in our Sunday worship. In addition to being a “One Service Sunday” beginning at 9:30am, the liturgy will be dramatically different. We will begin in the dark with the Great Litany and lighting of the Advent Wreath, and contemplatively move toward the Hope-Full light of the Eucharist.

I appreciate that this year the First Sunday of Advent immediately follows Thanksgiving. Today we will gather with family and friends to feast and express gratefulness for the many good gifts the Father gives. “Feasting and all enjoyments gratefully taken are, at their heart, acts of war,” writes Douglas McKelvey. “In celebrating this feast we declare that evil and death, suffering and loss, sorrow and tears, will not have the final word.”

No, that final word will be spoken by Jesus at the Second Coming. “For the Lord himself will descend with a cry of command,” banishing darkness forever (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). Let us give thanks for our great Hope.

Your Pastor in Christ,