Spirituality Column #733

December 1, 2020

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Still Waiting

By Bob Walters

“Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.” – from the hymn.

It’s a wasted day when one learns nothing new, and Sunday I learned that the current Christian season of “Advent” wasn’t originally about Christmas.  Who knew?

I, for one, did not.  The church I attend, like most independent, Bible-based Christian churches, does not observe an “ecclesial” (church) or “liturgical” (doctrine) calendar as do the Catholics, Orthodox, and many mainline protestant churches.  Growing up in the protestant Episcopal church (which honestly is more Catholic than protestant but that’s a history lesson for another day), I knew that “Advent” led up to Christmas and “Lent” led up to Easter.  As a kid, Advent meant you were going to get presents; Lent meant you had to give something up.  I liked Advent better.

My current church considers Christmas, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, Easter, and of course Sundays to be special days. However, the New Testament says nothing about observing any festivals, feasts, or holy days; none – those are all church tradition.  By the book, i.e., the Bible, all that stuff is fulfilled in Jesus Christ who is with us all the time.

There is also nothing in the Bible about naming saints (it says all believers are saints) or even going to church on Sunday.  Gathering to celebrate the “Lord’s Day” commemorating Jesus’s Resurrection on the first day of the week was a custom among the earliest Christians. The rest are practices and traditions that grew over time.

Advent is one of those that began around 400 A.D.  In our church it is observed informally as a convenient way to package pre-Christmas events.  No harm done.  But just as people have a largely inaccurate perception of how Christmas has developed and been celebrated through the years (also a history lesson for another day) Advent – and I had to look it up – had nothing to do with Christmas until the Middle Ages.

Christmas celebrates the Godly truth and hope embodied – incarnated, actually – in Jesus’s birth.  Advent – from the Latin adventus, or “coming” – at first was a 40-day prep period for the “coming” of new Christians who would be baptized at the January 6 “Feast of the Epiphany,” which celebrates the Magi (Wise Men) visiting Jesus.  Around 600 A.D. Roman Christians tied Advent to Jesus – i.e., Emmanuel – “coming back” as promised to set all things right with the world (Revelation 21). 

“Advent,” now ending on Christmas Eve and covering the four Sundays prior to it, was mentioned at our church Sunday regarding upcoming charitable and service activities.  It was accurately described as a time of reflection on the past (Jesus’s birth), the present (loving our fellow man), and – new info to me – the future (Jesus’s return).

Upon hearing that, here’s where my mind went.  It took Moses two trips down the mountain with the tablets of the Ten Commandments – he dropped and broke the first set.  Israel waited centuries for the arrival of its Messiah Christ … and then killed Him.

Now, 2,000 years after Jesus went to the cross, covered our sins, initiated God’s Kingdom on earth, paved our way to Heaven, and in His resurrection established the new covenant of salvation by faith – did all that – humans still don’t have it right.

It’ll take Jesus one more trip and here we are, still waiting.  Come Lord … soon.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that the 12 Days of Christmas ("Christmastide" on the ecclesial calendar) are Dec. 25-Jan.6.