Advent is a special time of year at Goshen and in the Church. As we approach our celebration of Christmas, it can be comforting to refresh our minds with the familiar narratives of the events leading up to Jesus’ birth. The sounds of Christmas carols, the sights of candles and decorations, the smells of the season, the gatherings of friends and family—things like these can captivate us. Memories flood our hearts.
And yet, there is so much more to this season than the outward preparations for the upcoming holiday, even if it doesn’t seem so. We face much that tries to convince us otherwise and rob us of the joy and peace that can be ours this season. Fueled by the almighty dollar, stores in early November sell peppermint-flavored everything and add a holiday-themed decoration to every shelf. Expectations, often unrealistic, abound—expectations of material gifts, the pressure to pick just the right one, or the budget that says these things are out of reach. Or maybe it’s the pressure to put on a happy face and match the mood everyone else seems to have, even if I’m not feeling it.
In response to the concern some have with these and other cultural trappings of the season, we’ll often hear someone crying out from their bumper sticker or their corner of the internet: “Keep Christ in Christmas!” While well-meaning, I wonder if this also isn’t quite what the season of Advent is meant for. Of course we want to keep Christ at the center of all we do, including this special time of year. But maybe preparing our hearts for the coming of our King involves more than attacking superficial symbols to show where everyone else has missed the mark. Maybe it starts right here, in our hearts, recognizing our need for a Savior and our constant dependence on his Holy Spirit.
Advent is a season of expectation in which we look (1) back to the period of waiting for Jesus’s first coming, (2) ahead to his second coming and the final establishment of his kingdom, and (3) now to his rule as King in our hearts.
During this season, we often focus on the first with perhaps a bit of the second sprinkled in, but Advent involves the third as equally important. In fact, a look back to Christ’s first coming that leaves no discernible impact on our hearts and lives today is not ideal. A study of Christ’s second coming that leaves us just as frantic and tossed by the winds and waves around us is not worth pursuing.
Only by grounding life in the riches of God’s past work and yearning for the future completeness of his righteous rule can we attempt to faithfully inhabit the “already but not yet” tension of his present kingdom. And that is our aim together as a church family this Advent season.
Jesus often spoke of his kingdom, particularly in the Sermon on the Mount. We’ll use the beginning of that sermon (known as the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:1–12) to assist in shaping our hearts to increasingly be aware of and anticipate his kingdom this season.
The Advent readings during our Sunday morning worship services will focus on just five of these Beatitudes. Those not selected are no less important; in fact, we may spend some time unpacking them on this blog in the coming weeks.
But wait! Don’t we typically choose Advent themes like Love, Joy, Peace, Hope, and Christ? While this emphasis appears to deviate from those traditional pillars, it ultimately seeks to establish the kingdom of God and its attributes in our hearts and is consistent with a historical emphasis in the Church on the expectation of the coming kingdom. We may even find that these aren’t as different as they first seemed. After all, life that is lived, shaped, and empowered by the Holy Spirit involves love, joy, peace, patience—the kind of fruit (Galatians 5:16-26) encouraged by the Beatitudes and found in God’s kingdom both now and into eternity.
So, will you join us as we seek God’s kingdom with great expectation this Advent season?
