Christmas Yet to Come

Pastor’s Epistle—December A.D. 2013 A

The Serenity of Advent

When we get to Advent, I tend to start playing a lot of Gregorian chant CDs at home. It doesn’t really calm my kids down, but it does calm their father. And a calm father is good for my children’s continued happiness and wellbeing.

Advent is the season for calming down. I know that it doesn’t seem like that. Indeed, quite the opposite! Lights and decorations are popping up, the shopping season swings into full gear, and travel plans get hammered out. But at heart Advent is about spiritual preparation—preparation to welcome Jesus Christ into our lives. The word itself, adventus, means “coming,” and in this season Jesus promises to come to us in three ways. For a bit of fun, we might like think of them as the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come from Dickens’ Christmas Carol.

Our Ghost of Christmas Past is the Christmas story itself: the Nativity, with Joseph, Mary, and the birth of our promised Savior some 2,000 years ago. This is the Christmas we all know and love, and for which we pine most all the year round. But Jesus also comes to us now, in the present. He meets us in Word and Sacrament, gathered around the Communion rail. He visits us in the faces of the poor and needy for whom we must provide in this stark and chilly season. He is ever with us in our neighbor, for we are all created in the Image of God to be “little Christs” for one another.

Then there’s the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. This, for us, is the promise that “Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again.” We know neither the day nor the hour, but this age will at last draw to a close, and Jesus will return to earth in glory to raise the dead, expunge our tears, and right every injustice that man and devil alike have wrought. Every day we live with the promise of Advent, the promise that Jesus is coming, and that when He gets here all will finally be set aright. He is with us in our sufferings, and will be Himself our consolation.

So light some candles. Deck the halls. Prepare yourself for a King. Christmas is not here just yet, regardless of what the store shelves and television schedules may otherwise insist. Advent is the preparation for Christmas, which ought to be so much more than just a pre-Christmas Christmas. (Christmas can stand on her own two legs, thank you very much.) Otherwise we’ll be so sick of holly and caroling that we’ll be all worn out by the time Christmas actually gets here. And folks, Christmas lasts a whopping 18 days this time around, so save up your eggnog and Yuletide cheer for the long haul. Spend this time preparing, anticipating, waiting—not with anxiety but with peace and contentment. Jesus is coming. We can all calm down.