The Sacred Journey of Advent

“Let it be our care and delight…”

All of Scripture is a sacred love story, the love of God the Father for His people.

It’s a story of longing and fulfillment, a holy ache running through every page. From the very beginning, God has walked with us, called to us, and searched for us, even when we turned from Him again and again.

The Old Testament reads like a deep breath held: a people longing to be made whole, and a God who never stops calling them back. Through the prophets, God speaks promises, of redemption, of restoration, of hearts made new. And always, those promises point to a coming Savior. One who will rescue, restore, and reconcile. One who will draw us back into fellowship with the God who made us.

Each Advent, we join in that long waiting.

We stand with the prophets.

We wait with all creation.

We listen to the silence that followed their words, for 400 years, and then, from the quiet, something begins.

God stretches out His hand to a small town.

To a young girl.

To a quiet “yes.”

And time itself is changed.

The Incarnation Begins Here

The God of the universe humbles Himself.

He makes Himself small. Flesh. A helpless babe.

And this moment, the coming of Christ in the Incarnation, is so significant, so earth-shifting, that the Church begins her calendar right here. The first day of the Church year is the first Sunday of Advent.

The word Advent comes from the Latin Adventus, meaning “coming.” It is a season of preparation, for the coming of Christ at Christmas, and also for His return in glory at the end of time.

It is not just a countdown to Christmas.It is a season all its own. A time of sacred anticipation.

In her book Around the Year with the Trapp Family, Maria Von Trapp writes that “the whole of Advent is characterized by the boundless desire for the coming of Christ expressed in the liturgy.”

We feel that desire in the prayers, in the hymns, in the slowly growing light of the Advent wreath.We hear it in the cry of the Church: Maranatha!Come, Lord Jesus.

Preparing the Way

As Lent prepares us for Easter, Advent prepares us for the coming of Christ.

We listen to the voice of John the Baptist, the final prophet, crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord. We turn inward. We ask the Holy Spirit to examine our hearts, to reveal what is unclean, and to help us bear the fruit of repentance.

Advent is not just a season for candles and carols.

It is a time of real soul preparation.

And that preparation leads us to outward action as well. We remember the Holy Family, poor, weary, with nowhere to lay their heads, and we look with compassion on those in our own communities who have little. We give alms. We extend generosity. We soften toward those around us, and we make room, for others, and for Christ.

As Maria Von Trapp so beautifully says, this season is given so that our souls might be restored, and so that we, as the Church, might be led “into a more profound delight in His birth.”

A Season Missing from the World

And yet, Advent is so often absent.

Our world skips right from Halloween to Christmas decorations, and then tosses them aside before December 26th. The beauty and the mystery of the season is lost. Even in many Christian homes, Advent is overlooked, replaced by busyness and bright lights and a vague “holiday season” that has little to do with the Christ child.

We are left with sentimentality instead of incarnation.A celebration without preparation.A season without a Savior.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

We can reclaim Advent.

We can mark it with quiet.

With candlelight.

With prayer.

With intention.

The Church Leads the Way

The Church, in her wisdom, invites us back.She gives us a different rhythm.And through her liturgy, she shows us how to wait.

Each year, at the Festival of Lessons and Carols, the Advent Bidding Prayer is spoken. It is one of the most beautiful expressions of this season, a call to remember, to long, and to prepare.

Beloved in Christ, in this season of Advent,let it be our care and delight to prepare ourselvesto hear again the message of the Angels,and in heart and mind to go even unto Bethlehem,to see the Babe lying in a manger.Let us read and mark in Holy Scripturethe tale of the loving purposes of Godfrom the first days of our disobedienceunto the glorious Redemptionbrought us by his holy Child,and let us look forward to the yearly remembranceof his birth with hymns and songs of praise.(Book of Occasional Services, 2004)

This is the heart of Advent.

A sacred pause. A slow unfolding.

A season to prepare Him room.

Not just in our homes.

But in our hearts.

For more on celebrating Advent in your home, The Liturgical Home: Advent