Why is Advent Important?

As we were nodding off after our Thanksgiving Dinner, Leslye and I were in the mood for mindless drivel, so we tuned into that great holiday classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. A timeless quote by Clark Griswold informing the family of mission at hand, to find a Christmas tree.

“We’re kicking off our fun old fashion family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols.”

Of course, the tree that Clark chooses is far too large for their family room and when the tree is unwrapped it catapults through the window creating general mayhem. The movie doesn’t get much better, but it does remind me what most people I know say is that Christmas is their favorite time of year. Like them I love the music and nostalgia of the season.

As wonderful as all that can be, Christmas is far more than what our cultural celebrations have made of it. Especially for Christians. When this time of year comes, we pay attention to what is at the center of it all. We may enjoy the carols and decorations, but we celebrate the Advent of Jesus Christ.

“Advent” comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming or arrival.”

Used by the Church, the word refers to:

1. The “arrival” of Jesus Christ when he was born on the original Christmas Day and every year the children at the Northern Neck Christian School have a birthday cake for Jesus and sing him “Happy Birthday”. We don’t want them to forget why we celebrate Christmas.
2. The upcoming “arrival” of Jesus Christ when, as Christians believe, he will return to judge the living and the dead.

In the Anglican tradition, each week of the Church year has a special prayer, called a “collect,” used during Sunday worship and then for the following week.  A collect is simply a prayer meant to gather the intentions of the people and the focus of worship into a succinct prayer.

Here is the collect for the First Sunday In Advent. Come back next week for the Second Sunday in Advent.

Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Reflection:

The collect draws our attention to spiritual combat that each Christian is caught up in. It is the ancient feud between good and evil, flesh and spirit, light and darkness. But unlike much of the modern rhetoric on “Spiritual Warfare,” which focuses on evil spirits and dark forces “out there,” the collect draws us into the deeper, more intimate spiritual war that each of us wage: the war against our own sin and darkness. God in his grace has provided for us an “armor of light!” Galatians 3:27 tells us, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.” Through the waters of baptism, God has dressed us for war. We have received as our armor the precious gift of Christ himself–his death has become our death, and his resurrection has become very own. Jesus, who took on our flesh and “came to visit us in great humility” has vanquished Sin, Death, and the Devil by his cross and resurrection. 

This is why the collect for the First Sunday of Advent is so important. It calls us to return to the fountain of baptism so that, having drunk deeply of God’s grace, mercy, and victory, we would fight the good fight against sin and the flesh.