This service is not intended to celebrate Christmas but to help each of us prepare ourselves for, and expect the coming of Christ. The word “Advent” is a derivation of the Latin word, “advenio,” meaning coming or arrival. Early observances of this festival are recorded prior to the seventh century, and through the ensuing ages it has evolved into the form familiar to us today. Advent begins on the Sunday nearest November 30th and lasts four Sundays.
Advent should not be so much a time of imitating the waiting of ancient Israel as it should be a time of looking toward our own future. . .indeed the focus of the season is centered on the future. John the Baptist’s cry, “Prepare the way of the Lord,” sets the precedent. The Christian individual and the Christian Church are future-oriented, anticipating the fulfillment of all things in Christ. Much in the same manner that Christmas urges us to consider the second coming of Christ (the Parousia), so Advent urges us to prepare for the Kingdom of God in the Church Triumphant.
The worshiper will notice at once that the format of this service of worship consists of God’s revelation to us of God’s purpose (the eight scriptural lessons), followed immediately by our response to God’s word (the musical portions of this service – our offering of praise back to God).
The first five lessons are passages from the Hebrew Testament prophets which look forward to the Day of the Lord; the day when God will finally establish God’s purpose, reject all that is contrary to it and affirm whatever belongs to it.
The sixth lesson which is taken from the Gospel of St. Luke (and includes that portion of scripture referred to as the Magnificat), and the eighth lesson, from the Gospel of St. Mark, directly assert that in Christ, the long-awaited day has come. To a considerable extent, the culmination of the service is contained in the Vesper Responsory: “Tomorrow go you forth, and the Lord God will be with you.” Looking toward the future – Christ’s coming in glory (Parousia) and the fulfillment of God’s purpose are then summed up in the seventh lesson taken from the Epistle to the Romans.
In Christianity there remains a tension between the belief that with the coming of Christ, the fulfillment of God’s purpose has begun and the evident fact that, at least, in this world at present, the fulfillment is incomplete. The mysterious words from the eighth lesson, taken from the Gospel of St. Mark, with which Jesus begins his ministry, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” have both a present and a future sense. . .the same focus is evident in the Collect towards the end of the service: “Grant that we, who with joy receive Your only-begotten Son as our Redeemer, may without fear behold Him when He shall come to be our judge.” The resolution of the “now” and “to come” is to be worked out, not so much in terms of doctrine as in terms of our own lives.
Thus, we regard Advent as a penitential season, similar to Lent. The liturgical color for Advent is purple. As Christians, we celebrate Advent as a time for two-fold preparation: (1) to ready ourselves for the birth of Jesus Christ, and (2) to prepare for his coming again in glory to judge “both the quick and the dead.” Let each one of us use this season as a time of reflection, penitence, and preparation for that which is to come.
“Prepare the way of the Lord”