This is a challenging season for us. We know the stories of Jesus’ birth so well that they can easily become clichés, obscuring the awesome message that God has taken human form as a vulnerable child. So, what can we learn?
Advent is a season which is full of strikingly different juxtapositions. The focus of the season centers around the birth of Jesus in the one-horse, small Judean village of Nazareth; yet it’s also a penitential time in which we examine and prepare ourselves for Jesus’ promised return. It’s the time of year when the sun sinks to the lowest point on the horizon; yet amid the shadows, we give thanks for the birth of a child who is, we confess, the light of the world. It’s a season for remembering the first witnesses to God’s incarnation in Jesus of Nazareth; yet it’s also a time for acknowledging that we, too, bear witness to the miracle.
The more we look, the more the ironies increase. Advent is a period for emphasizing hope for the future, though our faith calls us to be roll-up-the-sleeves peacemakers right here and now. The very placement of the season is ironic—and strangely appropriate. Coming at the end of our calendar year, Advent marks the beginning of the church’s liturgical cycle. The birth narratives, found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, set the stage for Christ’s ministry and redemptive death, but we now know that these stories became part of the gospel tradition after the passion stories had taken root within the church’s heart. In the same way, as Christmas was added to the liturgical calendar long after Easter and Holy Week were firmly established, the early Christians had first to confess Christ crucified and risen before they could understand the significance of Jesus’ humble birth.
As we worship God during this special time, may we proclaim Emmanuel in a society unattuned to intimations of the eternal.
Shalom, Paul