Advent, this season of looking for Christs’ Coming, has been largely lost to the world.
Christmas itself has become far more about consumerism, gift buying, heaping upon ourselves many things we really do not need, all in the name of Christ, which, as I understand it, would certainly qualify as taking the Lord’s name in vain.
But the stores start earlier each year it seems, in October we are seeing decorations, and before Thanksgiving we hear the holiday songs, and by December 1st half the crowd is already tired and ready for it to be over. The secular culture has their own version of Advent; the coordinated effort to get you buying, rushing, and crushing your soul by December 24th!
And that, my friends, is why we need the Advent Season. It is a time to slow down, to truly consider the meaning behind this tradition of celebrating Christs’ coming. To recognize that he has come, he will come, and he is coming even now to those who will open their hearts and make room for him to enter and fill their soul with his peace, his hope, and his joy.
