Advent means 'arrival' or 'coming'. The season of Advent starts 4 weeks before Christ arrival, signifying the wait and the anticipation of His coming. It signifies hope and joy. Over the years, different denomination celebrate it differently (w different colour themes) but the focus remains much the same. And the focus is not only the celebration of Jesus' birth but also the anticipation of Jesus' 2nd coming. The latter is fairly new to me!
The Advent symbol is sign of Alpha and Omega taken from Rev 1:8 "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the End, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."It is not only the celebration of the past but also of the present and the future, where we are constantly reminded of why Jesus had to come, and Him being in our midst and Him coming again.
Dennis Bratcher from his online article on The season of Advent,
"Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power."
"The spirit of Advent is expressed well in the parable of the bridesmaids who are anxiously awaiting the coming of the Bridegroom (Matt 25:1-13). There is profound joy at the Bridegroom’s expected coming. And yet a warning of the need for preparation echoes through the parable."
From as young as 11 years old, Christmas, to me, is the most beautiful event of the year and I always look forward to it. Because the celebration of Christmas is on the eve and actual day, I always wish that I could really celebrate it 12 days. And to lengthen the celebration of Christmas, I will start with Christmas shopping, Christmas deco, party planning. This is how I prolong my Christmas celebration.
But for this year, I think I had started the celebration of Christmas with the understanding of Advent. I want to take time to remember, or refresh my memory of Christ coming again for the next four weeks. As I gain greater understanding of its purpose, I think it will give me conviction of take the next 4 weeks of celebration more seriously and look at the liturgy more meaningfully.
p.s. There are several articles which tells us the details of Advent celebration, like the colour of candles, what each week symbolises etc etc which is not blogged here. It is really interesting to read abt it!
