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Advent middle ground

 Longing for light - Waiting in darkness 


Advent is a controversial season in the church calendar for some. It divides opinion as to whether it should remain a ‘sombre season’ of anticipation awaiting the celebration of the birth of Jesus and his promised coming again, or whether we should join in with the rest of society in building up to Christmas and taking the opportunity of sharing the wonderful story of why Jesus was born. 

Recently I spoke to a fairly new Christian who didn’t know what Advent was. And why should they have ? As churches, we’re really not very clear about it a lot of the time. I tried to explain the intricacies of it as much as I could. I explained some of the different views, views of people who embraced Advent completely and didn’t allow any Christmas celebrations until after dark on Christmas Eve and others who joined in completely with the celebration of Christmas throughout December whilst still not ignoring an Advent message of anticipation, hope, peace, love and joy. And of course there are plenty of others somewhere in between. 


Perhaps a little to my surprise the person I was talking to really liked the idea of Advent and thought we needed to stress it much more clearly. They suggested using this as an evangelistic season clearly talking about why Jesus was born, about the miracle of new birth, about a Saviour being born, about a young mother obediently following the will of God, about shepherds representing ordinary people everywhere who were amazed at the awesome signs of a new born king and about the potential transformation of lives for all of history… Sounds like a great message to share! 


And the second coming wasn’t to be ignored either. Into a world of doubt and scepticism there remains a desire for searching and questioning, a desire to ask questions. Sometimes we’re afraid of the tough questions, but rather than be fearful we need to embrace the questions, tell the stories, share the good news and the hope that Jesus brings. 


How do we do this ? Well, it is (and I know not everyone will agree!) I think, by taking the middle ground. That means celebrating the anticipation of Christmas with others, enjoying the decorations and the carol singing and the concerts and parties, whilst taking the incredible opportunity to remind people that this is about Jesus. This isn’t sombre and it isn’t just about anticipation. It isn’t just about about waiting, because some of that waiting, some of that longing, has been met in the form of Jesus already, and whilst we continue to wait for the fulfilment of a world full of peace, justice and love, we embrace the good news of a Saviour who is active in the world every moment of every day, who is active in our lives, who is good news for all people, everywhere, at all times. It’s a message to share confidently. 

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