The Beginning of Advent

This Sunday begins the season of Advent.  These four Sundays prior to Christmas day offer us a time to spiritually prepare for the true meaning of Incarnation Day, the moment in history when God, the eternal, entered human time and space as a helpless vulnerable little baby boy.  

The gospel of John tells us why the Son of God entered human history; “For God so loved the world, have he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)  The emphasis in this passage is God’s love for the world, for everyone.  Until Jesus, the Bible reveals that while God has always loved the world, the descendents of Abraham were called and commissioned by God to be instruments of God’s love in and to the world.  But it seems they kept God’s love to themselves.  Jesus’ primary mission, according to the gospel of John, is to be the light of the world to the world and make God’s love and blessing accessible to every person on the planet.

The angels sang on the Judean hillside to the bewildered shepherds, “Glory to God in the highest heaven and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” (Luke 2:14)  The little baby boy of Bethlehem is God’s gift to the world as evidenced by the great journey of the Persian Magi searching a new born King.  Even the cosmos bore witness to the birth as a star guided the way, and those who knew what they were looking for found him, believed, worshipped and were blessed.

The Season of Advent is a particular time for spiritual work. Try not to get so caught up in all of the secular Christmas distractions, with all of its consuming, competitive, conforming, complicated, confusing commercialism, and spend time seeking the true light of the season, the source of true blessing and fulfillment.  It’s about the little baby boy in Bethlehem and really nothing else.