Pastoral Reflection 11.29.15

What is Advent?

From The Village Church’s Advent guide. To download the entire guide, please follow this link.

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. 1 PETER 1:8-13

The King is coming. Jesus Christ has come and will come again. This is the hope of the Church whom He purchased with His blood. His coming is the eager expectation and desire of His people. It is our joy because He is our treasure and greatest good. This is the theme of “Advent,” formed from a Latin word meaning “coming” or “arrival.” It’s the traditional celebration of the first advent of Jesus inhumility and the anxious awaiting of His second in glory. The season is a time for remembering and rejoicing, watching and waiting.

During the season it is easy to get lost in busyness and the consumer-driven “promises” of our culture,focusing on the shadow rather than the substance—Christ. God promised to send the Savior, and He faithfully fulfilled that promise. Amid the fleeting things that fail to save us and fill us, God comes through on His promises.