Why You Should Consider Celebrating Advent
In this blog post, Andrew Rutten, one of Providence’s co-pastors, writes how we as Christians should consider observing Advent this Christmas Season.
By Andrew Rutten, Providence Pastor and Co-Planter
As we approach the season of advent, it seems appropriate to discuss the Christian church calendar. Christians of the past created the church calendar to set aside certain seasons of the year to observe particular aspects of the gospel (Advent and Christmas celebrate the birth of Jesus, Lent and Easter remember the death and resurrection of Jesus, Pentecost celebrates the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, etc.).
For many Christians today, churches that observe seasons from the church calendar can feel rote, outdated, or hyper-religious. In fact, mentioning the words “church calendar” may incite confusion or aversion. Isn’t the church calendar for old traditionalists or fundamentalists? Why would a Christian follow it today?
Questions like these often come up during certain parts of the year, one of which is the season of Advent. If you’ve never heard of advent, the word simply means “arrival” or “coming.” In terms of Christianity, and more specifically the church calendar, the season of advent is the four weeks leading up to Christmas. These weeks are dedicated to the advent, or arrival, of Jesus that we celebrate on Christmas day.
To be fair to critique, celebrating seasons of the year is not biblically mandated. No one is sinning by forgoing observing seasons like advent or lent (40 days leading up to Easter), however, I do think the church is foregoing helpful reminders and formational experiences by neglecting these seasons.
So, why should you consider observing a traditional season like advent this year? Let me give you six reasons.
Seasons Help Teach the Gospel
While the church calendar is not found in the pages of scripture, over the course of Christian history the church created this calendar for us to understand and remind ourselves of the gospel. Each season in the calendar is intended to focus on a different aspect of the gospel, and each year, the church calendar begins with the season of advent.
Advent reminds the church of darkness and brokenness apart from the gospel of Christ. Yet, it is in this darkness that God promised he would send a Messiah to save his people from their sins. Through the season of advent, we acknowledge the darkness of the world as we await for the Light of the World to come.
Observing a season like advent helps us remember the bad news of the redemptive story of God. It reminds us that we do live in a world of brokenness, there is a longing in our hearts for the world to be made right, and we need a hero, or a Savior, to fix everything. As we observe advent, we remind ourselves and teach others a piece of the gospel story.
Advent Allows You to be Real about Reality
This season helps the church be honest about the brokenness of the world, the darkness that seems to pervade areas of our lives, and the sin within ourselves. Too often the church seems to instinctively gloss over the pain and darkness of those in our world. A season like advent allows us to be honest and real about the reality people are living.
During advent we openly acknowledge that the world is in need of fixing. We become free to admit that we have sinned, we are sinners, and we are hopeless without divine intervention. We can release ourselves from the impulse that says, “Since God rose from the dead, we should always be smiling and happy.” There is a time and season for that, but there is also a time and season to mourn with those who mourn and enter into the real suffering of real people.
Observing advent allows the church to be real about darkness. It is only at this point that the coming of Christ and the reality of the gospel will truly shine.
Habits are Formational
We are formed by the habits we do each day. In his work, You are What You Love, James K.A. Smith points out our tendency to assume that life-change happens by changing how we think. However, Smith argues, we are not primarily shaped by thinking, but by loving. What we love or desire shapes us far more than what we think.
Yet, our hearts are shaped by our habits and routines in life. If I am habitually looking at the stock market, I will be formed by finances. If I am habitually on social media, I will be formed by approval or acceptance of an image or reputation. If I am habitually watching news talk shows, I will be formed into seeing the world through a certain political lens.
The habits we create form our hearts, our desires, and therefore our lives. Practicing seasons like advent are formational ways to align our hearts with the gospel story. Instead of allowing the world or culture to form us, observing a season like advent can reform our hearts, and therefore our loves and desires, toward Christ. This season can intentionally fix our gaze upon the beauty of Christ and allow our desires to follow.
Healthy Habits Help Form Children into Disciples
Habits not only form adults, but when done well, they have the potential to form the faith of the next generation. I recognize this point may cause push back from some people. In no way do parents want to force children into a set of rote religious activities without engaging the heart, however, ignoring the reality of formational habits is not the answer either.
Healthy formational habits for our families are those that understand children need routine and structure. They give children the framework for how to see themselves and the world through a gospel lens. Formational habits are not the enemy. Habits with no engagement of the heart are the enemy.
Observing a season like advent can be a rhythmic habit for your family where you teach the gospel, are real about brokenness and darkness, and allow scriptural-based conversations to form your family. If you are a parent wanting to begin observing advent as a family, get creative. Sing songs. Color pictures of the nativity scene. Bake Christmas treats while having fun conversations. Make their favorite desert and explain the goodness and sweetness of God. Use this season to form children into disciples who understand the gospel with joy.
Advent Can Help Foster Imagination for Children
Advent can be a season where you foster imagination and joy in your family. I don’t intend to delve into the discussion on whether you should teach your children about Santa. However, the argument on the pro-Santa side is often given as a positive experience in helping children with creativity, imagination, and generosity.
All of that may be true (again, I take no side for the purpose of this article), but this can also be done during advent when speaking of the coming of Jesus. As you read passages foretelling of the coming of Jesus, help your children imagine themselves in the shoes of children hearing of the coming Messiah. As you read the scene of the angels bursting forth in light and song, turn all the lights off in your house as you read about the darkness and quickly turn on bright lights as you read about the angels appearing. Ask your children what they think it was like for Jesus to be a child like them.
There are many ways to invoke imagination during the season of advent. So as you observe advent as a family, stir up the imagination of your child. This is their developmental language and can help their excitement for the coming Son of God.
Advent Highlights the Father’s Love for Us
Most people often struggle with the belief that God truly loves us. Most Christians say that God truly loves them, but when it comes to functional theology, many of us are often deficient in believing the Father’s love. We can sometimes doubt whether the Father still loves us after what we’ve done. We may subtly fall into the belief that the Father only loves us because he has to love us because Christ died for us.
Yet, the most famous Bible verse teaches something very different. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son…” Notice the order of the verse. It does not say that once the Son died, then the Father loved the World. No, God (specifically God the Father here) loved the world, loved us, so he sent his Son to the world.
Observing advent reminds us that God loved us so much that he went to the greatest extent he could. He sent his own Son to be human like us, so that he might save us. Taking a month to prepare our hearts for Christ’s coming is taking a month to remind ourselves that we have a Father who loved us so much that he sent his Son for us.
So, church, consider observing advent this season. Instead of speeding up through the month of December to keep up with the chaos of the season, advent offers another option: slowing down, being intentional with your own heart, your family’s hearts, or the hearts of those around you.
If you don’t know where to start, ask for help! The beauty of the church is that we do this together. Please, use this season to see the glory of the gospel and to orient your life within the redemptive story.