Advent is a joyful season, not a penitential one. In the immediate past, Advent did have a certain penitential flavor about it. That emphasis surfaced in the last century when the second coming of Christ was usually described in terms of a severe judgment. The idea being that the best way to prepare for judgment was through acts of repentance.
The modern focus of Advent like that of the early church is “joyful and spiritual expectation.” The first focus is of course the birth of Christ. But Advent is not a game of pretend. We do not pretend to be a people awaiting the messiah’s arrival. We are not waiting for the birth of a savior. Our Savior has come, continues to come into our hearts and will come again in glory at the end of the age.
Advent is about waiting, hoping and expecting. During Advent we focus on some of the concrete things for which we wait. And because Advent is a time of awaiting the final accomplishment of what God began in Christ, we also look for evidence of his coming in our lives. We wait for God to shed some light on the evils of our world; the wars in the Middle East, the threat of bio-terrorism, and other struggles closer to home. We wait for God to help us in our daily lives. We wait for him to shed his light on personal problems and family relationships that are often strained during this holiday season.
As we wait, Jesus simply says that we are to “be constantly on the watch.” This kind of waiting requires us to be vigilant in the Lord’s service. We believe that our Advent preparations speed the coming of the Lord in our world.
For this reason our waiting during Advent is not the mindless, passive waiting of the traffic jam or the checkout line. Our waiting is more like that of the expectant couple who spend nine months of pregnancy actively preparing for the change that is about to take place in their lives. When we pray: “Stir up our hearts, O Lord, and come.” We acknowledge that everything for which we wait this Advent requires our action as well as God’s.