Finding Faith ... in the beauty of the tension we hold during Advent

My home church -- Faith Lutheran Church of Wolverton, Minn. -- adorned in her Advent finery.

On Sunday, we observed the First Sunday in Advent at our church.

Our beautiful sanctuary now is all dressed up in her glorious Advent finery, including much-loved poinsettias, seasonal wall hangings, and our Advent colors adorning the pulpit, lectern and altar.

Of course, there is the obligatory 10-foot-tall Christmas tree outfitted in all pure, majestic white Christmas lights.

And our readings have switched now too. Gone are the end times scriptures we were just reading in late November; replaced by advent scriptures that encourage us to stay awake and be alert.

"35 Therefore, keep awake, for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening or at midnight or at cockcrow or at dawn, 36 or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake."

Why Jesus' stern admonition to stay awake?

Because Advent is a time of preparation for Christ's coming, and his eventual return. ... A "both, and" sort of celebration that is hard for modern Christians to understand. Yes, we are gearing up for the arriving Christ child, but we too are in a season of serious preparation for the return of Christ, the messiah who died for our salvation.

However, I humbly think that, in our modern faith, we actually aren't well equipped to understand Advent and its implications. Because it's far more than just the first liturgical season in our church calendar, and also far more than a leadup period to the celebration of Christ's birth.

We've reduced the season to little more than commercial entities using it to sell kitschy Advent calendars, containing everything from chocolate to booze.

Full disclosure: It's taken me years of seminary and of serving our church for me to develop my own fuller understanding of the beauty of the tension we should hold during Advent. As a youth, I don't remember any specific focus on Advent itself in my childhood church. And then I was out of the church for decades until later in life. So, I can understand how one might not have a true appreciation of Advent actually is.

So now, I thank the Holy Spirit for my education earned through service to our church, and I am grateful for a much deeper appreciation of the season of Advent, knowing that it is more than a leadup season to Christmas.

As the practice of Advent developed, early Christians centuries ago, used Advent as a serious time to prepare spiritually first for Epiphany and the manifestation of Jesus becoming man, and only in later centuries did the celebration of Advent transition into a season of preparation for the coming of the Christ child, an event better known as Christmas.

So, essentially it became a season in which Christians both celebrated the coming birth of the Christ child, and simultaneously an act of waiting expectantly for Jesus’ second return. ... As I mentioned earlier: a "both, and" sort of celebration.

We are not only joyfully celebrating Jesus’ birth, but we are also preparing ourselves for Christ’s return. We celebrate the now and the future presence of Christ here on earth. And both are acts lived in hope, the most uniting of common human emotions. Because in a time when we can’t seem to agree on the simplest of things, our common hope leads us to believe that there can be a better tomorrow. Our common hope leads us to celebrate the birth 2,000 years ago of a Christ child who came to teach us mercy and tenderness, and that Christ's return to bring us all home.

That is Advent, and it is beautiful. Amen.