Both are seasons leading up to signal events in Christian life-- the incarnation of the Savior at Christmas, and his death and Resurrection at Easter. The typical distinction is that in Lent, our preparations are somber, since we take inventory of our lives as sinners and acknowledge our complicity in Jesus' crucifixion. Even with the attendant gratefulness for God's grace and forgiveness, it is not an easy season to observe. Often the hallmark of my own efforts is just how miraculous an occasion Easter seems. If I'm more excited about the chocolate bunnies than the empty tomb, it's always due to laxness in my Lenten observations.
Advent, on the other hand, is a time of waiting for Christ to be born. Preparations tend toward the celebratory. We began this Sunday by anticipating Christ's second coming, and the ultimate remaking and renewal of all God's creation. We lit the first purple candle in the Advent wreath, signifying hope: the hope we hold in the beautiful destiny for all of God's creation, and the hope to come in the gentle Messiah sent to preach, teach, bless, and heal in love.
As we move deeper into the season, it becomes more obvious that there's a baby on the way. This, for me, is where a disconnect so often occurs. After two pregnancies of my own, I can confidently say that preparing to welcome my own children involved quite a bit of soul-searching and prayer. Ironically, I've never given the same sort of weight to my Advent preparations.
What would it mean to be truly ready for the gift of God in Christ?
Advent may not be a particularly somber season, but it is a serious one. It's my intent this year to begin to explore ways of waiting and preparing that I've overlooked before. What in my life increases the wonder Christ's birth deserves, and what tends towards cynicism? In both my spiritual and my workaday lives, do I celebrate that which is life-giving, or am I expending energy on habits that need to be pruned or removed?
Finally, there's the fact that in Advent, we wait for the birth that the rest of our lives of faith proclaims to be a done deal. What lessons are held in that tension? Can I anticipate and prepare while remembering that which God has already done and continues to do? Most importantly, though there is absolutely internal work to be done to prepare for Christ's birth, how can I aim its fruits outward, to help bring about the advent of the kingdom of Heaven?
The possibilities, it seems, are endless-- especially since all the while, I am aided in my efforts by the very infant the world awaits.
Thanks be to God for the power in that paradox.
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