Advent – Day 1

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). – Matthew 1:23

The word advent originates from the Latin word adventus, which literally means “to come”. Advent denotes the anticipation of an arrival. It refers both to Jesus’ first coming in the manger, as well as to his approaching promised second coming. 

When we talk about advent in the case of Christmas, we generally refer to the month-long season of waiting leading up to Christmas Day. It’s a time of expectation. A time in which we set our hearts to focus on the long-awaited Promised One. In some literal ways, you could even say the Old Testament was a time of advent.

For thousands and thousands of years, before the time of Christ, people looked forward with hopeful anticipation to the coming of the Savior. And then he arrived … in a way no one expected. 

Born to a teenage mother in a dirty stable within an insignificant town; wrapped in rags and laid in a feed trough, the long-awaited rescuer wasn’t born into privilege or welcomed into a royal court. He was born unto us … unto the common, the lonely, the heartbroken, the poor, the rejected, the forgotten, the overlooked, the discouraged. Immanuel. God with us was born into the very midst of our mess.  

Born to a teenage mother in a dirty stable within an insignificant town; wrapped in rags and laid in a feed trough, the long-awaited rescuer wasn’t born into privilege or welcomed into a royal court. He was born unto us … unto the common, the lonely, the heartbroken, the poor, the rejected, the forgotten, the overlooked, the discouraged.  Immanuel. God with us was born into the very midst of our mess.   

Now in the 21st century, we celebrate this advent season as a time of grateful reflection upon that arrival. We reflect on the hope of a baby in swaddling clothes sent to save the souls of man. The son of God wrapped himself in flesh, and all of humanity is changed because of it.

We’ll spend these next few weeks looking at his arrival. Today, take some time to reflect upon Jesus’ coming and ask the Lord to prepare your heart for this season of expectation and reflection.  

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