Advent and the New Church Year

God declares “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). And so our Church Year is renewed with the coming of Advent.  “Newness” in scripture is often associated with Jesus and the Gospel.  Indeed this is especially true with Advent and the New Church Year.

Advent is a time for spiritual renewal as we await our coming Savior.  If you have allowed your devotional life to become less than the best, make Advent a time to refocus your attention on the cross and Christ.  Set aside time each day during Advent to light your own personal Advent wreath and share family devotions.  If you have children, let them share in the lighting and extinguishing of candles.

You may wish to use the excellent Advent devotionalbooklet produced by Lutheran Hour Ministries and titled “Transforming THIS CHRISTMAS” for your daily devotions.  Your devotion time can be enhanced by using the order of Daily Prayer on page 294 in Lutheran Service Book. At least once a week you may choose to use the Responsive Prayers found on pages 282 and 285.

Advent is a time of preparation. Since we know that we must be prepared for Christ’s Second Advent, this preparation should include sober reflection and repentance. Since we are preparing for the joyous celebration of Christ’s First Advent on Christmas, we will want our Advent preparation to be subdued.  We will then break forth in beautiful song with the angels in celebrating our Savior’s birth.  For this reason we do not include the Hymn of Praise (Gloria in Excelsis) in our Sunday worship.

Take note that three of the four Advent Collects call for God to stir up His power and our hearts.  On the third Sunday in Advent we ask God in the Collect that we would rightly respond to the message of John the Baptist who prepared the way of the Lord.

Advent is a time for Hope!  Blue on our altar reminds us of the hope that is ours in Christ.  Hope in this sense is not wishful thinking but a sure expectation of the fulfillment of all of God’s promises in Christ.

Advent is a time for revisiting the prophecies of the Old Testament that are fulfilled in Christ.  Read the first chapters of Matthew and note how often Matthew reports that these events happened to fulfill the prophecies of the comings Savior.  From the giving of His name and virgin birth to His nativity in Bethlehem, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s great plan of Salvation.

One of the best loved Advent hymns is “O Come, O come, Emmanuel.” It is based on the Great “O” Antiphons.  You may wish to ponder them during Advent by reflecting on the words of hymn 357.

The prophecies and scripture references in this hymn are rich indeed:

Stanza 1: Is. 7:1-14; Ex. 12:31-42; Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:21; 1 Tim. 2:6; Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45 & Hosea 13:14.

Refrain: Isaiah 59:20; Matt. 1:23; Zech 9:9; 1 Thes. 3:9.

Stanza 2: 1 Cor. 1:18-31; Prov. 1:2-7; Gen 1:31.

Stanza 3: Ex. 3:1-15; Ex. 19:9-13; Ex. 20:1-17.

Stanza 4: Is. 11:1-5, 10, 11; 1 Cor. 15:54-57; 2 Sam. 7:10-11; Ps 80:14-15; Jer. 33:15-16; Rom. 15:12; Rev. 5:5.

Stanza 5: Matt 16:13-19; Is. 22:22; Rev 3:7; 2 Sam 7:13;

Stanza 6: Is 9:2-7; Is 60:1-2; Luke 1:78

Stanza 7: Jer. 10:1-10; Ps 2:6-7; Is 52:7; Hag. 2:7

May God richly bless our Advent preparation and our Christmas celebration that we may more deeply understand and trust in the wonderful love of our Beautiful Savior!