Grace Notes 2024-11-27

Having just completed the Church Year last Sunday with Christ the King Sunday, this Sunday we start a new Church Year with the First Sunday in Advent. The Year begins with the anticipation and preparation for the arrival of Christ. Advent is another name for “arrival” or “coming”.

There are two advents that rate attention in the Season of Advent composed of four Sundays. They are Christ’s first arrival as the Babe of Bethlehem, and the second coming of Christ as King and Judge to close out this current age and then to restore heaven and earth. The anticipation for both involves patience for promises to be fulfilled. And the preparations for both involve repentance and renewed life.

It is important to note that although we are involved in the preparation, the work is not actually ours! It is God’s work accomplished by His Word and through His Spirit. But this work is certainly done in and through us. And tragically it can be resisted and ignored.

Concerning repentance, this involves our confessing our sinful rebellion and disobedience to God, along with recognizing that we deserve punishment. It involves humility and crying out for Christ’s mercy. Our prideful tendency will be to try to work out things for ourselves, our trying to dig ourselves out of the hole we have dug. And it finally involves trusting in God’s declaration and promise that for Christ’s sake our sins have been forgiven.

Much of the preparation will feel like a work that we do. But don’t be deceived. Apart from the Gospel coming to us in Word and Sacrament, we would remain dead in our trespasses and sin. God’s Word works on us as both demand and promise (law and gospel). As demand, our consciences are pricked, causing us to look for relief. As promise, the remedy is made available to grasp onto. That said, there is no room for complacency and laziness on our part. That’s simply how God works in and through us – with fear and trembling on our part.

Since You Asked…

What is the significance of the Season of Advent? The Time of Christmas begins with the season of Advent. Advent is from a Latin word that means “coming,” and its emphasis is on preparation for the coming of Christ. The first part of Advent focuses on the Coming of Christ as King and Judge, while the later part looks to His coming in the incarnation. The mood of Advent, therefore, is one of hope, anticipation, and preparedness. There are four Sundays in Advent, beginning with the Sunday closest to November 30, the Festival of St. Andrew. In the one-year lectionary, the Third Sunday in Advent is called Gaudete, which means “rejoice”. Its theme is the anticipation of the joy coming into the world at the Nativity. (drawn from the Altar Guild Manual, published by Concordia Publishing House)