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December 5, 2011
posted on December 5, 2011 by Musings
Second Monday in Advent – Going to the house of the Lord
I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!”
Psalm 122:1
There is something about the Advent season that makes me glad to “go to the house of the Lord.” Perhaps it is the way that the hymns begin sounding comfortingly familiar. Or, perhaps it is the look of the evergreen foliage that sprouts out of the faux-organ-pipes and adorns the sanctuary walls. Yet maybe it is the weekly lighting of the Advent candle…the symbolic harbinger of Christmas that captures the spirit of anticipation in the congregation…the countdown that something exciting is on the way!
I submit that this sentimentality is not unique to me; the Advent season brings scores of unfamiliar faces to worship on Christmas Eve, giving birth to the slightly derogatory term of “Christmas-(and Easter)-Churchgoer.” Indeed, even for the most disenchanted of us Scrooges, something about Advent makes us glad to go into the house of God.
Perhaps it’s not surprising, then, that they etymology of the word Advent literally means “coming to,” (from the Latin ad- “to, toward”, and venire “to come”.) For all the traditions, festivities, and nostalgia that the season brings us, it might as well refer to our church community’s “coming together” in our annual celebration of the Christmas season. But as tempting as this is, we do not forget that the etymology of the word Advent is not in reference to our coming together, or even to our coming into the house of the Lord. The “coming” referenced in the word is none other than the coming of Christ. Even amidst our own beloved traditions, we usually manage to remember—with some nostalgia for the idealized past—of that first Christmas in a stable in Bethlehem.
In this way, Advent is really a symbolic reminder, built into our liturgical year, of an arrival that has already happened. But in our love for our comforting rituals and beloved traditions, we seem to forget that Christ is not coming, per se…he came, and is already here! He died for us, He rose for us, He reigns in power for us, He prays for us. To wait, even symbolically, for his arrival as we revel in the old stories of his birth is to miss the point. As Christians, we already have our instructions, our example, and our commission.
If the Advent season is a reminder of an arrival that has already happened, perhaps it is time not to re-hash old memories in a mood of complacent sentiment, but rather to turn our minds to what should happen next?
What if, instead of waiting unnecessarily for the coming of Christ, we performed an advent—or a “coming to”—of our very own? Jesus has already told us that by feeding the hungry, we come to Him; by giving drink to the thirsty, we come to Him; by visiting the sick and imprisoned, we visit Him. The story of Christmas that we tell each year happened in the past, but our story is in the present, and we are presented with chances to come to Jesus daily.
As Advent reminds us of the joys of the past, so too let it remind us of its implications for the present. Jesus is come. Let us go with him and follow!
Prayer: “Heavenly father, as we celebrate your love made flesh on Earth, inspire us to do more than revel in the rituals of the past. Lead us, that we may come to where you are and where you are working in our community and in the world. Amen.”
Today’s reflection was written by William Webb, a senior at Millsaps College in Jackson, MS, and a member of First Presbyterian Church, Shreveport.
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