Advent is really about hope

It’s that time of year again. We have all stuffed ourselves on turkey and dressing. Black Friday, or now gray Thursday, has come and gone. We all know what this time of year is. It is the Christmas season or sometimes it is referred to as the holiday shopping season. Christmas is all about the birth of the Christ child. On this special day we celebrate the special occasion when the prophecies of old were fulfilled and God’s grace and love manifested itself in the form of a new born baby, not born into royalty but more humble beginnings. Of course, this baby would grow up to be a man, a man who would change the world, challenge the establishments and bring direction and salvation to those of us who are lost souls.

For most people in this country, this celebration begins on the day after Thanksgiving and peaks on Dec. 25, and then is pretty much over for another year. We see all the Christmas decorations and the Christmas shows on television and all the Christmas trees, but really this is not the Christmas season.

We are in the season of Advent. Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends on Christmas Eve. Advent is a time of preparation. It is a time of longing and expecting. During this time we make ourselves ready to receive the Christ child into our hearts and homes. We remember the longing and expectation felt by the virgin Mary as she awaited the birth of the Christ child she was carrying. During advent we look at a world that seems to be spinning out of control and know that all hope is not lost. Advent is really about hope. The good news of the Kingdom of Heaven is about to come into this world.

The Christmas seasonbegins on Dec. 25 and goes for 12 days and ends on Jan. 6. That’s right, there really is something to “The Twelve Days Of Christmas” song.

So, what is special about the 12 days and Jan. 6? In the historical Jewish society of the Bible, 12 was a number of wholeness and completeness. That is why Jesus called out 12 disciples. Epiphany is Jan. 6.

This is when we celebrate the arrival of the magi or wisemen. We usually think of there being three wisemen, but the Bible does not say how many there were.

What is important about them is that they are among some of the first to acknowledge the Christ child as the King who would change the world. It is even more important that these men were from far off lands. They were not Jews, but Gentiles. And they came to worship the young Jesus. I say young, because by the time they found him he was not a baby in the manger. He, along with his parents, was in a house.

Remember this year Christmas is not all the presents and the decorations. Christmas is not about the tree and the parties. Christmas can be summed up in these words: “For God so love the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life,” John 3:16.

This is what we are preparing for.

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Editor’s note: Brian Timmons is the pastor of Pea Ridge and Brightwater Methodist Churches. He can be contacted at 925-0167 or by e-mail at [email protected].