Advent Season, not Christmas, yet

This is not the Christmas season, yet. This is advent. "Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of Christ: preparation to celebrate Jesus' birth at Christmas, to receive faithfully the risen Christ who comes to us in the Word and Spirit, and to await with hope Christ's coming in final victory. The word Advent come from the Latin adventus, which means 'coming.' Our greatest challenge is to make Advent a time of expectation for Christ's coming to be with us, not a frantic time of meeting secular demands of the season" (Pat Floyd, comp., The Special Days and Seasons of the Christian Year: How They Came About and How They Are Observed by Christians Today, [Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1998]).

As Christians, we should have anticipation about Jesus' coming. His coming is in three phases. First, we anticipate the celebration of his first coming over 2000 years ago. Second, we anticipate his coming in the here and now into our lives. Third, we anticipate his Second Coming at some point in the future.

As the above quote says, we have to get away from the rushing about that is this time of season. We have parties, concerts, plays, get-togethers. Then we have the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of miles that we have to travel to see loved ones. There is the pressure to buy the "perfect" gift. All of this gets in the way of anticipating the coming of Jesus.

One of the names given to Jesus in the prophetic record is Immanuel. "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14, NIV). Immanuel means "God with us."

At this time of year, we should be anticipating "God with us."

The traditional Advent song goes, "O come, O come, Emmanuel."

"God, come and be with us."