Waiting, Longing, Hoping

One year, the Rev. Kurt Boggan, pastor of First United Methodist Church in Bentonville, received an empty jar for Christmas. The jar was decorated, but held nothing inside. Attached to the jar was a tag that told him the jar contained the peace, joy and quiet of Christmas. He unscrewed the lid of the empty bottle and heard ... silence. Quiet for contemplation among the bombarding sounds of Christmas songs, cash register bells and all manor of rushing through the secular preparations for Christmas.

"We're really good on those secular preparations for Christmas. We get our homes decorated early," said the Rev. Steward Smith, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Springdale. "Advent helps us focus more spiritually on those preparations we need to make."

Advent is a time of waiting, preparing and longing, Boggan said. "Advent is a season of the church year during which we prepare our hearts for Christ's coming," reads information supplied by Boggan. "During Advent, we prepare for, and anticipate, the coming of Christ. We remember the longing of Jews for a Messiah and our own longing for -- and need of -- forgiveness, salvation and a new beginning. We prepare through liturgy until we arrive at that day of thankfulness and gratitude."

During Advent, Christians prepare to celebrate the coming of Jesus at his birth in Bethlehem. But it's also a preparation for Christ's second coming, Smith said.

"Even as we look back and celebrate the birth of Jesus in a humble stable in Bethlehem, we also look forward, anticipating the second coming of Christ as the fulfillment of all that was promised by his first coming," Boggan's information continues.

"He's coming, but he's already here," said the Rev. Gordon Besel, pastor of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Rogers. "He will come back at the end of time."

Themes

Each Sunday in Advent focuses on a specific theme -- typically love, peace, joy and hope. "They befit the blessings God gave us," Besel said. Some traditions use prophecy, Bethlehem, shepherd and angel as their focus.

"The lessons the first and second Sundays (of Advent) tell us to be ready for him to come again," Besel continued.

Scriptural readings on the first Sunday of Advent are apocalyptic, if one follows the lectionary, Smith said. "It tells us the reason we need to be awakened, watchful, prepared.

The second Sunday marks a Scriptural shift, Smith said. Lectionary readings focus on John the Baptist and his call to prepare the way.

"He's saying, 'The Lord is coming. Get ready,'" Smith explained.

"We celebrate the promise of Moses, a prophet of the Old Testament," Besel said of his church. "As we get closer to Christmas, we celebrate the promise to Mary and Joseph about what is coming: Jesus is born as the Savior of the world."

The third Sunday represents joy, and Advent starts to shift to reflective waiting with joyful expectation, Smith said.

"We're really right there," Smith said of the fourth Sunday. That Sunday comes very close to Christmas in some years. "We hold back. We're not quite there yet. We want to be there, but we're not."

He likened the anticipation of the coming of Christ to the excitement of a child waiting to open his Christmas gifts. "In the readings, most folks in the pews just want to get to the birth of baby Jesus," Smith said. "Waiting is a theme that is difficult."

The Advent season closes and the Christmas season opens on Christmas Eve, when Christians celebrate the birth of the Christ child.

Traditions

The Advent season brings with it several traditions practiced in churches and with families at home.

"As a child, I always remembered the Advent candle in church," Smith said.

Most churches place Advent wreaths -- evergreens with four candles encircling a larger candle in the center -- on the chancel with clergy, acolytes or member families reading Scripture and lighting one candle each Sunday. The four candles also represent the four centuries of waiting between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ.

During a Christmas Eve service, the Christ candle is lit for the first time. "It's the one in the center. It's bigger," Smith said. "All the candles represent the light that came into the world from Jesus Christ."

"The purpose of the Advent wreath is to help Christians count down the weeks to Christmas," reads printed information provided by Besel. "The basic symbol of light and its increasing intensity (as another candle is lighted each week) as it refers to Jesus Christ, 'The Light of the World,' is the one emphasis (of meaning) on which everyone seems to agree."

The traditional color of Advent (and the candles) is purple, the royal color, representing the coming King. But some congregations are replacing the purple with blue -- "the color of hope," Besel said.

The circular shape of the wreath serves as a reminder of the endless mercy of God, and the evergreens speak of the hope in God, the hope of newness, revival and everlasting life.

Many churches also decorate their sanctuaries in evergreens -- with special services or just members gathering to get the job done. The evergreens help symbolize the new and everlasting light brought through Jesus.

But no few Christmas trees will be found in the sanctuary. Rather, Christians erect Chrismon trees, hung with white and gold ornaments representing Christ -- the Greek letters of his name, a crown, a fish.

And favorite Christmas hymns remain in the hymnals until that Christmas season begins. In many congregations, the weekly hymn of praise and the "Gloria in excelsis" are omitted from the worship service. "In doing so, people sense that something is missing and remember that the time of final fulfillment has not yet come," reads information provided by Besel. "During Advent, we look ahead with joy and excitement toward the Christmas season, when we will sing these songs with renewed vigor and joy as we celebrate the fulfillment of God's promises in giving us his Son, Christ Jesus."

"There are a lot of great Advent songs," Besel said. "But many in the church need to sing Christmas carols in Advent," so carols are added to services as Christmas draws near.

Boggan suggested the hymns: "O Come Emmanuel" and "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus."

"By the third Sunday, we start to introduce Christmas hymns because the people are wanting them," Smith said -- songs like "Joy to the World," but "it's not the right time for 'Silent Night,'" he said.

Many of the symbols are merely about the tradition of the seasons.

"We only get to participate in Christmas one time a year," Smith said. "And traditions are important to people."

That's why many churches offer a simple service of carols and lessons on Christmas Eve, he said.

"If you don't tell the Christmas story at Christmas, you're not doing something right," Besel said.

Promises

In 587 B.C., the Jews were in exile, but they longed for God to answer for some of the evils in the world, Smith said.

"They would ask, 'Where are you? Oh, that you would come down and make the mountains shake. Do something about all of this mess we have.' (Isaiah 64:1).

"We still face that," Smith said, mentioning the Ferguson, Mo., riots and suicide bombers around the world. "Advent is a reminder that God has come and has fixed some things -- even though some might think that hasn't happened. One day, we will know and trust that all of our wishes for peace and justice will be made right.

"We are still waiting for the Second Coming," Smith continued. "We trust it will happen. We have the same longing, the same waiting, the same hope as Israel in exile."

Advent helps remind Christians to make time and spend time in spiritual preparation -- in addition to the physical preparation. It calls them to focus, to take their minds off the secular distractions.

Amid the busy schedule with shopping and parties, Advent helps Christians get to the true message, Boggan said. "We are centering our posture on anticipation, hope and the love of Christmas."

"It's a time of penitence," Besel said. "You look at yourself to see if you're ready for Christmas."

"Then, celebrate," Besel said. "God loved us to the point that he sent a Savior."